SquareMeal - Restaurants + Bars

30/11/2025

New Restaurant Openings in London 👀

We’ve been eating across the city, to bring you London’s hottest new restaurant openings! These are some of our favourites that have opened in the last couple of months.

📍 74 Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia -
- 74 Charlotte Street marks the highly anticipated return of acclaimed chef Ben Murphy to London’s dining scene. Taking over the former site of Monica Galetti’s Mere, this Fitzrovia newcomer promises a refined yet approachable experience, blending classical technique with modern creativity - and a few touches of luxury.

📍 Whole Beast, Brixton -
- Having jumped around the capital with various residences, Whole Beast has finally found a permanent home, bringing its live fire cooking to Brixton. From husband-wife duo Sam and Alicja Bryant, expect a menu that’s generous and bold, with dishes cooked low and slow over open flame. Plus, they serve up one of the best burgers in London.

📍 Field Notes, Hackney -
- Tucked away on Mare Street in Hackney, Field Notes is a restaurant and wine bar led by chef Ivan Tisdall-Downes, formerly of Native. Menus here strongly lean into seasonability, with a compact selection of dishes that are built around wild and foraged products. Expect regularly changing menus alongside natural and low-intervention wines.

📍 The Fat Badger, Notting Hill -
- Once accessible by invitation only, The Fat Badger has now opened its doors to the wider public, bringing understated charm with a quietly confident four-course set menu, curated by George Williams and Beth O’Brien. The Fat Badger gets the important stuff right: the food’s hearty, the service is warm, and the room is gorgeous.

📍 Hawksmoor, King’s Cross -
- Taking up residence in the stunning, Grade-I Listed dining room at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, Hawksmoor St Pancras is the group’s eighth London site. The successful steak group has a knack of finding magnificent locations, but this might just be the most impressive yet. Expect outstanding steak cookery, and an on-site Martini bar.

30/11/2025

There's still time to cast your votes in our Top 100 Restaurant Awards 2026! Tell us about your favourite restaurants and you could win this beautiful KitchenAid Evergreen Stand Mixer. Click below to vote - it only takes a minute!

We're thrilled to announce that voting for the SquareMeal 2026 Top 100 Restaurant Awards is officially open! Help us uncover the best places to eat in London and the UK right now.

29/11/2025

Glasgow is a haven for seriously good, cheap food. Here are 15 places to get affordable scran, from pizza slingers to cheap curries and sushi rolls.

Glasgow is a haven for seriously good, cheap food. Here are 15 places we know you'll love

28/11/2025

AlsaceWines are staples in restaurants - so why do sommeliers love them?

We asked four experts to reveal why wines from Alsace - namely Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and Crémant d’Alsace - have such brilliant food pairing potential.

From the complexity of Pinot Gris to why Gewurztraminer is misunderstood, here's everything you need to know about Alsace white wines⬇️

Celebrated for versatility and food-friendly flavour, the white wines of Alsace inspire four restaurateurs to recommend perfect pairings for fine dining as well as everyday meals at home

28/11/2025

From customisable crumble to bottomless white chocolate cheesecake, there’s always room for pudding with these tasty desserts.

Because there's always more room for pudding

27/11/2025

This is , where head chef Angelos Togias brings passion and energy to a menu bursting with recognisable Greek classics.

The ‘dips experience’ with a basket of puffy pitta breads will put you in good stead from the off. There's also a very nice Greek salad that proves Krokodilos can do the classics well.

A delicious take on prawn saganaki sees three fat, tender crustaceans served with a rich tomato and feta sauce. If there are only two of you, good luck fighting over the last prawn.

For dessert, we ordered ‘milopita’, an addictive twist on Greek apple cake which sees crunchy biscuit, caramelised apples and cinnamon stirred through ice cream.

We love that the wine list proudly heroes Greek producers, too.

If you're looking for a special occasion Greek spot for your next date night or celebration dinner, give this one a go.

27/11/2025

Relief for some, hikes for most - industry leaders warn that higher prices and venue closures are now unavoidable

Some 750,000 UK operators will benefit from reduced business rates, but many feel this support arrives too late, and too selectively, to be meaningful.

27/11/2025

'Founded in 1916, Bentley’s has weathered wars, recessions, and a century of London’s chaos, and feels stronger than ever,' says SquareMeal's Aoife Silke, as we revisit one of London's most essential restaurants.

Founded in 1916, Bentley's has weathered two world wars, rationing, and more than a few economic implosions. Its modern era began in 2005, under the stewardship of Richard Corrigan ...

26/11/2025

London’s 90s-themed cocktail bar ✨

This retro 90s interactive cocktail bar is designed to look like a retro video rental store - complete with shelves of dusty VHS tapes, Pepsi vending machines and old-school Super Nintendo game consoles 👾

The multi-sensory experience features a huge range of activities, from jumbo arcade games to pinball machines, karaoke and themed brunch events 🎤

Don’t worry, there’s plenty of good grub to keep you fuelled, but super-nostalgic cocktails and American-style pizzas are the main draw 🍕🍸

25/11/2025

The signature restaurant at , Wild is the ultimate open-fire restaurant experience in the UK. We don't say that lightly - never will you sit closer to glowing coals, watching aged beef and fish smoked and seared before you eyes. Dinner at Wild is theatrical, delicious, and informative thanks to who is an equally fine host and chef. Outside of your own private chef, we reckon there's nothing quite like this anywhere in the country.

Check out the full review at squaremeal.co.uk

25/11/2025

This week's hot review is The Fat Badger in Notting Hill - a restaurant that has received plenty of attention this year. But is it worth the hype? SquareMeal Restaurants Editor Pete Dreyer heads west to find out.

Dinner at The Fat Badger starts less like dinner, and more like a night out. A bouncer greets us at the door - more friendly than your average Lloyds Bar bruiser - and, confirming that w ...

24/11/2025

Pioneering Australian chef Skye Gyngell - a trailblazer of the slow food movement and farm-to-fork dining - has passed away at the age of 62.

Gyngell was best known as a trailblazer of the slow food movement and farm-to-fork dining, first at Petersham Nurseries, and later at Spring at Somerset House, and restaurants Hearth and Marle at Heckfield Place.