Where to eat & drink in London
Vivi Restaurant London — an independent London dining guide of restaurant reviews, written by two critics who pay for their own dinner.
Six worth booking nowRestaurant reviews: six worth booking now
Hand-picked by the criticsVivi Restaurant London reviews the rooms worth booking — start with these six.
- I.
The Marksman
The first pub in London to win Michelin Pub of the Year — an unpretentious boozer downstairs, a Bib Gourmand dining room above it.
- II.
Otto's Restaurant
One of the last restaurants in London still performing genuine tableside duck-pressing — a near-extinct piece of classical French ritual.
- III.
Swift
The upstairs cocktail bar on Old Compton Street is the best pre-dinner stop in Soho. Two bars, one building.
- IV.
The Connaught Bar
Ago Perrone's martini trolley remains the most perfect cocktail service in London. Dress for it. Book a week ahead.
- V.
Quo Vadis
Jeremy Lee's Soho institution on Dean Street is the best lunch in the neighbourhood. Go for the smoked eel.
- VI.
Scott's
The Mount Street seafood institution since 1851 — Dover sole, native oysters, and a Champagne bar built for a long lunch.
The neighbourhood guide
All neighbourhoods
"The cured mackerel arrives looking like it was plated by someone who has never once rushed a service in their life."
— Clara Whitfield, on Noble Rot
How Vivi Restaurant London works
Vivi Restaurant London runs on two rules: every visit is anonymous, and every bill is paid by us. No restaurant on this site knew a critic was in the room, and no meal was comped — which is the working definition of an independent London restaurant guide: the room is judged on the night it did not know it was being judged.
As a London dining guide, Vivi London is organised the way people actually decide where to eat — by area first, then by occasion, then by the individual room. Fifteen neighbourhood pages carry the areas, three longer guides in The File carry the occasions, and eighty reviews carry the rooms.
The restaurant reviews follow one shape — the room, what to order, the drinks list, what you will pay, and a verdict — so that two rooms can be compared like for like. When a kitchen, chef or menu changes materially, the review is revisited rather than left to age; Vivi London retires a recommendation the moment it stops being true.
How to use this London dining guide
This London dining guide is organised the way the city actually eats: by area first. The neighbourhood guide covers fifteen districts from Soho to Hammersmith, each with the rooms that make it worth the trip and the honest reasons to skip what's nearby.
Occasion pages sit alongside it — bottomless brunch, afternoon tea and the cocktail bars we trust — plus longer guides to Italian rooms, Sunday roasts and the Michelin list. Start with the neighbourhood guide if you know where you'll be; start with an occasion page if you know what the night is for.
An independent food critic, twice over
Two bylines carry every word here: Clara Whitfield on dining rooms and Nathaniel Ashford on bars and pubs. Each writes as an independent food critic in the plainest sense — paying their own way, booking under other names, and returning before changing a verdict. An independent food critic has no seat at the PR table, and that's the point.
Questions readers ask
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The Vivi Dispatch
One email a month. New rooms worth booking, nothing sponsored. Drop us a line and we'll add you to the list.