The May Hit List: Sambal Shiok, Bake Street, Garden Museum Cafe, and More

This newcomer has been open just a few weeks and the receipts are already in – and it’s a bona fide hit. Blending a Soho location, beautifully balanced cocktails, and innovative East Asian-inspired cooking, it’s everything we’ve missed about dining at restaurants. The menu was created with the acclaimed Sino-Portuguese duo of TATA Eatery, and dishes like brioche ‘prawn toast’, a chicken thigh sandwich in a Hong Kong-style pineapple bun, and classic soy chicken are about as good as anything you’ll eat this year.

Dining status: Open for outdoor dining. 

There’s a reason why the queues at this recently-reopened neighbourhood café have resembled Supreme drops of late – chef-owner Feroz Gajia’s methodical approach to creating the best possible version of whatever he puts his mind to consistently yields incredible results. His latest experiments: a Nashville-style hot chicken sandwich and a fried fish sandwich that join staples like excellent birria tacos, homemade salsas, and a justifiably famous smashburger. Each is among the very best examples of their kind in London.

Dining status: Open for takeaway and outdoor dining. Walk-ins only. Learn more here. 

If one aspect of the past year has been a new appreciation for the little things we used to take for granted, then Café Deco, by Rochelle Canteen and River Café alum Anna Tobias, deserves to be the opening of the year. Opened with the team behind 40 Maltby Street, there are no bells and whistles at this understated café and restaurant; simple plates like leeks vinaigrette, a steamed fish with fennel, crunchy puntarelle and butter sauce, or a perfect steamed treacle pudding transcend their humble billings, while a few tables on a pavement moments from the British Museum are a fitting place to take it all in.

Dining status: Open for outdoor dining, deli open for takeaway. Learn more here. 

Jeremy Chan is among the most forward-thinking chefs around – so, after a year of lockdown, anticipate a doozy of a reopening menu when Ikoyi’s kitchen fires up its burners on May 17^th. Using West African ingredients and British seafood, meat, and vegetables as a jumping off point for dazzling tasting menus, it’s the kind of creativity that’s been missed. The restaurant’s iconic plantain and scotch bonnet snack and riff on the talismanic jollof rice — here, smoked, with a base note of shellfish dashi — are unlikely to be going anywhere, but the rest of the menu will be delightfully open to interpretation.

Dining status: Reopening for indoor dining on May 17th. 

This Holloway belter is known best for two things: Chef-owner Mandy Yin’s uncompromising bowls of Malaysian laksa, and being perpetually busy, such is its popularity with locals and pilgrims alike. While they’re not open for indoor dining yet, snag a table on the pavement and slurp noodles with abandon; order an extra dish of crisp fried chicken (one of the city’s finest) or curry puffs as a reward. Also, look out for exceptional specials, like fragrant, tangy Assam laksa topped with fresh herbs and flaked mackerel.

Dining status: Open for outdoor dining. 

After a stint on Osea Island tragically cut short by the pandemic, Native has returned to London with a residency at renowned boutique Browns. Ivan Tisdall-Downes’ food is innovative – deploying wild and foraged British ingredients like sea buckthorn, pigeon and venison – but never less than delicious. Standouts like smacked cucumbers with fermented brown crab and chilli, or kohlrabi ajo blanco with cherry blossom, pair well with botanical cocktails. A secluded courtyard in Mayfair is an idyllic place to take it all in.

Dining status: Open for outdoor dining. Learn more here. 

The red lanterns are swaying beneath crowds of diners again, and spring is in the air. Chinatown is back, and not a moment too soon – the area’s old-timers need all the help they can get to recover. Whether you swing by this classic dumpling shop (it’s takeaway only, for now), pull up a table for Cantonese roast meats at Four Seasons, or go for an all-out yum cha feast at Golden Phoenix, be sure to return frequently to this vital neighbourhood.

Dining status: Open for takeaway at 4-8 Newport Pl. Many Chinatown restaurants have reopened for outdoor dining. 

Many fell over themselves to snap up tables as soon as a venerated old-timer or upscale omakase counter announced a reopening date; but the smart money, as ever, is on the hidden gems. With award-winning pedigree and a team of veterans from some of the city’s finest restaurants, the seasonal British cooking is adored for its generosity and restraint; a dish of sweetbreads with lardo and peas, perhaps; fine handmade tagliatelle with cured egg yolk, or a whole brill with spring vegetables. A setting among the city’s loveliest – overlooking the Garden Museum’s serene courtyard – is difficult to beat.

Dining status: Open for outdoor dining. Learn more here. 

Francophiles rejoice – this popular NYC import has finally brought its Left Bank (via the West Village) brand of bonhomie to Portobello Road. Expect lashings of Gallic nostalgia with a New Yorker’s attention to detail; pretty vintage maps, red interior accents, and handwritten chalkboards give it a cosy feel, while archetypal bistro dishes – steak tartare, roast chicken salad, escargots – and French wines sidle up nicely with brunchy fare and stiff cocktails. A no-reservations terrace makes it ideal for sunny weekend catchups.

Dining status: Open for outdoor dining. Walk-ins only. Learn more here. 

After months of shuffling around a local park in expensive pyjamas, an evening at an occasion-worthy restaurant feels like a balm. A meal on the swoon-worthy terrace of this rooftop seafood establishment – found inside the chic Hoxton Southwark – is a fitting reminder of a restaurant’s restorative potential; sparkling platters of oysters and shellfish, copious bottles of fizz, and a view across the city that, post-lockdown, just hits different.

Dining status: Open for outdoor dining on the restaurant’s terrace. Learn more here.