The November Hit List: Dalla, Bambi, Ladbroke Hall, and More

Hackney’s run of excellent neighbourhood Italian restaurants continues, and Dalla may be its most special yet. The intimate space that formerly housed Peg on Morning Lane has been transformed into a gorgeous, beautifully lit dining room ably run by brothers Gennaro and Gianmarco Leone. The latter’s partner in the kitchen is chef Mitchell Damota, whose homestyle cooking has built a following in East London with stints at Burro e Salvia and the late P. Franco, working together to create a short but sweet menu to order wholesale (expect stellar pastas, antipasti, and comfort fare like guinea fowl cacciatore). Add in personable service, classical Italian wines (with plenty by the magnum) and the kind of room to linger in for long lunches or to illuminate the long winter nights, and it’s clear that the restaurant feels like a future classic in the making.

The journey of Chishuru and its owner, Adejoké ‘Joké’ Bakare, from a trailblazing Brixton residency to a jewel in central London’s crown mirrors the growing popularity of West African cuisine in the capital, an area in which the acclaimed chef has led the way in. A beautiful split-level dining room moments from Oxford Circus provides an intimate setting to enjoy Bakare’s ever-thrilling cooking, with a changing prix fixe menu the perfect way to experience an array of dishes that reimagine the region’s foodways. To drink, low-intervention French wines are favoured, as well as cocktails that highlight West African ingredients. Gathering a few friends for dinner to experience the whole menu is best, but the £35 lunch menu is a similarly excellent way to glimpse the chef’s genius.

Call it a yearning for simpler times or a desire for guaranteed satisfaction when the act of eating out has to deliver, but London’s latest crop of French restaurants has turned up gold. Among the best is Bistro Freddie, a chic Parisian-ish bistro in Shoreditch (around the corner from Leroy, no slouch itself) that promises candlelight, wine, and ambience galore to go with its menu of classical bistro plates. The menu is scrawled anew each day and reads like most chefs’ idea of a dream menu – alongside nostalgic starters (egg mayo, garlic butter snails), there’s a pie of the day for two, plus meat and fish cooked over fire. Frites are essential, and Alex Price’s French wine list hits all the notes.

Imogen Davis and Ivan Tisdall-Downes are leaders in the field of sustainable dining, and in creating innovative menus that showcase overlooked or invasive ingredients, they’ve pushed diners in expanding the limits of what the British natural larder could look like. They’ve invited a who’s who of their peers – from trailblazers like Tatale’s Akwasi Brenya-Mensa and Adriana Cavita, to respected veterans like Sabrina Gidda and Paradise’s Dom Fernando – to answer the question, ‘what does sustainability look like in different cultures?’. Each meal arrives as a full formed six-course menus in the environs of one of London’s most jaw-dropping kitchen theatres. Expect exquisite and thoughtful cooking paired to thought-provoking conversation — both Davis and Tisdall-Downes are incredibly affable hosts. Tickets on sale here.

This London Fields newcomer takes up the site of the recently departed Bright (RIP) but has immediately injected a sense of fun into the neighbourhood. Equal parts listening bar and wine bar, there’s an irreverent sense of fun here that’s reminiscent of the likes of Bambino in Paris, with guests perching at high stools, an open kitchen and bar for theatrics, and shelf upon shelf of vinyl, bookended by state-of-the-art speakers. The food (from chef Henry Freestone) is uncomplicated and delicious, offering chicken parm and marinara sandwiches by day, evolving into a wine and small plates affair at night. Expect dishes like cauliflower cheese arancini, roast squash and ricotta, or whole roast chicken with green sauce and chicken fat focaccia until 10pm, when the floor is cleared for DJs to spin until 1am.

Luxury hotel group Raffles has arrived in London with some fanfare, with a reimagining of the former Old War Office (OWO) as a modern luxury hotel that has to be seen to be believed, and a fleet of new restaurants that could warrant mention here on their own. Chief amongst these is the flagship fine dining restaurant by chef Mauro Colagreco of Mirazur, whose credentials (three Michelin stars, World’s 50 Best accolades) are impressive, translating to menus that lean on hyperseasonal British vegetables and fruit, with each dish prepared with uncommon precision. Taken in beautiful surroundings, this level of cooking and coddling costs, but Colagreco appears to have achieved something few of his globetrotting peers have pulled off – created world class menus that Londoners genuinely want to eat.

Moko’s laid-back atmosphere, immaculately organised walls of vinyl and crispy sound system befit its status as one of London’s foremost listening bars (and sister to Peckham’s popular Jumbi), so it’s also fitting that the food offering at this beloved Tottenham bar reflected the neighbourhood it’s arrived in. Safiya Robinson founded the Sisterwoman vegan concept to share the best part of her dual Caribbean and African American heritage, cooking up plant-forward dishes foundational to both cultures with panache. A sturdy po’boy sandwich exemplifies this, stuffed with cornmeal fried oyster mushrooms, spicy ackee remoulade and escovitch pickle (the fried plantain add-on is always worth it). Elsewhere, grilled okra are dusted with house made fried ‘chicken’ salt and served with spicy ackee mayo, and a side of Robinson’s signature mac and cheese is all but essential. A daily special makes it worth dropping in at lunch, and we also like three plates for £20 at dinner. Don’t miss out.

Having made their mark in Mayfair and Covent Garden with the excellent Kitty Fisher’s and Cora Pearl respectively, the owners of two of London’s most iconic British restaurants have planted their flag in Soho with the opening of Café Kitty. Tucked deep within the new Underbelly Boulevard Theatre in one of the area’s infamous alleys, the restaurant itself is a chic, intimate space, perfect for pre- and post-theatre meals, lunch dates, or late-night trysts. As one expects, cocktails are a strength, as is a menu of upscale British comfort fare that numbers snacky numbers like Devon crab croquettes or lumpia-like crispy beef ‘cigarillos’, to heartier plates like fish pie or a beef wing rib for two to share.

One of London’s most dramatic new dining rooms has opened at Ladbroke Hall, a former car showroom-turned-arts centre in Notting Hill that’s recently attracted the attention of London’s art crowd. Imagine a smaller scale Wolseley reimagined in a Beaux-Arts style with contemporary design, uplifted by decorative granite columns and towering arched windows, and anchored by a black granite bar and a dramatic mesh chandelier. The restaurant is the namesake of chef Emanuele Pollini, whose elegant Italian fare fits both the setting and neighbourhood to a tee, playing the hits like Cetara anchovies; yellowtail crudo; plump tortelloni stuffed with buffalo mozzarella and spinach, and monkfish acqua pazza, slowly poached in Gavi de Gavi. For afters, there’s a standout roasted mango souffle, but really, you’re here just as much for the spectacle and to crane your neck at the visuals and Christopher le Brun artworks like everyone else.

The new Harrods Dining Hall bears about as much resemblance to the average food hall as a Rolls Royce does with a Prius, which is to say it’s about as rarefied a ‘casual’ dining experience as you’ll get in the capital. Peep the lineup – fish and chips (and casual plus-ups like lobster thermidor) from Tom Kerridge, posh ramen from Dubai-based Kinoya, and inarguably the jewel in the crown, a central sushi bar from revered three Michelin-starred NYC sushi master Masa Takayama. The citadel-like space is an appropriate place to take it all in, and as long as you’re happy to hand over the equivalent of a meal at a nice restaurant for the privilege of perching at the counter (the cooking justifies the ask), you’ll be all set.