The April Hit List: Mr Ji, Marksman, The River Cafe, and More

As restaurants go, this slick East Asian-influenced restaurant hits the sweet spot between everything we’ve missed about dining – a Soho location, beautifully balanced cocktails, and innovative cooking that’s thrilling and playful, yet completely familiar. 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. That’s a promise.

Dining status: Outdoor tables are open for reservations. 

Over the past year, Chishuru’s reputation slipped into legend, with chef Joké Bakare’s creative West African cuisine cementing this tiny Brixton restaurant’s status as one of 2020’s outstanding newcomers. Precise, flavourful dishes like charred mutton skewers, groundnut soup with spiced cauliflower and peanut, and slow-cooked goat shoulder ayamase are a few highlights from a short but sweet menu. Get there before everyone else does.

Dining status: Outdoor tables are open for reservations. More info here.

Outside of a few avid diners and clued-up locals, the brilliance of this tiny Hackney restaurant and Adolfo de Cecco, its talented chef, had remained a well-kept secret. Newly minted with a Michelin star earlier this year, however, the secret is out – and now is an excellent time to experience the restaurant’s stellar, understated tasting menu (a snip at £45), presented as seven exquisite small plates with an optional wine pairing. There are only a limited number of seats a night, so act fast.

Dining status: Outdoor tables are open for reservations. 

Marksman is a ‘gastropub’ in the same way a three star establishment ‘restaurant’ – technically true, but it’s so much more. This boozer’s gorgeous terrace (overlooking a pretty corner of Hackney Road) is a huge draw in fair weather, and a perfect gathering place to celebrate with friends over delicious pies, roasts, and puddings. They’ll be reopening with a shortened menu, but really, it’s a joyous occasion all the same. Life’s too short — order that Barolo.

Dining status: Outdoor tables on the terrace are open for reservations. 

For some, a return to dining will be about the casual flex – gathering to enjoy superb cooking in casual settings. Brat’s residency at Climpson’s Arch in Hackney is perfect for those missing excellent hospitality without standing on ceremony – expensive, prized ingredients like turbot and Jersey beef cooked in a roaring wood oven; simpler plates like Spanish chicken rice or anchovy flatbread and of course, the ubiquitous Basque burnt cheesecake.

Dining status: Outdoor tables are open for reservations. Learn more here.

Few places are as worthy of a celebration as this riverside institution, and the River Café represents a pinnacle of post-lockdown anticipation. The pretty riverside setting and beautiful patio are just two reasons why it’s so beloved – exemplary service and incredible plates of hyperseasonal Italian fare are good to the last forkful. Seafood, handmade pastas, vegetables and meat cooked on the kitchen’s wood-fired grill are specialities, while equally, dessert shouldn’t be missed.

Dining status: Outdoor tables are open for reservations. Learn more here. 

Having powered through lockdown, Nick Fitzgerald (ex-Pujol) is back at his standout Borough Market taqueria, which hits the sweet spot between two London favourites – tacos and natural wine. Mexican-inspired riffs on cochinita pibil and carne asada sidle next to plates of grilled fish and frozen margaritas. Hang out at the open air bar, or grab a table by the robata grill; Mexican brunch will be new for spring.

Dining status: Outdoor tables are open for reservations. 

The return of this relaxed café on the Regents Canal typically heralds the return of spring; today, its homecoming constitutes evidence that nature is healing. Adored for its serene waterside location and a straightforward approach to quality seasonal cooking, order from the daily-changing blackboard; dishes could include mellow confit garlic and goats curd on toast, a comforting plate of lentils with sausages, or jewel-like salads of perfect vegetables at their peak.

Dining status: Outdoor tables are open for walk-ins only. Learn more here. 

Sustainable seafood is a hot topic right now, and few understand its importance more than London’s restaurants. This idyllic Notting Hill spot excels in that area, with luscious fish and seafood sourced exclusively from two harbours in Cornwall and Devon to build out a daily-changing menu of elegant dishes; baby squid with espelette and lime, perhaps, or whole John Dory grilled over seasoned wood. Drinks-wise, natural wine abounds, best enjoyed on the restaurant’s summer terrace.

Dining status: Outdoor tables are open for reservations. 

There are plenty of reasons to visit this East London distillery, among them its proximity to one of London’s best parks and the fact that its cocktail bar serves some of the best drinks around. Now, you can add exceptional French cuisine to that list, with the Leroy team setting up for their reopening to serve beautifully burnished roast chicken with herbs de Provence and other Provençal-style dishes, like pissaladière or chocolate mousse with mascherano cherries. All taken, of course, on one of the city’s most lovely outdoor terraces.

Dining status: Outdoor tables are open for reservations.