Notting
NottingHill is one of London's most iconic neighbourhoods; a
picture-perfect enclave of leafy streets, cobbled mews, colourful
houses and classic cars. But for all of its polished concept stores
and groomed dogs (with their equally coiffured owners), the soul of
the area still remains. You may have taken a dive into the swell of
nipple tassel-wearing crowds that flood its street during carnival,
or visited on a Saturday when Portobello Market swings into action
selling every semi-broken antique imaginable. Walking its streets,
you'll find stylish locals, buskers, food stalls, steel drum
players and fragrant spice shops.
From some angles, Notting Hill looks the same as it did in the
90s when Hugh Grant and his puppy-dog eyes made it a tourist hot
spot, but it's also a place overflowing with young people, buzzy
bars, contemporary art and some great cooking. The food scene isn't
the most talked about in the city, but scratch the surface and
you'll find a bellyful of cutting-edge eateries run by ambitious
chefs, alongside traditional caffs that have been serving the same
full English and bowls of tea since the 60s. Like the world-famous
market itself, all you have to do is a little digging.
Cutting-edge kitchens, traditional cafés and the Notting Hill
restaurants where you should be dining
restaurant
Orasay
Notting Hill
Named after the Scottish island where chef Jackson Boxer's
family have spent their summers since he was young, Orasay promises
a menu which focuses heavily (and somewhat unsurprisingly) on
seafood. Tuck into the likes of scallops, river oysters, surf clams
and lobster - plus a few land-based dishes, including a succulent
shorthorn rib with black kale - to a backdrop of lime-washed walls
flanked with Kate Boxer's (Jackson's mother) paintings. Book ahead
of time as the slim dining room, kitted out with slouchy linen
banquettes and unclothed antique French oak tables, has limited
seating.
Rubbing shoulders with sister restaurant Mazi, Suzi Tros offers
similar fare to it's older sibling, focusing more acutely on
northern-Greek cuisine. Dishes inspired by the diners of
Thessaloniki are simple and prices are modest, ranging from £2 to
£22. Start with grill-marked bread with creamy taramasalata and
follow with prawn saganaki and smoked aubergine laden with tahini
and honey. For a fresh dish, the tomato and cucumber salad hits the
spot, while turbot (served off the bone) with zesty greens is
another must-order. Request a table upstairs in the bright back
room if you're planning a drawn-out dinner or, for a more brief
bite, aim for the bar seating towards the front of the
restaurant.
Choose from a well-edited menu of small bites at the Tel-Aviv
inspired Haya to stave off hunger while final decisions are being
reached - opt for the grilled halloumi skewers and padron peppers
served with smoked salt and harissa mayo. For mains, a strong order
for two would read: Jaffa-style cauliflower; asparagus with cashew
sauce and feta cheese; spiced lamb cutlets with honey yoghurt
(these are generously portioned); and a tendril of grilled octopus
served with rainbow chard and turmeric emulsion. The dessert
offering is just as good. Let your fullness levels guide and either
go light with the deconstructed lemon meringue and raspberries -
perfect for those whose key interest in said dessert is the whippy
top - or go all-out with the home-baked cookies served with
chocolate fudge, salted-caramel ice cream and hazelnuts.
This neighbourhood restaurant on Portobello Road would go
unnoticed were it not for the rave reviews being whispered around
the borough. Gold is the sort of place with which you'd expect
Notting Hill to be littered, but which is surprisingly hard to come
by. A hybrid between a pub and an al-fresco dining space, Gold has
interiors with an artisanal feel, at once informal and eclectic.
It's spread over three floors - the ground level is the most
atmospheric thanks to the garden terrace's dusty coral walls,
potted palms and a strong hurricane lantern-to-table ratio. Made
using live-fire cooking, dishes are designed to be shared and are
served as soon as they are ready. Don't miss the wood-roasted,
whole sea bream with wild oregano and capers or the black tiger and
datterini tomato salad with salted ricotta, basil and verjus
dressing. The burrata paired with charred flat peaches, Tuscan ham,
radicchio and balsamic dressing is also a knockout. We'd go on if
this weren't making us oh so very hungry.
Portobello hipsters get their kicks at this independent shop,
which sells bits and bobs for the home and the great outdoors.
Situated next door to Rough Trade records, you can pick up
ceramics, utility clothing, prints, candles, and the kind of
camping equipment you'd never actually take camping. In the back
room, you'll find a dog-friendly café fitted with reclaimed wood
serving craft coffee, brunch classics and crumbly custard
tarts.
This casual, contemporary restaurant founded by Emily Roux
(daughter of chef Michel Roux Jr) and Diego Ferrari oozes with
character. Evening seatings serve up romantic vibes in dimly lit
surrounds while afternoon slots offer a lighter atmosphere.
Interiors blend edge and polish - think: rough brick walls and
velvet seating - and the menu is similarly eclectic, with a focus
on Italian and French cuisine (to reflect its owners' respective
provenances). Feast on an à la carte menu of seared-oxtail ravioli
with beef consommé and bone marrow and mackerel served with confit
beetroot, black cardamom and parsley, or try a wider selection of
dishes by opting for the £78 tasting menu.
This peaceful artisanal bakery/wine bar is a little
Parisian-esque postcard of wooden floors and rusty lights, with a
marble bar topped with perfect floury bread and fluffy cakes.
Choose from an all-day breakfast menu of classic egg dishes (ham
and cheese omelette, benedict, Montreal...), hot bagels, fruit and
lots of seasonal toppings piled onto crunchy sourdough. There is
excellent coffee and many a corner to sit and read a book in the
sunlight as you wait for the fine wine to start flowing.
After their success in Soho
and
East London, the soup-and-noodle masters behind Tonkotsu have
voyaged west. Few things beat a bowl of steaming ramen with a cold
beer - which explains why we struggle to go a week without visiting
this place. All of their bouncy noodles are made in-house and their
slow-cooked pork broths come topped with things like sliced
chicken, tender pork, spring onions and a gooey marinated egg,
sprinkled with their famous 'eat the bits' chilli oil. Be sure to
try the fried ginger and soy chicken, silky gyoza and one of their
killer Japanese-inspired cocktails.
There's nothing like a café as homely as your best friend's
living room to give you an appetite for cake. This cosy little spot
serves Monmouth coffee and lovingly homemade sweet treats, as well
as comforting breakfast and lunch dishes like homemade granola,
colourful salads, English muffins with smoked salmon and, of
course, avocado and poached eggs on toast.
If it's an intense pizza craving you need to tend to, Pizza East
will happily oblige. Just like its Shoreditch counterpart, this
split-level restaurant is rustic and with a carefully curated
dishevelled look born from blue steel chairs and plenty of
reclaimed wood. Pizzas are dressed in silky mozzarella, slow-cooked
tomato sauce and toppings like black truffle, burrata, spicy
sausage or veal meatballs and slid into the blazing white-tiled
pizza oven, where they crisp up perfectly while still retaining
that delightful doughiness.
This local favourite recently expanded from its long-standing
home on Portobello Road to this new spot on the corner of
Westbourne Park Road. The Japanese diner serves top-quality sushi,
seafood dishes, steamed buns and sake in a classic, creaky-floored
West London pub, where their dining room is lavished with pop art
posters, retro lighting fixtures and Japanese cartoons.
Critics are falling over themselves to get a seat at this
British-Asian restaurant, set in a former garage. Many of the
original details lend themselves nicely to a cool, industrial
interior, from the brick walls to the exposed pipework and concrete
floors. The best seats in the house are at the bar, where you can
watch the chefs at work. The bold, colourful food is served on
handmade Japanese ceramic dishes - things like braised lamb
agnolotti, veal sweetbread with hazelnuts and short rib with dill
pickles. And the pre-dinner (and post-dinner, in our case)
sourdough is something to behold. Definitely somewhere you'll want
to book in advance.
Picture yourself as a glossy haired new mother in linen overalls
with a penchant for rare truffles - and this is where you'd come.
This luxurious farm shop sells the kind of organic wine, preserves
and cheeses you wish you had in your cupboard. It also has an
in-house butcher and fishmonger, sells organic skincare and has
some pretty beautiful homeware on sale, too. Visit the breezy café
for seasonal breakfast, brunch, lunch and supper dishes made using
produce from the shop, with freshly baked bread and butter from
their own creamery.
Finally, good tacos have come to London. You can indulge this
new obsession at this slick Mexican joint on Westbourne Grove,
which started life as a successful Portobello Road food stall. In
2005 they opened their first permanent space - a brickwork,
industrial-style space with a bar at its centre. They make their
own soft-corn tortillas, which are loaded with traditional fillings
like battered fish, juicy slow-cooked beef or shredded pork with
pickled jalapeño. Their more contemporary flavours include
soft-shell crab and fried plantain with mature cheese. You'll want
to sample as many as you can fit on the table, but save space for
some ceviche tostadas, garlic-mushroom quesadillas, a deep-fried
oyster with chipotle mayo and, of course, margaritas - they have
all kinds of intoxicating versions, including pink grapefruit and
cucumber.
Slip in to this bright antipodean café for some virtuous food
from Rose Mann, a holisitic eater who spent her youth milking cows
on a dairy farm in Australia. Order a cold brew or a rose latte at
the teal-tiled counter before settling down by the big windows or
in the whitewashed courtyard. You'll feel pretty good about
yourself after a some pumpkin millet porridge, baked Turkish eggs,
lentil and fennel salad or a coconut BLT (apparently coconuts are
now masquerading as bacon). There are also crab cakes, chicken
sandwiches and a big plate of steak and chips, with the option to
sprinkle some bee pollen, maca and spirulina on top...