Last Updated on January 22, 2026
Our pick of the new restaurants in London that opened over the last 12 months.
London’s restaurant scene in 2025 felt busy, bruised and oddly buoyant all at once. New restaurants in London continued to open at a pace, but the mood has softened. This is no longer a city chasing spectacle for its own sake. Instead, many of the most talked-about London restaurant openings are built around comfort: neighbourhood bistros where the food really matters, restaurants that favour balance over showmanship and giltz, and chef-led projects that put quality ingredients and warmth before wow factor. As we have seen repeatedly on London-Unattached, diners looking for new London restaurants now want places they can return to and genuinely recommend to friends, not just tick off a list.
This year has also brought a note of sadness. The closure of much-loved institutions such as Locanda Locatelli, after more than 20 years, and cult favourites like Lyle’s reminds us that even the best restaurants in London are never entirely immune.
Which raises the obvious question: what makes a new restaurant in London worth visiting now? In 2025, the centre of gravity has shifted away from the theatre of dining and towards a feel-good sensation. The best new restaurants in London are those with a clear sense of identity, where the cooking has an honest quality rather than being an overworked formula, with dining rooms that encourage you to linger rather than rush and where you’ll enjoy the whole occasion of going out.
London-Unattached has long championed restaurants where chefs cook food they genuinely believe in, supported by service that is knowledgeable, kind and quietly confident. Across the city, the strongest new London restaurant openings share that same instinct for generosity, choosing substance over spin and consistency over cleverness. These are places that understand their neighbourhood, their audience and the moment they are operating in, and respond with honesty rather than hype.
That is the way London-Unattached approaches new restaurants in London. We are not obsessed with novelty for novelty’s sake, although we love innovation when it’s appropriate. We visit, we consider, and we write for readers who care deeply about where to eat in London and how to spend their time and money well – whether that’s fine dining or a local bistro.
Our guides to the best new restaurants in London are always from places we’ve visited and from meals we’ve actually eaten, always grounded in lived experience rather than press releases. In a city where London restaurant openings and closures now arrive with equal regularity, our aim remains simple: to help you find new restaurants in London that are not just new, but truly worth returning to.
Perhaps it will come as little surprise that our top three new openings in 2025 all fall into the ‘comfort food’ category in one way or another. It was really hard to pick three from the places we tried in 2025. In fact, our very first monthly opening, in January 2025, has made it to our short list. We loved Dove Restaurant in Notting Hill, Jackson Boxer’s replacement for Orasay – and it fits perfectly with what we noted in 2025 – that return to comfort eating and affordability. Mains here are around £30 – not cheap but perhaps acceptable to your bank manager. And, the duck fat chips we loved are still on the menu!
Our second ‘top of the top’ opening for 2025 was One Club Row, a stone’s throw from Shoreditch High Street Station, on the first floor of the already popular Knave of Clubs pub. Apart from the fabulous, very moreish food, we loved the vibe. It’s the kind of place we will go back to again and again – somewhere I genuinely wish was on my own doorstep! Again, you’ll find mains from £20 – £35, the kind of food you’ll want to try!
Finally, for the ultimate in comfort dining, it has to be Corenucopia – December’s restaurant of the month, a new venue from Michelin-starred Clare Smyth that aims to be the perfect ‘Luxury Bistro’. Just off swanky Sloane Square, it’s perfectly located for both residents and shoppers – and the menu has all the trappings of a favourite in the making. We loved the ‘potato menu’ – a nod to Smyth’s own childhood on a farm in Ireland – and we particularly enjoyed the caviar-laden CFC and the light-as-a-feather Irish Coffee-Misu.
It wasn’t easy to pick – of the twelve restaurants we reviewed as part of this series, only a couple were in any way disappointing. We loved the Martinis (and food) at 74 Charlotte Street, the Greek hospitality and Mediterranean food at Pyro, the fabulous Spanish dishes at Legado and the funky pan-Asian food at Moi. All are worthy of a visit or three. Have we missed anything? Let us know in the comments!
We’ve rounded up all of the 2025 reviews to make life easy for you. Check the roundup, and you can click through to find more about what we thought together with booking details.
New Restaurants in London for 2025
Our Restaurant of the Month for the whole of 2025 - recommended new restaurants in London for each month of the year
Chef Jackson Boxer closed his seafood restaurant Orasay on New Year's Eve to reopen as Dove a week later on the same spot with the same team.
La Môme is all about the scene, and if you buy into that and can afford the bill, then you will have a lovely time.
The atmosphere at Templar feels refined without being stuffy; it would work as a date venue or pre-theatre/cinema dinner, and is a respectable addition to the various upscale non-chain restaurants proliferating around the edge of Westfield’s pedestrian offering
Shoreditch, with its endless appetite for the next big thing, has been thrown a new bauble in the form of One Club Row, a handsome restaurant set above the Knave of Clubs pub.
Pyro is a celebration of cooking over fire, where bold Greek flavours meet refined technique in a menu built for sharing. Led by Yiannis Mexis, whose pedigree includes Elystan Street, The Ledbury, and HIDE, this is a restaurant that blends serious culinary craft with the laid-back spirit of a Mediterranean gathering.
t’s rare that there is a confluence of geopolitics and fine dining in our decision-making, but this month, that is just what happened. We were keen to support Sino, a new Ukrainian restaurant; food is an essential part of soft power, and the country needs all the support it can get. But it was chef Eugene Korolev’s CV that also won us over.
Barbarella is the latest addition to the Big Mamma stable, and it’s London Unattached’s Restaurant of the Month for July.
Our restaurant of the month for August is Moi on Wardour Street, right in the heart of Soho. It’s the debut of MAD Restaurants, a new hospitality group founded by Artem Login with ex-Gordon Ramsey executive chef Andy Cook.
Legado's mission is ‘to celebrate the diverse regional food cultures of Spain and its islands, allowing the lesser-known to take centre stage’. In addition to the restaurant, there is a tapas and pintxos bar, ‘The Taberna’, which deserves a separate visit.
Cicoria, an ‘Italian-inspired restaurant’ focused on the Emilia-Romagna region, and the adjacent Bar Cicoria, a Turin-style all-day rooftop terrace bar, both sit on the 5th floor at the Royal Opera House.
There’s a reason we’ve chosen 74 Charlotte Street as our restaurant of the month: this is Ben Murphy’s first solo venture since his celebrated stint at Launceston Place. The attention to detail is evident the moment you step inside.
Rather than chasing trends, this Chelsea restaurant offers familiarity. British classics cooked with care, confident flavours, and dishes where the pleasure comes from a quiet satisfaction. Corenucopia is not excess but ease, with a menu that promises to nourish and comfort at a moment when we are searching for reassurance.
Looking for more top-tier dining in the capital? Don’t miss our curated guides to London’s finest fish restaurants and the ultimate spots for a classic London Sunday roast. Every venue featured has been personally tried and tested – we never recommend anything but the best.
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