The Best Seafood Near Disrepute, by the Record
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Rank 1. Lilibet's
Seafood
Named for Queen Elizabeth II's childhood nickname, this Mayfair seafood restaurant sits on the Bruton Street site where she was born, a fact the room leans into without going overboard. The Edwardian interior moves through adjoining spaces that feel like a grand private house, each corner finished differently. The menu is built around live-fire seafood, with oysters, whole fish, and a rotating fish triptych served raw, grilled, and as a pressure-cooked soup. Stately and expensive.
- National Restaurant Awards 2026 · #57 · The National Restaurant Awards
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 2. Mazarine
French Seafood
White linen, neutral tones, and a corner spot on Hanover Square set the register before you've touched the menu. Mazarine is a formal French seafood restaurant where the room is calm enough that the ingredients do all the talking. The kitchen takes a classical approach, which is another way of saying it trusts good scallops to be good scallops. Oysters, caviar, and langoustines keep the bill climbing, but nobody here looks surprised.
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Rank 3. Tom Brown at The Capital
Modern British Seafood
Cuttlefish cacio e pepe is not a phrase that appears on many menus, and that alone tells you where Tom Brown's head is at. This intimate fine dining room inside The Capital Hotel holds a Michelin star and leans hard into seafood, with dishes that are visually considered without feeling fussy. The room is hushed and immaculate, Knightsbridge to its core, the kind of place where a long lunch feels like a reasonable decision.
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Rank 4. Cornus
Modern British Seafood
Linen-laid tables and an unhurried room in Belgravia set the tone for what's on the plate: southwestern seafood, handled with enough restraint to let the ingredients make their own case. Devon crab and Cornish cod appear regularly, and the kitchen's habit of not fussing with superb produce is a philosophy, not an oversight. A sibling to Medlar, and like that Chelsea stalwart, it holds a Michelin star.
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Rank 5. J.Sheekey
Seafood
The walls are thick with photographs of actors, which makes sense given J.Sheekey has been feeding theatreland for what feels like forever. It's an old-school seafood restaurant with wood panelling, banquette seating, and soft lighting that flatters everyone equally. The menu runs from shellfish platters to a signature fish pie, and the kitchen handles both ends of that spectrum with quiet confidence. Vegetarians are looked after better than they might expect.
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Rank 6. Scott's
Seafood
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Tucked at the back of The Savoy, this seafood restaurant earns its best seats with a view over Victoria Embankment Gardens and the Thames. Getting there means a walk through the hotel's gilded Thames Foyer, which sets the tone: this is Gordon Ramsay doing grand occasion dining, with caviar at the Raw Bar, sole meunière, and a smoked haddock chowder for anyone who needs ballast after the room's chandeliers start feeling like a lot.
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Rank 8. Olivomare
Sardinian Seafood
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Rank 9. Angler
Seafood
A Michelin-starred seafood restaurant on the top floor of the South Place Hotel, with a terrace that earns its keep on a clear London afternoon. The kitchen keeps the focus squarely on whatever's just come off the boat, and the fish never has to compete with its own garnishes. The wine list travels widely, which helps when you're working through the tasting menu and need something to think about between courses.
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Rank 10. The Sea, The Sea
Seafood
Half fishmonger, half seafood bar, The Sea, The Sea occupies a quiet mews off Sloane Square where the fish does most of the talking. The menu keeps changing and keeps its distance from fuss, letting prime-quality fish and shellfish carry things with minimal backup. Some of the catch is dry-aged for extra depth, which sounds like a trick but shows up on the plate. The terrace works nicely at lunch; inside is calm and unfussy come evening.
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Rank 11. Behind
Seafood
Eighteen seats around a horseshoe counter, and every one of them faces the kitchen, which is more or less the point. Behind is a one-Michelin-star seafood tasting restaurant in London Fields where the chefs plate, serve, and narrate each of the ten or so courses themselves. The seasonal menu runs wherever the seafood takes it. The whole room eats together, so lateness is less a social failing than a logistical one.
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Rank 12. Island
Seafood
Surf and turf is the whole point here, and the kitchen leans into it without apology. This loud, cheerful seafood and grill restaurant sits on the upper floor of the King's Cross Mare Street Market, where two chefs split duties across land and sea and do their most interesting work where those territories overlap. Duck and mussel skewers, lamb belly and clam, that kind of thing. The room is genuinely lively and the service keeps pace.