The Best Places in the United Kingdom

A separate building on the sea wall means the Atlantic is basically your table setting at this relaxed seafood restaurant attached to the Watergate Bay Hotel. The open kitchen turns out a short, focused menu that leans hard into whatever the Cornish coast is offering, and a window seat on a clear evening makes the food almost beside the point, though the cooking makes sure it isn't.

The room was a banking hall once, and it still has the bones to prove it: high ceilings, wood panelling, and neo-Gothic stonework that makes ordering a curry feel pleasantly theatrical. This is a proper sit-down Indian restaurant with a broad regional menu that leans north, where the spicing works to pull out flavour rather than announce itself. Cocktails at the central bar, and the window seats look out over Hyde Park.

The house term is "Britalian pizza," which tells you most of what you need to know about this South London pizzeria. The dough is light and well-worked, built for toppings that lean into British flavor alongside the more traditional options. Purists may want to sit down before they open the menu, but everyone else tends to be pleasantly disarmed. It ranked in 50 Top Pizza Europe, if you need a reason to make the trip down to Peckham.

The bar bills still come printed from "The Bar With No Name Ltd," even though there's now a branded canopy outside giving the whole speakeasy game away. This tiny cocktail bar on a quiet Islington corner seats fewer than forty, so ring ahead. Inside, eight green industrial lamps hang spider-like over a two-tone room that lands somewhere between 1950s Italian café and serious molecular mixology den, which is a combination nobody else is attempting.

A neighborhood pizzeria on London Road that's quietly gotten serious about its dough, working it toward a lighter, more digestible structure that holds the toppings without competing with them. The menu tilts contemporary without abandoning the classics, and the ingredients are chosen with more care than the setting might suggest. It ranked 31st in 50 Top Pizza Europe, which is a remarkable thing to achieve on a suburban high street.

A cocktail bar born from misfortune, Casual by Tayēr started as the team's answer to a fire that shuttered their original spot. Tucked inside Cato on Mercer Street, it runs as a pop-up series, each chapter riffing on a new theme through the Tayēr lens. The drinks pull from both sides of the original pairing, Tayēr's creativity meeting Elementary's precision, and the tight space puts you closer to the bartenders than almost any bar stool could.

A Victorian pump house tucked down one of Edinburgh's famously steep closes off the Royal Mile, Devil's Advocate is a cocktail bar with a back bar stacked with over 200 Scotch and world whiskies that stops most people in their tracks on the way in. The space runs across several levels, all sleek and modern in a way that shouldn't work inside a Victorian pump house but does. The cocktail list pulls equal weight with the whisky wall.

A cocktail bar on the 52nd floor of the Shard, Gŏng has the views you'd expect and, rarer than it sounds at this altitude, cocktails that could hold their own at ground level too. The name comes from "dougong," the interlocking wooden brackets of traditional Chinese architecture, which you can spot supporting the shelves behind the bar. Shangri-La service, an infinity pool next door, and a horizon that covers most of southern England.

The basement cocktail bar beneath the original Hawksmoor steakhouse, tucked under Spitalfields on Commercial Street. The drinks are complex but the staff wear it lightly, which is either the charm or the whole point. Named for the architect whose Christ Church looms just down the road, though the vibe runs more candlelit den than baroque monument. A five-star rating from Difford's Guide gives you a sense of how seriously the team takes a good cocktail.

You enter through a red phone box at the mouth of Clifton Down station, which tells you most of what you need to know. Inside, the British theme runs all the way down, cozy sofas for groups, limited bar stools, and a pocket-sized menu small enough to pocket as a souvenir. The small team runs it like a living room they're genuinely attached to, and the bar shows it. A cocktail bar with a spy name and a neighborhood heart.

Neapolitan pizza in Hampstead, which tells you something about both the pizza and the neighborhood. L'Antica Pizzeria takes the tradition seriously without treating it like a sacred text, turning out light, airy dough with a fermentation that does the work quietly in the background. The room is cozy and informal, the pace unhurried, and the whole thing suits the leafy, unhurried village-that-forgot-it's-in-London energy of Heath Street.

The paparazzi camped on the mews out back are, in their own way, part of the ambience. The Ladder Shed is the bar tucked into Chiltern Firehouse, the gothic Victorian fire station turned celebrity hotel on a quiet Marylebone backstreet. It draws the kind of crowd that arrives by arrangement and leaves by the side door, which makes ordering a drink feel faintly conspiratorial and, depending on your outlook, either tedious or a good story.

There's no sign outside, just a bell to push and a lobby that makes you feel like you're about to do something mildly illicit. Milk and Honey is a members-style cocktail bar on Poland Street with a downtown New York pedigree, the sibling of Sasha Petraske's Manhattan original that helped reshape what a serious bar could be. The hush inside is very much the point.

The bar top is cast from old pavement lights, and the water carafes are repurposed gin bottles, which tells you everything about the aesthetic before you've ordered. Sager and Wilde is a candlelit wine bar on Hackney Road, bare brick and unpretentious, where the list is the whole point. Early evenings, light cuts through the Venetian blinds at a mood-appropriate angle; after that, candles take over and the room does the rest.

A white marble bar with glass shelving draws the eye the moment you walk into this hotel cocktail bar on the upper floor of the Blythswood Square. Red velvet seating and a long chandelier set the tone, which is somewhere between grand and genuinely comfortable. Waiters bustle between the white columns with the quiet urgency of people who mean it. Difford's Guide awards it five stars, which in cocktail-bar terms is the whole stack.

Cork tiles, shag pile, and Zombies served in tiki mugs: Trailer Happiness is a basement cocktail bar in Notting Hill that leans hard into mid-century Californian trailer-park kitsch and never apologizes for it. The room feels like a bachelor pad that got stuck in 1966 and decided to stay, which is more or less the point. Rum drinks and tiki culture are the whole religion down here, and the vol-au-vent energy is entirely real.

The dining room is polished enough that you'd almost forget you're here for pizza, which is precisely the point. This Southwark pizzeria brings Neapolitan tradition to London with a tidier, more considered setting than the usual slice-and-go, the kind of room where the dough is still the star but it arrives in surroundings that take themselves slightly more seriously. A second London location shares the same formula.

The dough here leans Neapolitan but doesn't prostrate itself at the altar of tradition, which is probably why this Peckham Rye pizzeria has carved out its own personality rather than just cosplaying Naples. The menu moves with the seasons, the crust is soft and handled well, and the whole room runs warm and informal in the way a good pizzeria should. It's on the 50 Top Pizza Europe list, and the Shoreditch outpost draws the same crowd.

Long-fermented dough is the whole argument at this Neapolitan-style pizzeria tucked into a quiet Bournemouth suburb. The room is warm without trying too hard, and the menu splits neatly between the classics and slightly more loaded options, so nobody at the table needs to negotiate. Consistency is clearly the point here, and 50 Top Pizza Europe named it among the continent's excellent pizzerias. Southbourne locals have quietly figured this out.

A no-frills Neapolitan pizzeria tucked into a quiet stretch of SW16, the kind of spot where the room gives you nothing to look at except your pizza, which turns out to be the point. Sharing plates and small bites fill out the table while you wait, and people do travel for it, which says something about the dough. Named on 50 Top Pizza Europe's list of Excellent Pizzerias, it wears the honour lightly, just like the place itself.

Neapolitan-style pizza in the middle of York, where the dough is the whole argument, light and properly developed in a way that makes toppings feel like they were always meant to be there. Cresci is a casual pizza restaurant that shifts between classics and more contemporary combinations without losing its footing. The room is informal but not accidental, comfortable for a quick slice or a slower dinner.

A pizza spot inside a Mayfair pub, which is already doing something mildly subversive for the postcode. Crisp W1 sits within the Marlborough and keeps the formula that works elsewhere: good pizza, a lively room, and a mix of reservations and walk-ins so you're not locked out if planning isn't your thing. The crowd skews younger than the neighborhood usually tolerates, and nobody is pretending the food is precious. Casual, metropolitan, and not fussed about its surroundings.

The dough is the whole argument here, kept light enough that a full pizza doesn't feel like a dare. DoppioZero is a casual Neapolitan-style pizza spot in Finsbury Park with the informal energy of somewhere that opened last year and already knows what it's doing. The fried starters round out the menu in the way they're supposed to, without trying too hard. Young crowd, loud enough to feel alive, not so loud you need subtitles.

Sourdough pizza in a relaxed Warwick spot that leans more weekend-in-the-pub than Naples-by-the-book, and that's entirely the point. Dough & Brew is a casual pizzeria with a convivial streak, where the dough gets serious attention and the atmosphere stays loose. It doesn't chase the Neapolitan tradition; it runs its own Anglo-modern formula instead, which 50 Top Pizza Europe has noted among its excellent pizzerias.

The dining room occupies Sir George Gilbert Scott's vaulted Gothic Revival interior at St Pancras, which sets an unfair standard for anywhere else you might eat a steak this week. This is a British steakhouse with a serious beef programme built on dry-ageing and live-fire charcoal, and the cooking doesn't try to match the architecture with drama. It ranked 13th on the World's Best Steak Restaurants list. The martini bar is a good place to start or finish.

A pizza restaurant on High Street where the dough is the whole argument, balanced and consistent in a way that takes some discipline to pull off. The room is urban and informal, the kind of place you eat well without ceremony. The menu moves between classic and more contemporary combinations without making a fuss about either. Listed among 50 Top Pizza Europe's Excellent Pizzerias, which is the sort of thing Mancunians will politely ignore until they've tried it themselves.

A neighborhood pizza spot on Newington Green that doesn't try too hard, which is precisely why it works. The menu moves between classic Italian pies and more unexpected combinations, and the room keeps things informal without sliding into shabby. Service checks in without hovering. The kind of place Islington residents probably pretend they haven't told anyone about, then tell everyone about.

Wood-fired ovens built in Naples, ingredients shipped from Italy, and dough that's been quietly fermenting for over 48 hours before it gets anywhere near your table. Paesano is a Neapolitan pizza shop done with real conviction, spread across three Glasgow locations, with an industrial room, open kitchen, and trattoria tables packed shoulder-to-shoulder. No reservations, so a queue is part of the deal, though the operation moves fast enough that you'll barely notice.

Neapolitan dough with a Spanish accent, long-fermented and cooked at a pizzeria that seems genuinely unbothered by what a pizzeria is supposed to be. The menu drifts happily into tapas and fried things, all of it built for sharing rather than eating efficiently and leaving. Two locations now, started in Leytonstone, and the energy in the room matches the cooking: informal, loud in a good way, and not trying to impress anyone in particular.

A Neapolitan pizza joint on Lavender Hill that doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is, which is the whole point. The dough, the char, the generous hand with toppings all trace back to a Naples family recipe that's been around forever. No tasting menus, no mood lighting, just a proper pizzeria operating on the logic that if you know what you're doing, you don't need to dress it up.

The dough sits for up to 60 hours before it sees the oven, which tells you most of what you need to know about Razzo. It's a small Neapolitan pizza restaurant near Leith, serious about its flour, its fresh yeast, its imported tomatoes and anchovies, and not much else. The room is simple, every table in plain view, Italian music in the background. Book ahead on weekends, and consider bringing a bottle.

A Battersea pizzeria where the dough is treated as a statement rather than an afterthought, light and carefully finished in a way that politely asks you to pay attention. The room is orderly and calm, more candlelit-date than checkered-tablecloth, and the whole thing is pitched at people who want the craft spelled out without the fuss. Neapolitan tradition run through a precise, contemporary sensibility.

A Neapolitan pizza shop on the fourth floor of a shopping centre, which sounds like a setup for disappointment but isn't. The dough ferments for 24 hours and comes out of a 500-degree oven with proper char and plenty of tomato. Classics share the menu with weekend specials that lean into curious combinations. Spritz cocktails, a short wine list, and a relaxed room that fills with tourists and locals who didn't plan too hard.

The name is a promise: narrow Neapolitan streets, and the sense that someone's nonna is expecting you. This Stoke Newington pizzeria keeps its focus on dough, heat, and a short list of things done right, with classics sitting alongside a few more personal recipes. Nothing here is trying to be a postcard of Naples; it's more like a habit for the people who live nearby, which is the better thing to be.

Pizza by the slice in Bournemouth, which is either a bold move or a quietly confident one, possibly both. Vicolo keeps things rooted in classic Neapolitan territory, no foam, no twists, no manifesto on the wall, just a short menu of traditional pies and a few richer variations done without fuss. The room is small and unhurried, the kind of place where nobody's rushing you out. It earned a spot on 50 Top Pizza Europe's Excellent Pizzerias list.

Long-fermented dough is the quiet argument at this Neapolitan pizza spot in Ealing, where lightness is the point and showmanship is decidedly not. The room leans into warm Italian-trattoria comfort, the kind that makes a Tuesday feel like a reasonable night for a long dinner. It works equally well for a relaxed catch-up or something slightly more date-shaped, which is more than most pizza places can honestly claim.

Flute is the rooftop cocktail bar at Broadwick Soho, where someone clearly signed off on an unlimited budget for pink cushions. Expect velvet everywhere, fruity cocktails that can climb to £40, and a wraparound terrace built for staring wistfully at the London skyline while a friend takes the photo. It's a dress-up, spend-a-bit kind of place, and The Infatuation has ranked it among the city's best bars.

The Painter's Room is a small cocktail bar tucked inside Claridge's, done up in the sort of pink shell and stained glass that makes your own flat feel like a storage unit. Expect champagne-forward drinks at Mayfair prices, around £22 for the priciest, ordered by people dressed for a premiere they may or may not be attending. It's the kind of room where a first date either gets engaged or gets the bill.

BBQ Xiang is a tiny Cantonese roast meat and noodle shop on Caroline Street, the stretch locals call Chippy Alley or Chippy Lane depending on their loyalties. Neon lights and a waving lucky cat watch over a room so cramped that getting to your seat counts as a contact sport. Students and post-pub stragglers come for lacquered duck, char siu, and a bowl of noodle soup, all cheap, fast, and served over Cantopop ballads.

Crown Kitchen is a family-run Chinese restaurant in Cathays with a menu roughly the size of a catalogue, which is why regulars message ahead on WeChat to see what's actually available. The room is round tables with lazy Susans, lanterns, and a cloud-tiled ceiling that nobody's here to admire. Come hungry, order far too much, and expect complimentary watermelon at the end. The Infatuation put it on its list of Cardiff's 13 best restaurants.

Hatsu Udon is a no-frills udon canteen in Grangetown, where the kitchen faces a counter built for solo lunches and nobody is lingering over wine. The noodles are handmade, soft and springy, and the tempura prawn keeps its crunch even after a dunk in the broth, which feels like a minor loophole in physics. Homesick Hongkongers, students, and locals share the room, and the tomato beef udon is a comfort bowl for all of them.

Ichiban is a casual Japanese spot on Albany Road in Roath, and its menu runs past 170 items, which is how it keeps groups with opposing food opinions from splitting up. Sushi sits beside stir-fries, soups, and fried things, and the teishoku tray puts beef, sashimi, rolls, rice, and miso on one table. Kirin is the obvious drink. It's been around forever, and takeaway and delivery run like a well-oiled machine.

Le Magritte is the cocktail bar at The Beaumont hotel in Mayfair, reached through a chequerboard lobby, where a bartender in a white jacket stands before a golden art deco bar. The short menu runs from frothy and flirty to stiff and grown-up, though the Gatsby-adjacent room mostly invites a classic. Expect cashmere, Mayfair money, and the odd jet-lagged guest quietly steadying themselves with an Old Fashioned.

Longa is a Turkish breakfast café in Heath where the plan is always a quick bite and the morning disappears anyway. The menemen arrives bubbling in a copper pan with a basket of warm sesame simit for scooping. The room is bright and mismatched, with a shelf of Istanbul travel books and Turkish Mr Men at the back. Weekends mean dogs, prams, and people hovering over your table, so settle in and order another tea.

This casual ramen shop in Grangetown sits in a former bank, which means the only thing being withdrawn here is a bowl of tonkotsu. It started as lockdown noodle kits sold by a guy from the music industry, and the handmade noodles still carry that cult-following springiness. High ceilings, plants, and long wooden benches handle solo lunches and group dinners with equal calm.