London Brook Green Restaurant Guide

“Still our pizza favourite no matter how successful and busy they get… the black dough even makes you feel you’re eating healthy!” – this eight-strong chain has grown from its Islington base over the last ten years (est. 2016) and its successful formula revolves around four 48-hour slow-fermented doughs – charcoal, wholemeal, gluten-free and traditional. Of these the first is the most eye-catching: “interesting charcoal-based pizza with delicious toppings”. The original N7 branch near Arsenal and the W14 one (they call it ‘Hammersmith’ but it’s closer to Olympia) attract most feedback, but it’s the food that wins fans: for example, “the original one feels buzzy when Arsenal play at home when it’s packed out, but otherwise can feel a bit grim and loveless”.

“I love it here!” – “Michele’s cooking is always great; Heidi is always welcoming” at this “really delightful neighborhood Italian restaurant” lost in the backstreets between Brook Green and Olympia. The cuisine is uncomplicated, but honest, full of flavour and very fairly priced, and there’s a thoughtful small wine list to accompany it.

“A decent attempt to reproduce Provençal cooking in Shepherd’s Bush”: Lawrence & Emily Hartley’s “nice local bistro” north of Brook Green – “a successor to a spot that was Café Rouge for many years” (and briefly Mustard, RIP) – provides “French classics” with “friendly service”. Critics feel that at times, “the food, though fairly authentic, can be just a bit underwhelming”; but the majority see “much to recommend the place” and feel it’s a “welcome venture” in this underserved neck of the woods. Top Tip – “good set menu”.

This “comfortable and friendly gastropub” with a blue-tiled facade has been a staple foodie feature of the backstreets behind Olympia for three decades. Nowadays part of The Metropolitan Pub Company: “the menu doesn’t change as much as it used to”, but is very acceptable, with a focus on pies (e.g. confit duck or braised rabbit), alongside other deftly realised traditional classics (perhaps Steak Sandwich, or Chicken Kiev).

2024 Review: “Great food and drink, especially pizza” makes it worth remembering this stylish (if sometimes noisy) Olympia pub-conversion, a few minutes’ walk from Brook Green (part of the Oak group).

Puneet Wadhwani’s colourful, “good-value” street-food cantinas in Ealing and Hammersmith are inspired by the snacks sold to travellers at Indian railway stations. Having a party? – “The chef’s sharing Thali is fantastic – full of flavour and great variety” – and feeds up to five hungry adults and two kids for £144 (vegetarian), £155 (mixed) and £166 (with seafood).

“A useful option if near Hammersmith Broadway!” – this little- known but handy haunt occupies the cellar of Bradmore House: a grade II listed property on W6’s trafficky central roundabout, just seconds from the tube gates, most of which nowadays functions as a co-working space. An ideal lunchtime rendezvous: the interior is cosy, the menu is limited but affordable, and “the short but unusually interesting wine list is worth flagging for a venue of this size”.

Even those who say this lively pub near Hammersmith Broadway is “not special” foodwise rate its Mediterranean food as “good”. Other feedback is more enthusiastic however, and this sibling to Earl’s Court’s Atlas remains a good destination for those wishing to escape the crush of nearby King Street. Top Tip – cute terrace for the summer.

Nowadays a veteran among ‘modern’ Italian restaurants – Gino Taddei & Sally Eidlitz’s timeless and high-quality dining room tucked away between Kensington and Olympia no longer generates the buzz it did in its 1990s heyday, but for many regulars who go out of their way to visit, it remains a “lovely local restaurant… wish it was nearer me”.

2023 Review: Limited but good all-round feedback on this family-run Punjabi stalwart, which has long been a feature of the restaurant strip just to the south of Hammersmith’s Eventim Apollo (and which sometimes only serves a restricted menu in the early evening during events there). It also has a branch in Ealing (not listed).

“A real treat for vegetarians”, this Hammersmith institution was “opened by Michael and Adrian Daniel in 1989 and has been at the top of its game for years” – “many’s the friend brought along here who hasn’t noticed there’s no meat on the menu, and that’s because the food is good, well cooked, and interesting”. (An intriguing space in the eves of a church – “the dining room is housed in what was the studio of artist Frank Brangwyn, and the name comes from the wrought-iron gate he made for the entrance”). Top Menu Tip – “lean into the mushroom dishes in autumn”… “leek and trompette tart with shortcrust pastry is simply delicious”.

“An unexpected find in Hammersmith” – this “classy” seafood yearling continues to thrive despite an unpromising site right on the trafficky Broadway roundabout. “The fish is so fresh”, “excellently cooked and not exceedingly expensive”; and “the menu changes depending on what’s available at the market” (“we found ourselves comparing food notes with the next table!”). It’s run by a team with a number of seafood ventures around town, and executive chef Ollie Bass launched a Faber seafood counter at the Rosewood hotel’s Holborn Dining Room in summer 2025.

“The texture of the perfect hand-pulled wheat noodles is wonderful – toothsome and delicious with just the right amount of chew – and in fragrant and spicy sauces”, all “freshly prepared and swiftly served” at Wei Guirong’s “always busy and excellent value” Shaanxi canteen near Russell Square, which now has a lesser-known sibling in a modern unit just off Hammersmith Broadway (as well as Xi’an Impression and Dream Xi’an). Top Menu Tip – “don’t miss the simple deep, peppery and comforting beef pao-mo soup and the ‘burgers’ with Silk Road spice”.

The first UK branch of one of China’s largest chains (with more than 6,000 branches around the world) opened without fanfare in early 2024, just off Hammersmith Broadway. You can eat anything you like, so long as it’s Malatang (hotpot): choose your own custom ingredients from the chiller cabinets lining the wall, place your order and you are called up when your broth has been prepared. A big TikTok hit with Asian students, it also got a thumbs-up from Daily Mail critic Tom Parker Bowles in his April 2024 review.

2024 Review: All spent out at Westfield? Head for this large first-floor eatery within the much-less-glam’-looking West 12 Shopping Centre on the other side of Shepherd’s Bush Green. Reports on the all-you-can-eat £15 pan-Asian buffet are few, but The Guardian’s Grace Dent in late 2022 was a fan, describing a “vast” array of “feisty flavours” (with diverse dishes from as far afield as Canton and West Sumatra) whose “pleasing” prices spark “joy through dark times and ransacked wallets”.