Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in London Earl's Court
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Earl's Court restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 20 restaurants in Earl's Court and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Earl's Court restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Earl's Court Restaurants
1. Apadana Restaurant
Persian restaurant in Kensington and Chelsea
351 Kensington High Street - W8
Apadana Restaurant is a 5 Star Award-winning chic restaurant that uses family-kept recipes to craft authentic, sumptuous Iranian classic dishes in the heart of London's trendy Kensington high street.Indulge your senses in our family kept recipes passed on for generation...
2. Jollibee
Chicken restaurant in Kensington and Chelsea
180-182 Earls Court Road - SW5
2021 Review: Over 1,000 people queued for its opening, but if you’re not Filipino, chances are you won’t ‘get’ this Earl’s Court fast-food diner, which has introduced the capital to the delights of authentic ‘chickenjoy’, yumburger and Jolly Spaghetti (with sweet tomato and hot dog sauce) – “really not special!”
3. Addie’s Thai Café
Thai restaurant in Earl's Court
121 Earl’s Court Rd - SW5
2023 Review: This “deservedly busy” Thai canteen has been an Earl’s Court staple since the late 1990s, serving a cheap and tasty menu which is “all good, from the prawn crackers to som tum”.
4. San Pietro
Italian restaurant in Kensington
7 Stratford Road - W8
“A wonderful display of fresh fish on ice” (“including the biggest scallops with the coral attached”) greets diners arriving at this “unique Italian” in a quiet corner of Kensington, whose “cooking is precise with a light touch”.
5. The Abingdon
British, Modern restaurant in Kensington
54 Abingdon Rd - W8
“A very special gastropub tucked away in a quiet street off Kensington High Street”, which has been run for 25 years by the Staples family, who have remodelled what was built as a classic Victorian corner tavern into an “all-round reliable local restaurant” and bar fit for its chichi environs.
6. Flora Indica
Indian restaurant in South Kensington
242 Old Brompton Road - SW5
“A quirky steampunk theme combined with an emphasis on cocktails and craft beers accompanies very sound modern Indian cooking” at this Earl’s Court venture, whose name pays tribute to the 19th-century Scottish botanists who classified the subcontinent’s plants. “After a few false starts on the site, this restaurant has found its forte under the same ownership as its predecessor Mr Wing (RIP)”.
7. The Scarsdale
International restaurant in Kensington
23a Edwardes Sq - W8
On one level it’s like any other “friendly local”, but few pubs have such a picturesque location as this popular tavern, on the kind of Regency square in Kensington that makes tourists swoon (and with its own cute outside terrace). “Great pub-like food” (without any gastro pretensions) is served in its “lively” dining room. Piers Morgan throws an annual Christmas party here, hosting celeb pals from TV and politics, with Gary Lineker in regular attendance… well, nowhere’s perfect…
8. Kitchen W8
British, Modern restaurant in Kensington
11-13 Abingdon Road - W8
“I’ve had dinner here at least 20 times over the last 10 years and have never had a bad meal. I’m a fan!” – this smart and “very comfortable” (“slightly dull?”) fixture sits in a side road off Kensington High Street and is very accomplished by the reckoning of neighbourhood venues (and is nowadays in the top-100 most mentioned London restaurants in our annual diners’ poll). Star chef Phil Howard is a partner in its management, and standards are “very good all round”, including the “really creative and delicious” modern European cuisine.
9. Il Portico
Italian restaurant in Kensington
277 Kensington High St - W8
“Such traditional, family-run restaurants are quite a rarity in London these days”; and the Chiavarinis have maintained this “quintessential”, “old-fashioned” trattoria, opposite the Design Museum, for over 50 years. Fans say the food is “terrific, albeit a bit pricey probably because of its posh postcode”. But there is a less charitable school of thought, which says results are “uninspired, but it’s always busy, possibly because the locals don’t know how to cook…”
10. Enoteca Rosso
Italian restaurant in Kensington
276-280 Kensington High Street - W8
2021 Review: “Go for the wine: there’s a great selection” focused solely on Italy at this Kensington yearling, with bottles lining many of the walls. Even fans can note that the food (pasta, cheese and meat boards, salads) “is not as good”, but it avoids any harsh critiques. Brunch here is also a possibility.
11. Pascor
Mediterranean restaurant in Kensington and Chelsea
221 Kensington High Street - W8
“Terrific posh Levantine food with a twist” is the story of this Kensington High Street three-year-old, whose kitchen is run by former Palomar head chef Tomar Amedi. The menu can seem “confusing” to first-timers (“what’s a starter? a main? a side? did we order enough?”) but the small plates are “interesting and all very tasty”.
12. Megan's on the HIgh Street
British, Modern restaurant in Kensington and Chelsea
204 Kensington High Street - W8
“Fairy lights, greenery and charming decor create a warm and cosy atmosphere” at this still-expanding group, which is most popular as a “reliable and friendly brunch option”. Its Med-inspired tapas is typically rated somewhere between “tasty” and “nothing special” and scores overall are dragged well down by those experiencing “chaotic service” and “food that doesn’t live up to the pretty dining room”.
13. Hare & Tortoise
Pan-Asian restaurant in Olympia
373 Kensington High St - W14
“Where else can you get ramen and laksa in the same place?”, ask fans of this “efficient and friendly” pan-Asian chain founded almost 30 years ago in Bloomsbury’s Brunswick Centre and now with branches in Ealing, Putney, Kensington and Chiswick plus two delivery-only kitchens.
14. The Atlas
Mediterranean restaurant in Fulham
16 Seagrave Rd - SW6
This “traditional backstreet pub – wood-panelled and with a walled garden” – is a good find in the thin area surrounding West Brompton tube and makes a cosy winter destination or – in summer – “the terrace is a great sun trap in the afternoon”. Its Med-inspired cuisine is a cut-above typical gastropub standards.
15. Five Guys
Burgers, etc restaurant in Kensington
183 Kensington High Street - W8
2021 Review: “When all you want is an old-school burger”, these US-based arrivals of recent years really “hit the spot” – you can “build your own”, with “tons of accessories”; plus “seriously addictive fries”, “thick milkshakes”, and “more soda flavours than is reasonable”. “The eat-in experience is as depressing as McDonald’s”, though, in fact perhaps more so – “some branches have a strangely gloomy ambience” – but fans feel that “if you don’t mind 1980s-rock, a trip can still be surprisingly fun”.
16. Mriya
East & Cent. European restaurant in Kensington and Chelsea
275 Old Brompton Road - SW5
Slava Ukraini! “Behind a scruffy streetscape” on the edge of Earls Court (near the Troubadour), this “enjoyable, if cramped and noisy” yearling was created by Ukrainian refugees, led by chef Yurii Kovryzhenko and his partner, Olga Tsybytovska. “It’s a great project – a good cause, with charming service and distinctive cooking”: “a modern and rather lighter interpretation of East European cuisine (e.g. courgette flowers used instead of cabbage leaves for golubtsi: the Ukrainian take on the Polish golabki)”. “Well worth a visit and supporting the Ukrainian refugees who work there”. Top Menu Tip – “deep-flavoured bortsch”.
17. The Holland
British, Modern restaurant in Kensington and Chelsea
25 Earls Court Road - W8
“A fantastic new gastropub near Holland Park”, in the no-man’s-land location just south of Kensington High Street as you head down to Earl’s Court. It was converted in September 2022 (from The Princess Victoria, RIP) with an upstairs dining room serving a modern British menu from chef Max de Nahlik, whose pop-up Oxalis was highly regarded. Initial high ratings and reports – “lovely Sunday roast…”, “good and attentive service…”, “deserves to be fuller than the night we went there…” – suggest it’s worth discovering.
18. Maria G's
Italian restaurant in Kensington
Coe House, 1-4 Warwick Lane - W14
An “attractive riverside setting” (incorporating a 45-cover outdoor terrace, complete with retractable roof) is a major selling point at star chef Robin Gill’s second opening under the ‘Maria G’ banner, on the ground floor of a shiny new residential development, in the deepest, darkest Fulham no-man’s-land near Imperial Wharf (by the big Sainsburys). Despite its out-of-the-way situation, it’s already attracting more feedback than the first Maria G, which opened two years ago. That’s also hard to find, and also in a glossy new block – this time part of a retirement village on the Kensington/Olympia borders. At both outlets, the culinary theme is Italian although SW6 concentrates more on its raw bar and pasta, with reports praising “some innovative dishes” (The Telegraph’s William Sitwell was also a fan, proclaiming it a “chic oasis” with “delicate and authentic Italian food”). Reports in our annual diners’ poll on W8 were scant (but the Daily Mail’s Tom Parker Bowles found it a “lush, lovely Italian oasis… [in] the sterile, anodyne surroundings of those deluxe flats”).
19. Street Burger
Burgers, etc restaurant in Kensington and Chelsea
222 Kensington High Street - W8
The “fancy burgers” usually hit the spot this year at TV chef Gordon Ramsay’s growing diffusion chain, with nine sites in the capital as of mid-2023 (and where the frozen chips are provided by another prominent chef now retired from front-line stove action: the venerable Pierre Koffmann). The odd “mixed experience” or “haphazard service” was still reported, but overall ratings were up.
20. Shoryu Ramen
Japanese restaurant in Kensington and Chelsea
190 Kensington High Street - W8
“The ramen is excellent” at this West End-based group from the Japan Centre’s Tak Tokumine – although “the rest of the menu is not as good” and the venues tend to be “too cramped and/or noisy to be ideal”. A drive to expand via franchise operations has apparently stalled since the summer 2022 opening of a branch in Kensington High Street – a possible sign that “we may have passed peak noodle”.
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