London Shepherd's Bush Restaurant Guide

This big, smartly restored 1829 gin palace in deepest Shepherd’s Bush features a horseshoe bar stocking 100 different gins, and a modern gastropub menu appealing to all age groups – “kids love their pizzas and we love their Sunday roasts”.

2022 Review: An evocative tiled interior adds to a visit to this cheap ’n’ cheerful Syrian café, near the north end of Shepherd’s Bush Market – a handy place for a fresh fruit juice and affordable mezze meal.

“A total one off” – Endo Kazutoshi’s “zen-like” venue occupies a unique site, on the top of the old BBC Television Centre, and is “spectacular in all respects”. “Chef Endo has ruined all other sushi restaurants for me… watching Endo and his team preparing individual pieces of sushi… the rice perfect and still slightly warm, the seafood surely all the best money can buy and prepared with utmost respect. It could be pretentious, but Chef Endo is such a warm and welcoming presence that it never feels like it”. Despite the ruinous expense, all reports say it’s “worth every penny”: “The best meal ever… until you go back!”

“Clever, subtly infused curries a wonderful step up from your local Indian” (“the flavours of every option are incredible with each dish spiced to perfection”) have catapulted this project by university friends Will Bowlby and Rik Campbell from a Brixton pop-up to three thriving tapas-style restaurants, including a Soho flagship with cocktail bar, in less than 10 years.

2022 Review: With its foliage, fairy lights and heaters, this September 2020 newcomer – where tables are predominantly outside – injects a festive spark into a quirky space, next to Shepherd’s Bush market and the Goldhawk Road tube bridge (opposite the station). Founders Will Fuller of Soho House Group and Frazer Timmerman of Incipio Group aimed, apparently, to import a bit of East London groove to this converted railway arch and adjoining large yard, and judging by it being permanently packed they’ve succeeded! Pizza is the menu mainstay and staff try hard. A 120-seater, it’s also available for events.

“Some of the best dim sum in London” and “outstanding, delicious Peking duck” is an unexpected find in this anonymous modern hotel dining room overlooking trafficky Shepherd’s Bush Green. It’s “good enough to impress visitors from the Far East” and has built a sufficiently strong reputation in its 10 years to be extremely busy at times.

“The best whistle-stop pizza in London” for its army of fans – the Elliot brothers’ successful chain continues to grow, with their latest opening in Queen’s Park in June 2023. But even if “you can’t knock the food” or the “realistic prices”, the rest of the experience is somewhere between “pleasant” and “a bit underwhelming”.

“The best falafel in town!” is a claim regularly made for this family-run gaff, to be found amongst the mêlée of Shepherd’s Bush Market. Motto: ‘We Speak Falafel Fluently’ – you can order the dish in the style of Syria, Iran, Lebanon or the owners’ native Palestine.

On the site that was for aeons the locally loved Adam’s Café (RIP), this “relative newcomer” in ‘Askew Village’ “hits the right notes” as a replacement. It “still feels a bit like a café inside”, but is warmed up by the personable service, who provide a “short but interesting menu of Italian dishes” including “delicious homemade pasta”; and other “well cooked, prettily presented food”.

“Part of the ongoing gentrification of Shepherd’s Bush” – LA chef Kris Yenbamroong has found a permanent showcase for his US-style ‘nu Thai’ cuisine at the new Hoxton Hotel overlooking Shepherd’s Bush Green. It’s “surprisingly fun”… “lively, tasty, and fairly priced”. The food is brash and impactful (“I had a delish bowl of fries, deep-fried chicken wings with hot sauce and tuna melt sandwich with a refreshing lychee lemonade”), while “large rounds of beer heading to most tables often contributes to the merriment”. A few reporters do have quibbles – that the “sharing plate concept doesn’t really work gastronomically”; or that the “LA influence is too horribly sweet, missing out on the salty and sour components of good Thai cooking”. But even some critics feel it’s “finding its feet: I’ve been back four times since December and the menu improves each visit”.

“The original Salt Yard in W1 used to be one of London’s best new tapas restaurants” – but it opened over 15 years ago and “the subsequent roll-out of the brand as multiple branches” under Urban Pubs & Bars “has seen quality drop quite a lot”. As “a pleasant option for well-produced Med-inspired dishes”, they maintain a fair number of fans, if without the pizzazz once conjured by the name. The year-old branch near the entrance to Westfield is the highest rated, and the newest near Borough Market is also seen as “a handy addition to the group”.