2023 Restaurants in London that are actually very good

Here’s the 2023 update to my original “2022 Restaurants in London that are actually very good“. We have continued eating our way through the city and I continue to have plenty of opinions on where you should be spending your pounds! Once again, the benchmark remains high! The 2023 Restaurants in London list are all spots we’d revisit or recommend to our loved ones. They’re all absolute bangers and deserve a visit.

I was so surprised that it was so much shorter than the 2022 list! But then I remembered – we wanted to revisit favourites, we got married which called dibs on a chunk of our disposable income and we travelled even more in 2023 with many of our favourite restaurant finds in new cities.

Restaurants on the 2022 list that we revisited in 2023

– Honest Burger (special shout out for having the most INSANE truffle fried chicken burger of the month. My WORD! We had it three times in one month… insanity)
– Kulu Kulu Sushi
– Dinings SW3
– Dishoom
– Dumpling Legends
– 40 Maltby Street

For details on these absolute gems and probably bossy input on what to order – please jump over to the 2022 write up.

The 2023 Restaurants in London list: The affordable ones

– Plaza Khao Gaeng
I don’t want to play favourites but this restaurant is my number one for 2023 in terms of delivering on sheer flavour. Oh my goodness, every dish packs a punch. Visit for sensational Thai food. This is a must book type spot and is super busy on the weekend. I like a table close to the door to watch the many people get turned away who haven’t booked.

I would recommend enjoying the set menu for the table which will exposure you to some of their top dishes. However, if their beef Massaman curry isn’t on the current set menu, order that as well. I do not even like Massaman curry typically but this dish is an absolute killer. Don’t miss the coconut pudding with tapioca pearls and lychee which may be needed after their Thai style dishes. They also sell Thai ice tea but be careful as it sells out!

– Sushi show
Jono seems to have a knack for finding the sushi good spots! I say – “let’s go have good sushi”. And he clicks away on his phone for twenty minutes, puts me on a tube and BOOM we’re eating good sushi. He’s honestly 3/3 now – Kulu Kulu, Dinings SW3 and Sushi Show. You can only book via the phone but it is worth it as this is another super popular spot. When we visited people outside were waiting over an hour for a table. Don’t miss the red king prawn nigiri – the best I have ever had have come from Sushi show – super creamy and delicious!

– Campania
Honesty hour, we came here on my bachelorette but I was waaay too festive to remember the food. SO the following weekend I went back with Jono. Campania focuses on Southern Italian food and it does it incredibly well. Their pastas are all homemade and wonderful. And do not miss the Tiramisu for dessert! I will warn you that the service is pretty rubbish both in terms of reminding them about wine / water / what we ordered and even just tracking down a waiter. But if you’re relaxed and in for a lazy lunch, the food is well worth it.

The 2023 Restaurants in London list: The pricey ones

– Kudu Grill
It feels a little harsh putting this under the pricey list because I do think it could be a more affordable choice as long as you don’t order like me. But in all honesty, I WOULD recommend ordering like me. Because I am a genius. And it will be delicious. You know?

You’re going to want to order pretty much all the snacks – biltong, flatbread and that incredible grilled potato flatbread. Then the grilled peri peri prawns as starters are a triumph and cannot be missed. Honestly, if you’re four people, order prawns x 2. For mains, I could not more highly recommend the dry-aged ex dairy prime rib with beer pickled onions and treacle bordelaise. THIS is my best steak in London. Truly not messing around and well worth the price tag. Of course, sides wise you need honey glazed carrots, beef fat potatoes and broccoli (for the pretence of health). And this is why it’s on the pricey list!

– Little Kudu
I was linking this one through when I realised this location has closed and changed into a different Kudu offering we haven’t tried. So I won’t waste your time here but I will say:
1) you can’t go wrong with the restaurants in the Kudu Group; and
2) we ordered multiple dishes on their small plates menu twice well after we had eaten more than enough.

And that’s it! I only have four restaurants to recommend from 2023! Bonkers! But don’t worry, 2024s list is much longer! And yes, I know it is July 2025… I thought I had hit publish on this post a long time ago. How embarrassing!