Eating out in Bloomsbury
undefined • 9 June 2025
Bloomsbury has a strong academic and literary history and is, of course, home of the British Museum. As you would expect, there are various tourist hotspots that are best avoided if you want a good meal out. Here is our guide to some of the best choices within a 15 minute walk of Virginia House.
My Old Dutch
is a pancake restaurant on High Holborn. Aside from a multitude of sweet options, they have a surprising selection of savoury options too. If you imagine the sort of toppings you might get on a pizza but instead on a large crepe then you get the right idea. Absolutely every dish is customisable and they also have a really good salad menu. Reasonably priced
Cocoro
on Coptic Street serves hearty bowls of authentic ramen, sashimi and hot pot in an izakaya setting. We love the display food so typical of Japan to help you choose your dish.
Flight Club Bloomsbury
is more of a social bar that serves food. After a competitive game of darts (yes darts!) tuck into a sharing platter or a burger. A particularly good spot for groups and located on New Oxford Street.
Uzumaki
on Gt Russell St is an immersive anime restaurant where you can eat a lovely bowl of brothy ramen, admire the amazing character mural and then exit via the gift shop.
Eggslut
is just off Tottenham Court Road on Percy Street. It is messy food to eat but the sort of place where you want to eat without conversation so that you can concentrate on the food’s comfort. Everything is set within a sandwich and honestly it’s the best place eat when you are particularly starving. Make your choice and apply to face.
The Life Goddess
is a Greek deli restaurant on Store Street serving healthy fare such as giant butter beans, kleftiko and crispy liver. A great spot for lunch or dinner with limited outdoor seating.
Honey & Co
have two local spots, one on Store St and another on Lambs Conduit Street. It offers a modern menu with a Middle Eastern influence. They have a decent breakfast menu and a generous sharing menu for lunch or dinner.
Fortitude Bakehouse
is not a restaurant and, aside from some sandwiches, they mostly serve delicious pastries and filled doughnuts, sorry "beignets", in a converted mews garage. All food is to take away and there is some outdoor seating but it’s really very good and has become and internet sensation which is why it is included here. Be prepared to queue unless you get there very early. Located just behind Russell Square underground station.
Ciao Bella
on Lambs Conduit St is an old fashioned Italian restaurant that has been there for years. It is not the kind of Italian that centres around pizza and pasta but an actual Italian restaurant with actual Italian food on the menu like actual Italians eat.
View more
Journal
Temple is a riverside legal district sandwiched between Covent Garden and Blackfriars. Unless you are in the legal profession or know more than most about the Knights Templar’s tomb, you may not have heard of it. It can be tricky to find the right place to eat locally as many of the local eateries are grab and go sandwich bars to please find our recommendations which are no more than a 10 minute walk from Eldon Chambers. Where any establishment is closed on any particular day of the week we have tried to indicate that below. Firstly, The Humble Grape is a great little place located in the crypt under St Bride’s Church. It is a wine bar with a really good food menu that includes small plates or a massive Tomahawk steak for two. Closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Barrafina on Drury Lane is another lovely option if you like eating up at the bar. You must have the Estrella Galicia on draft which is so hard to find in the UK (the bottled stuff is in supermarkets) and then remember that anything with an “x” in it like txistorra is from the Basque country and so is particularly good. Ditto anything Galician and remember that croquetas are always superb. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese dates back to the 17the century and is the famous waterhole of Charles Dickens, Samuel Johnson and Mark Twain although not necessarily at the same time. Enjoy beer battered cod and chips, steak and kidney pie or (if you want to stay awake after your meal) perhaps the Chop House Salad all at reasonable prices. They offer a fabulous cheese board of course but perhaps the best hoice is their warm kosher pork scratchings. Figure that one out. Located down a tiny alley just off Fleet Street so pay attention to the directions on your phone and look for “Wine Office Court” in Google Maps. Franco Manca St Pauls is a great place for a quick bite at reasonable prices. They offer gluten free options as well as lovely salads. Toklas is a Mediterranean restaurant with an in house bakery with choices which include peaches with green beans and almonds, rabbit cacciatore and Amalfi lemon sorbet. Closed Sundays. Sarastro is an Italian restaurant on Drury Lane. The sense of theatre comes from the décor as well as the food and they often have live music either in the form of a latin singer, string quartet or live opera. Never a dull moment here. Rules Restaurant is an incredible 200 year old institution that has the power to give you goosebumps if you are a James Bond fan (it’s where M meets Q and Moneypenny in Spectre. It also features in the script for Downtown Abbey. In real life it has been a literary destination for many an actor and author but it’s the sense of going back in time that makes it so special. Understated, unpretentious, uncompromising you either get it or you don’t. Have a look at the website and if a bit of Old England looks like a bit of you then get yourself booked in. The food, cocktails and service are very, very good indeed old boy. Smith and Wollensky is an American steakhouse on John Adam Street. Lovely surroundings and great food. Zizzi the Strand is a decent Italian chain located nearby with a good children’s menu. Old Bank of England is a converted pub in the old law courts of the bank. Enjoy ham, egg and chips or a burger for a quick bite on Fleet Street.
As this is the city’s financial district, we have taken great care to choose places that are open at the weekend and do not just cater to week day office lunches. All our recommendations are within a 15 minute walk of 48 Bishopsgate. Enjoy The Ivy City Garden is located on Old Broad Street and delivers a mixture of British classics and Asian dishes. Their classics include Shepherd’s Pie with piped mash, steak tartar, Veal Holstein and Beef Wellington. A lunchtime menu is available with 2 courses for £20.95. The Ivy Asia St Pauls delivers what is, in our opinion, a much more exciting menu and the décor is simply beautiful (especially the lavatories!). With a Dragon set menu for launch and Samurai dinner menu priced at £28.50 and £38 respectively, you can enjoy all manner of delicious choices but what you simply cannot miss is the Golden Dragon sharing dessert which is simply exceptional, even for people who claim not to have a sweet tooth. If you are looking for an amazing view of the London skyline while you dine, then try Duck and Waffle at 110 Bishopsgate. Choose duck benedict or caramelised banana for breakfast, generous Sunday roasts for the British tradition on the day of rest or aim for the classic duck and waffle which comes in a vegan from too. With 24 hour dining, don’t let conventional meal times or jet lag tell you when you should and shouldn’t eat. A collection of restaurants particularly famous for their brunch menu, the Daisy Green Collection brings Australian food and coffee culture to London. 100 Bishopsgate is home to Paradise Green offering the Dirty Daisy, sweetcorn fritters, shakshouka, mars bar cheesecake and tiramisu for breakfast right up until 5pm. A different menu takes over for the evening. Wash it down with a Cold Aussie Brew Freddo, a rum and mocha cocktail or a non alcoholic blood orange spritz. Sushi Samba is fusion food combining Japanese, Brazilian and Peruvian with restaurants best known for their atmosphere. Ceviche crosses over with sashimi and kobe beef is cooked over Japanese coals. The cocktail menu is just even more eclectic and the best part is that it’s on the 38th floor of 110 Bishopsgate with a stunning rooftop bar. Booking in advance is strongly advised Japanese Restaurant with a view in London. Eataly London is located just by Liverpool St station on Bishopsgate and is host to several restaurant, bars and food hall dining choices. It is impossible to recommend just one but when we see the words “wood-fired pizza and traditional pasta” a certain amount of gravitational pull occurs. Bob Bob Ricard City is on Leadenhall Street and we should caution that they are closed on Sundays and that guests under 15 years of age are not admitted, possibly due to each table having a “push for champagne” button. They offer an express lunch menu where three courses cost just £35 including steak tartare, grilled pork neck and a light floating island. The a la carte menu features vodka shots served at -18C, an extensive caviar menu and, unusually, chateaubriand for one (not two). Choose a la carte if you have something to celebrate. Caravan City is an all day restaurant in Bloomberg Arcade. Obsessed with the detail of bean sourcing and preparation, you’d be hard pushed to find a better cup of coffee locally. During the week they serve breakfast, renamed brunch at weekends as well as lunch and dinner. Our favourites include chorizo and potato hash with saffron buttermilk dressing, Korean buttermilk fried chicken with kimchi pancake, fried egg and gochujang ketchup, Dingley Dell pork schnitzel with fried egg, mustard dill cream and fries followed by caramelised brioche with miso caramel and ice cream. Treat yourself to a tiramisu martini or one of the many alcohol- free cocktails. Coq D’Argent located at number 1 Poultry is a bit of an established institution and is famous for its roof terrace which is heated in the winter. The menu is French and not limited to poulet as per its address. It’s a little corporate being in the financial district but always lively. Across the road is The Ned . Cast your mind back to the scene in Mary Poppins when the children go to work with their father at the bank and are stunned by the sheer scale of the institution. Now imagine that same space turned in to a venue housing a multitude of restaurants and bars including one in the original bank vault where the mammoth safe door is still intact. Visually, the place actually takes your breath away and regardless of which restaurant your choose (Californian, Mexican, grill, burger, Italian etc) you should know that they serve the best Old Fashioned cocktail we have ever tasted. Brick Lane by Spitalfields Market is famous for a multitude of curry houses all next to each other and the best one is called Taste of Jaipur . With over 150 items on the menu it is impossible to recommend just one dish. Enjoy a generous set meal from just £20 including lots of vegetarian dishes from this Rajasthani specialist. Yotam Ottolenghi is rather a legend here in London and, thankfully, he has decided to open a restaurant in Artillery Lane. He takes eating with your eyes first to the extreme; when you look at the food you become hungry when you weren’t before and that takes skill. A lot of the food takes the form of elaborate Middle Eastern salads so you can feel virtuous. Just take a look at some of the photos on the website and decide for yourself.
