Eating out in Clerkenwell & Farringdon
12 May 2025
Farringdon station is incredibly well connected for getting out and about, but there is no need to hop on a train to go out for a great meal when there are so many excellent options in the area known as Clerkenwell since medieval times.

Just next to Farringdon station is the popular smart canteen chain Farmer J,
famous for their healthy and appealing field trays and bowls. Select your own ingredients for breakfast, lunch or an early dinner since they close at 8.30pm. As the immediate area surrounding Farringdon station mostly serves local office workers, they do close at weekends.
The main eating heartbeat can be found at Exmouth Market, around an 8 minute walk up Farringdon Road from the station. Here you will find a huge amount of choice every day of the week and late into the night. Our favourites include Santore, a rustic Italian wood fired pizzeria with outside seating. Whilst there is no shortage of pizza restaurants in London (most of them very good), I once walked into Santore to find half the restaurant taken up by a large group of visiting priests from Rome tucking in enthusiastically, giving Santore the (papal) seal of approval.
On the corner of Rosoman Street is the relaxed retro themed Coin Laundry.
Open every day, the menu is modern British and European with lots of vegan and vegetarian options. They have a decent drinks menu too with cocktails although we have no idea why it is called Coin Laundry since they prefer card payments and there are no washing machines.
Macellaio RC is located in the middle of Exmouth Market and is well established as a mildly theatrical dining experience for steak lovers or as they call themselves “Teatro della Carne”. The staff provide the contagious enthusiasm and will take you to the raw materials in the display fridge for you to select your choice of cut. Watch out for their signature lard candle that melts into the blowtorched bread and a wine list that tours the whole of Italy. Open every day for lunch and dinner.
Next door is the institution known as Moro, and next door to that is little hermano Morito,
both serving Spanish and North African tapas. Moro’s inventive style includes dishes such seabass ceviche with cumin and pomegranate, chicharrones with cumin and lemon dressing and Malaga raisin ice cream with sherry. The food on your plate will come from each side of the Straits of Gibraltar. The restaurant first opened in 1997 and we have stumbled upon their cookbook in unusual corners including a little café in rural Cornwall. Open for lunch only on Sundays and lunch and dinner the rest of the week.
Exmouth Market’s opposite corner is home to Caravan, a small chain of eateries and coffee roasters. 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, and they are open for lunch and dinner every day apart from Sundays. 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 followed by caramelised brioche with miso caramel and ice cream. Treat yourself to a tiramisu martini or one of the many alcohol-free cocktails.
Away from Exmouth Market you may like The Dovetail; a Belgian themed bar serving moules mariniere and beef carbonade (Flemish beef stew). Wash it down with a cold beer from a huge range including the fruit flavoured ones for people who don’t really like the taste of beer. Located on Jerusalem Passage which runs between St Johns Square and Aylesbury Street, it is open until late every day except Sundays.
Mugen
on Leather Lane is an established contemporary Japanese restaurant where the food looks far too pretty to eat. Choose from izakaya style sharing plates, fresh sashimi, hot pot or set bento boxes. They also offer take away but like many places, they are closed on Sundays.
Finally, Smiths of Smithfield. Located opposite Smithfield Market on Charterhouse Street, this whole building is a TV chef institution with a bar serving snacks on the ground floor, private dining rooms on the first floor, the Grill on the second floor and a covered rooftop restaurant with south facing views on the top floor. The general rule of thumb is that it gets a bit “posher” (ie more expensive) every time you go up a floor but the Grill still does an 8oz flat iron steak and chips lunchtime special for £25 (subject to change) and the bar does really good smash and plant burgers.
All our apartments in Clerkenwell are fully self catering with kitchens that will allow you to prepare all of your own meals should you wish to, but our guess is that you didn’t come to London to cook. With so many excellent options, why not try one or two on our recommended list.
Journal

Bloomsbury has a strong academic and literary history and is, of course, home to the British Museum. As you would expect, there are various restaurants catering to tourists 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 crêpe 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 an 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.

Temple is a riverside legal district sandwiched between Covent Garden and Blackfriars. Unless you are in the legal profession or follow the Knights Templar, you may not have heard of it. It can be tricky to find the right places to eat locally as many of the local eateries are grab and go sandwich bars so 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 draught 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 17th 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 but perhaps the best choice is their warm kosher pork(free) scratchings. Located down a tiny alley just off Fleet Street so 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 slice of Old England looks like your thing 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.