Looking for the best places to eat around Leicester Square? We’ve got you covered with this guide to the restaurants you don’t want to miss.
The tourist hub (or trap, depending on your viewpoint) that is Leicester Square isn’t short of places to eat. But it has to be said that for every good Leicester Square restaurant, there are plenty of terrible ones that you need to avoid for the sake of your stomach and your wallet.
But how can you tell a great spot from a health hazard? Don’t fret, we’ve hunted out the very best food in Leicester Square so that you don’t need to waste your time in sub-par eateries.
From celeb haunts like J Sheekey where you’ll be dining on some of the finest seafood in the city to great lesser-known spots like Rasa Sayang that’ll have you wondering if you can steal a recipe from the chef, here are the places you don’t want to miss.
Oh, and scroll to the bottom to find some nearby neighbourhoods and dining hotspots that also pack quite the foodie reputation. You can thank us later…
Best Restaurants In Leicester Square
Ochre
A very short walk to the south and you’ll pop out onto the equally iconic Trafalgar Square, and right here you’ll find Ochre. It’s the restaurant of The National Gallery and it’s an option with lots to offer.
The place is decorated with class in mind. You’ll feel ritzy just to walk in the place so imagine how you’ll feel once you start knocking back oysters and champagne as you wait for your meal to arrive.
The food has broadly British leanings and is all made with British ingredients farmed as nearby as they can be for a restaurant right in London’s centre (they take sustainability seriously here)
You’ll want to try the Beef Wellington if it’s on the menu. They make it with Hereford beef and it does take 45 minutes to prepare, but that’s just more time to knock back oysters and champagne…
Joy King Lau
Joy King Lau is a fantastic three-story Chinese restaurant perched on Leicester Street and has built up quite a fan base since the 1990s.
Joy King Lau produces some of the best Chinese food in the city. Opt for one of their best-selling dishes – Shredded Crispy Roast Duck, Crab with Ginger and Spring Onions, or Steamed Whole Sea Bass and you won’t be disappointed.
It’s not exactly a secret that in London, rain is a given. In fact, when isn’t it raining? Joy King Lau offers clay pot dishes that are incredibly warming, transporting you into a world of peace and comfort – far away from the capital’s grey skies.
Le Beaujolais
Le Beaujolais is a wonderful restaurant that has been serving French cuisine and embracing French culture since 1972. The joy of this place is that it’s like a little Parisian haunt, tucked into a corner of the eccentric quarters of Covent Garden and Soho.
In fact, the ground floor of Le Beaujolais is the oldest French wine bar in all of London. You can pick away at some light nibbles and order a small selection of main course there – all of which are deeply authentic and often made with ingredients sourced from small suppliers. located in France
The cuisine is delightful – try the Boeuf Bourguignon and you’ll understand why we love it so much.
If you really like the experience, they have a member’s club restaurant that you can sign up to for an expanded menu of even more of their excellent cooking.
Chop Chop by Four Seasons at the Hippodrome
We have an unwritten rule at London x London that we don’t recommend restaurants you find in the basements of casinos. We’re about to do the unthinkable and recommend one – the fact that we’re doing so should indicate that we’re not messing around when we say that Chop Chop is on point.
It’s run by Four Seasons, a reputable Chinese restaurant that we talk about a lot. We’re solidly of the opinion that means the food is top-drawer.
You’ll find a menu of generally Cantonese-style dishes – Dim sum here is great. You’ll also have run of a roast meats menu that you should take advantage of.
For something left of field, order a bowl of Ma Po Tofu. It’s a signature of Sichuan but popular all over China for its zingy spice and hearty quality and Chop Chop’s version is something special.
J Sheekey
Believe us when we say that J Sheekey is one of the finest restaurants in London. It offers exceptional fish and shellfish, as well as seasonal game – though we’ll nearly always opt for the crab and shrimp burger with lashings of Korean mayo.
This wonderful restaurant has been around since the 1890s and is steeped in British history: It begins with a stallholder named Josef Sheekey was granted permission by Lord Salisbury to fish in St Martin’s Court – on the proviso that the dishes were served to the rich and famous.
This tradition has not been erased from history, and this iconic restaurant beamed during the Victorian times and is still popular with famous actors and performers, as well as their audiences. If you’re looking to eat at a dining institution, you can’t do much better than this place.
Le Garrick
Located in London’s West End, Le Garrick is famous for its excellent, regional French food and Parisian atmosphere. More importantly, it does what we think is the best French onion soup in London.
Le Garrick has supplied London with delightful French cuisine for more than thirty-three years and has become a staple restaurant within the community. The menu is wonderful, and offers some very reasonably priced meals, whilst maintaining excellent quality.
Whether you’re looking for a romantic date setting or a fancy family outing, Le Garrick is a spot you don’t want to overlook.
Mr White’s
If you’re in central London you’re surrounded by restaurants run by the world’s most notable chefs, and when it comes to notable chefs, Marco Pierre White is a name you can’t overlook.
The man is king among Michelin-level chefs, but Mr White’s is his more down-to-earth offering, a gin, pizza and steak joint that takes his high-end cooking and strips it back to a price range that won’t leave your bank account as empty as a black hole.
It’s sort of a given that the food is good here, so we’ll give special mention to the decor. You’ll be dining in an atrium full of comfy but classy furniture under a low light that can make for a bit of romance if the evening demands it.
There’s also live music on Friday and Saturday nights to really up the vibe.
Rasa Sayang
Rasa Sayang is a vibrant South-East Asian restaurant, serving excellent Malaysian and Singaporean cuisine – on top of that, it caters to a Halal audience, with vegetarians and vegans also well-looked after.
The chefs draw on the influences of Malaysia and Singapore to create modern interpretations of traditional dishes, using only the freshest local produce. Even with the stiff competition nearby Chinatown provides, this is one of the best Asian restaurants in the area.
One of their best-selling dishes, Raffles Singapore Laksa, features a shrimp and coconut curry broth, rice noodles, fishcake and prawns. Vegans may appreciate the Vegan Nasi Lemak – an excellent rendition of Malaysia’s favourite coconut rice dish topped with peanuts, archar and curried vegetables.
The flavours and spices used at Rasa Sayang are incredible – try to resist making your next reservation on your way out.
The Palomar
Wondering where to eat near Leicester Square? The Palomar is a wonderful restaurant in the heart of Soho that offers the exceptional fusion cuisine of Jerusalem, North Africa, Southern Spain, and the Levant.
The Palomar understands the art of cooking wholesome and fragrant food, and the service is always superb. They cook everything from Cornish mackerel to ribeye steaks over an open fire and you don’t want to miss out on any of it.
There is a 16-seat zinc kitchen bar at the front of the restaurant. This wonderful bar overlooks the chefs, so you can truly understand the art that goes into producing the food at The Palomar.
It also helps that the restaurant is beautiful – with a mosaic marble floor and tons of natural lighting.
Cafe TPT
A few blocks north of Leicester Square you’ll find Chinatown, a veritable hub of good eating. There are a million and one Chinese restaurants you could choose from here but we’d advise you to head straight for Cafe TPT.
The place is a replication of the classic Cantonese diner – a pokey restaurant where people are squeezed in and waiters run the gauntlet of a cramped restaurant floor carrying steaming bowls of wonton soup and trays of aromatic roast meat – both things you ought to order.
We love the place for exactly that atmosphere. It’s one of those restaurants that doesn’t feel like it’s in London at all, an utterly transformative dining experience. And on top of that, it’s incredibly great value.
Sagar Vegan & Vegetarian Restaurant
London is full of incredible vegan and vegetarian food with brilliant burgers, fantastic pizzas, and incredible ice creams, all suitable for veggies.
However, Sagar Vegan & Vegetarian restaurant offers something a little better than that. This restaurant serves up incredible South Indian cooking and specialises in vegan and vegetarian cuisine.
The chefs at Sagar come from Udupi, a small town in Western Ghats, Karnataka. We don’t know what they put in the water over there but it produces some excellent cooks.
We are big fans of their lentil pizzas. Likewise, their paper dosas are absolutely divine if you’re looking for something a little more traditional (go for the Paper Paneer Dosa for a thin pancake stuffed with their homemade cottage cheese).
All of the above said, Sagar is not just a restaurant for vegans and vegetarians. Anyone who appreciates Indian food will be impressed with the menu. It might just become your new favourite restaurant…
Misato
Misato is a fantastic Japanese restaurant that has been thriving in London for over twenty-five years. The name of the restaurant means ‘home of taste’, and Misato offers some of the best Japanese food in all of London.
Misato particularly specialises in katsu curry rice, which has become one of their best-selling dishes since they opened all those years ago. Our favourite option though, has to be the Unagi Don – a box of glazed eel on a bed of rice.
The fillet is cooked perfectly, with meat falling apart beneath a layer of crispy skin and rendered fat. Our stomachs are growling just thinking about it.
Victory House
Being pretty much slap bang in the middle of London, Leicester square plays home to no small ammount of classy restaurants. One of those is a place called Victory House, a French bistro and wine bar that is just the spot if you’re looking to make your meal a special one.
They’re open for breakfast, lunch and dinner making it a great option for any meal of the day. The menu is very traditional, offering Coq Au Vin and Saumon A La Provençale, though at breakfast you’ll find mainstream brunch dishes like avocado toast alongside your croissants.
As for that breakfast, should the weather permit, we’d advice eating it out on their terrace. You can’t beat people watching the goings on in Leicester Square with your morning coffee.
Dishoom Covent Garden
Dishroom is an Indian street-food, Bombay-style restaurant, with impeccable interior design and a cult following among hoards of London’s diners.
When you walk into the restaurant, it’s like you’ve stepped into another era – the restaurant pays tribute to the fantastic Irani cafés of Bombay, and the design is influenced by India’s influence on the film industry.
Whether it’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner, Dishoom Covent Garden offers food that hits the spot. Bacon naan rolls, black daal, and even a vegan jackfruit biryani are just some things on offer.
You’ll also want to make sure you order a portion of the Gunpowder potatoes, they’re were, when Dishoom first opened, one of the most talked about dishes in the city.
Truly, Dishoom is representative of some of London’s finest and most vibrant eateries.
Sartori
Sartori is, without a doubt, one of the best Italian restaurants in the area. It was established in 2010 and offers authentic renditions of the food of southern Italy, done with a passion that would be hard to match, even in London.
In fact, every pizza chef who works at Sartori is from Naples and understands (seemingly in their marrow) the art of pizza making. The dough is made fresh daily, and the flour is imported from Italy, then aged in the restaurant before being used.
Of course, the pizza is cooked in a wood fire oven, to create some of the most incredible pizzas outside of Italy.
If you’re not the sharing type then our shout would be to order the Cotto e Funghi – a ham and mushroom number that’s mouthwateringly good – though we’d always say it’s better to order a couple different types and share, that way you can try more.
If you appreciate Italian food, then you better book a reservation at Sartori.
Other Places To Eat In & Around Leicester Square
Seven Dials Food Market
Okay, so technically Seven Dials Food Market isn’t in Leicester Square – but it’s one of the best foodie hubs within walking distance and well worth the journey.
Seven Dials is a street food spot with an abundance of vendors. You’ve got plenty to choose from, though our top picks include: Any of the burgers at Truffle Burger, the guava-glazed wings from El Pollote, and Club Mexicana’s fiery tacos.
You’ll also find a few bars down here so you can combine dinner with a drink (or a full-on knees-up) if you want to.
Berwick St Soho Market
Tucked away in Soho (again, not on Leicester Square but we’re sure you’ll forgive us), Berwick Street Market is one of our favourites in the capital. And aside from jewellery and bric-a-brac, there are plenty of high-quality food stalls.
Which stalls are best? Head to Savage Salad, Freebird Burritos, and Afghan Delights and you won’t be disappointed.
The market is open 8am – 6pm which doesn’t make it ideal for dinner options, but for a bite to eat in the day you’re in safe hands.
