The Kensington Retreat

From the charming welcome to the last of the delicious petit fours, Clare Smyth's elegant Notting Hill restaurant offers a superb experience. Start with a drink in the delightful Whiskey & Seaweed bar, before choosing between an à la carte or two tasting menus. 'Core Seasons' features more recent seasonal creations, while 'Core Classics' includes Smyth signatures like 'Potato and Roe' and 'Lamb Carrot'. Throughout, the eye-catching dishes take outstanding ingredients and fashion them into beautifully balanced, skilfully composed dishes with supreme depth of flavour.

Among The Ledbury's many strengths has always been Brett Graham's close relationship with his suppliers. In some cases that supplier is himself, with pigs raised on his farm and the restaurant housing its own mushroom cabinet. These stunning ingredients are amplified by beautifully balanced combinations and the kitchen's ability to deliver multiple layers of flavour without overcomplicating things, such as in the hay-aged pigeon with girolles, vadouvan, cherry and sauerkraut. The service team are refreshingly approachable and have an impressive knack for putting everyone at ease.

The Harwood Arms is a pub at heart, so bar snacks are a must: munch on homemade crisps or a venison Scotch egg while you peruse the menu with a pint. The cooking at this pub may be highly accomplished, but it still does what pub food does best: leaves you feeling eminently satisfied. The menu is British to the core and the owners supply much of the expertly cooked deer and game. Well-balanced dishes burst with flavour and allow each main ingredient to shine by keeping things simple.

It should go without saying, but be sure to ask for a seat on the terrace at this icon of London's Italian restaurant scene. The on-view kitchen with its wood-fired oven dominates the stylish and buzzing riverside room and the menu bursts with authentic Italian flavours which make one’s mouth water in anticipation. The honest, hearty dishes have a rustic Italian simplicity, relying as they do on the quality of their ingredients, whether that be clams, crab or wild sea bass. Arguably the best Italian wine list in London is the icing on the cake.

Terse menu descriptions belie the quality of the cooking at this energisingly busy neighbourhood brasserie in Notting Hill. Excellent primary ingredients are at the core, which are lovingly treated by the kitchen team, with highly skilled wood-fired grilling a feature of the menu; grab a seat at the counter to get a view of the chefs in action. Dishes vary from single-bite snacks such as creamy liver parfait toast to shared main courses like deliciously filling Limousin veal chop with vin jaune. First-timers should follow the friendly service team's advice on what – and how much – to order.

This restaurant is temporarily closed following a fire.The former BBC TV Centre may be an unlikely setting for a restaurant, but it's a match made in sushi heaven for this flagship venture from Yokohama-born Endo Kazutoshi. The experienced, well-travelled chef is a real showman, explaining each finely crafted, subtly flavoured element of the omakase menu in an engaging, charming way. Ingredients are either imported from Japan, such as rice from Yamagata, or are the best that Europe has to offer, like monkfish from Brixham and tuna from Spain.

'Never judge a book by its cover' certainly rings true here, as within this former pub sits a convivial and really quite stylish restaurant, where sophisticated cooking combines with efficient, unstuffy service. Alongside an à la carte, you have the option to ‘build your own’ 5 course tasting menu by selecting one dish from each of their ‘character’ profiles; these range from 'Subtle' (such as Acquerello risotto) to 'Robust' (roast lamb, perhaps) and finish with 'Greedy' for dessert. Top-notch ingredients and strong classical technique run throughout.