The Best Restaurants with 4 Falstaff-Gabel(n) in London

In Notting Hill, you'll find the best of British cuisine. The restaurant's award-winning sommelier, Gareth Ferreira, has created one of the best wine lists in London, while the seasonal or tasting menus incorporate unique flavours, textures and aromas. Dishes celebrate British ingredients, including local scallops, oysters, lamb and more. The décor is cosy and sophisticated.

This three Michelin-starred restaurant is the pinnacle of Gordon Ramsay's culinary empire. From the bespoke menus at the Inspiration Table to the fresh salads, fish and game served daily, each plate is a work of art. The wine list is a tome of epic proportions, but there's a team of sommeliers on hand to pick the perfect bottle.

The Dorchester's Alain Ducasse restaurant is the epitome of exquisite ingredients and presentation, created by Executive Chef Jean-Philippe Blondet. Each menu uses the freshest seasonal French and British produce to create contemporary dishes, perfectly presented and complemented by an extensive wine list. For the ultimate experience, you simply have to try the exclusive Table Lumiere.

Each of Hélène's three Michelin stars is earned through fresh, seasonal produce, artful concepts and impeccable presentation at this restaurant in The Connaught Hotel. Hand-picked ingredients are used in the Dining Room, Sommelier's Table and Chef's Table, where bespoke dishes are also served, while the wine experience is perfectly paired with prestigious bottles from exceptional producers and private collections.

Art, fun and food come together at Sketch, created by chef Daniel Stucki. Although the plates are daintily presented, more is more when it comes to flavours, with dishes such as oyster ice cream, hay-smoked pigeon and game cappuccino. The wine list is small but carefully curated, with bottles mainly from France and England to complement the imaginative menu.

The Ledbury is the epitome of culinary excellence, with an unparalleled use of the freshest ingredients, including some even grown by Chef Brett Graham himself. The tasting menu offers a global wine list and showcases creative flavours like truffles, caviar and liquorice. The knowledgeable and friendly staff are the icing on the cake.

At La Dame de Pic, London's answer to its chic Parisian counterpart, you can't help but be impressed by the masterpiece on every plate. The tasting menu offers the widest choice, with all the hallmarks of Anne-Sophie Pic's incredible cuisine, including her signature white millefeuille. Try the 'Emotion' pairing with each course or simply choose a bottle from the wine list, carefully selected from the Rhone Valley.

It's simple, bold and delicious – that's why Trivet has two Michelin stars. The menu is a celebration of the finest produce from across the globe. Risotto, English lamb and French cheeses all feature, alongside a list of more than 300 wines from under-the-radar regions like Georgia and Turkey.

The bronze pig’s head above the door is the first sign of Manteca’s credo, the mantra on their website telling you the rest: in-house <i>salumeria </i>, nose-to-tail cooking, hand-rolled pasta, fire-cooked cuts to share. It’s ticking so many of my daily urges that I dash through the door and perch at the bar in their opening week. I’ve been tracking chef/owner Chris Leach’s progression since first meeting him ten years ago at the trailblazing barbecue spot Pitt Cue, and most recently as Manteca was popping up as a temporary residency in a couple of London sites – now, together with co-owner David Carter of Smokestak, another temple to the glories of meat cooking and butchery, they have opened a permanent spot that is clever, subtle, and utterly compelling. The house <i>salumi</i> plate kicks things off, and we’re immediately into a confident strut, as silky black pepper salami moves on to delicately smoked <i>speck</i>, then great fat-marbled <i>coppa</i>, before the ‘wow’ inducing <i>mortadella</i>: rough-hewn, coarser and darker than the standard stuff, this is singing with the resonance of happy rare-breed pigs, and makes for a guilt-free rendition, a gentle hum of herbs and spice in the background. In the glass <i>salumeria</i> downstairs they make use of all the bits (both loved and unloved) of breeds including Mangalitza, Tamworth, and Gloucester Old Spots, making broths and sauces from the bones of animals they break down – the result is triumphant cured meat. Another statement from the kitchen which is a glorious paean to the chef etiquette of giving respect to a butchered animal by using every darn scrap, is the pig skin <i>ragú</i>, an outrageous menu item that demands attention. It’s served alongside a huge slab of crackling which I’m urged by bar manager Ilario to use to scoop up the contents of the bowl: I’m pleased he did, this is surely the best way. The skin is braised and finely chopped, cooked down with tomatoes and onions until achieving a form of gelatinous apotheosis, a hot mess sprinkled with parmesan and making an indecently good starter. While I could happily spend an afternoon piling into the excellent wine list while exploring the entire <i>salumi</i> selection, alongside crisp <i>gnocco fritto</i> and some of the bounciest, most flavoursome <i>focaccia</i> I’ve had for some time, I have tasted Leach’s pasta on several occasions, and know this to be showstopping – how much can I take down? The crab <i>cacio e pepe</i> makes another appearance here, with wriggly fat tubes of <i>tonnarelli</i>, and the heft and honk of buttery brown crab meat coating every strand, with an artful flourish of ground black pepper on one side. Next, I wade into the <i>fazzoletti</i> with duck <i>ragù</i>, the silkiest handkerchiefs of pasta blushing with the yellow of good yolks, a dousing of crunchy duck fat <i>pangratatto</i> on top – satisfying textural contrasts, deep flavours. As an adoring fan boy of the pasta at The River Café, the quality and execution of the cooking going on here will scratch that particular itch if I’m not trekking across to West London – that’s high praise from this resolute pasta fascist. While meat and pasta are the star tricks here, I enjoy some greens with a great rendition of <i>puntarelle alla romana</i>, the bitter chicory salad dressed with a punchy anchovy and chilli vinaigrette, even better when mopped up with more of that excellent <i>focaccia</i>. Sprout tops play a fine role by enveloping a peppery puck of beef sausage, with freshly grated horseradish and some its cream perking up the whole ensemble. Finishing off with some satin-textured <i>gelato affogato</i> (ice-cream sourced from Hackney Gelato, who Michelin starred restaurants are happy to use), I’m already plotting the return visit, to tuck into more pasta (regularly changed up), and to indulge in the compelling and very fairly priced wine list: on this occasion it was an ABV% free lunch, but a sharp and wide selection has many of my favourites, including Pieropan’s Soave <i>La Rocca</i>, Barbaresco from Sottimano, and Sonoma Pinot Noir from Littorai – it’s a list that deserves to quickly attract a grateful restaurant industry crowd. The room has a buzzy and insouciant feel that calls to mind a New York City attitude and vibe, a fine trick of combining casual with a quiet confidence, of serious integrity without any la dee dah navel gazing. Come here for the meat, stay for the pasta, glory in the pig skin <i>ragú</i> – this one’s a keeper. Reviewed by Zeren Wilson

Heston Blumenthal has simplified his usual whacky creations in favour of a more playful menu at the Mandarin Oriental, inspired by traditional British gastronomy. The Meat Fruit and Rice & Flesh dishes are presented with the chef's classic inventiveness, and the wine list boasts over 850 bins from all around the globe.

A. Wong is the most deserving restaurant of a second Michelin star. Andrew Wong's Pimlico restaurant offers Chinese cuisine in a contemporary style, combining traditional techniques with a modern twist. The 'Collections of China' menu offers a comprehensive overview of Chinese cuisine, with the pole noodles being a particular highlight. The service is of the highest standard, and the wine list, which focuses on French wines, is refreshingly good.

The Clove Club serves a seasonal tasting menu artfully created by Chef Isaac McHale using ingredients from the British Isles. Orkney scallops, sardines with chrysanthemum and Herdwick lamb with seaweed are just some of the innovative dishes, with optional wine pairings from a list of vintage and contemporary bottles.

Each dish is a culinary masterpiece in this intimate space at the Hotel Café Royal. The tasting menu features a selection of the finest ingredients, including Devon smoked eel, foie gras and clam chowder. The attentive staff are available to assist with the extensive wine list.

London's hottest new restaurant, Brooklands, offers unbeatable skyline views from The Peninsula hotel and a menu to match. Claude Bosi and his team use only the finest, hand-picked ingredients, including Scottish razor clams, guinea fowl and Dorset snail, in their tasting menus, which showcase the best of land, sea and air. The wine list is only a small part of the incredible range of drinks on offer.

At Bibendum, in the former Michelin headquarters, Claude Bosi continues to work his magic with confident French cuisine. The stained glass windows complement the colourful dishes, which feature beautiful seasonal ingredients such as French quail and frogs' legs. Bosi also helped curate the exquisite wine list, with staff on hand to suggest pairings.

Chef Rafael Cagali brings Brazilian, Italian and Spanish influences to the menu at Da Terra, which is lovingly prepared and packed with flavour. Da Terra means 'from the soil' and this is evident in the blind tasting menu, which becomes increasingly impressive over the course of three hours, especially when paired with a selection of modern wines that complement the fresh pasta, vegetable and meat dishes.

Chef Jeremy Chan uses vibrant colours and unconventional flavours at Ikoyi, one of London's best African restaurants, which celebrates the finest produce from Britain's land and sea. Every dish on the menu is packed with a multitude of spices, including smoked jollof rice and some more unconventional items like chilli-laden desserts.

The Kitchen Table serves a 20 course menu that changes daily. Our menu is based on the best British produce available, sourced sustainably. Expect dishes such as lobster, venison, scallops and truffles, which you can watch being prepared in front of you at the kitchen counter. Each course comes with an optional wine and champagne pairing, and you can even buy a bottle to take home.

Can a restaurant experience be brave, pushing the limits, yet deeply ‘analogue’? Thrillingly, yes. Wood smoke is in the air, even though the dining room is in the former red brick police HQ, now the striking Hyatt-owned Great Scotland Yard hotel, just off Whitehall. Not only is there a vast wood-burning domed oven & strictly no pizza on the menu, the open kitchen reveals dancing flames and glowing embers and cast iron skillets & medieval looking culinary accoutrements This is Nordic nirvana courtesy of Niklas Ekstedt, founder of the Michelin-starred Ekstedt in Stockholm, who turns out to be a (no longer) closet Anglophile (and perhaps points to the future in this era of fuel shortages?) The full seven course tasting menu is a must to truly experience the breadth of deliciousness achieved around ancient open-fire cooking methods eschewing electric ovens and gas burners in the kitchen. The first course is a scene stealer, oyster flambadou, referring to a cast iron implement with a cone the size of a tea cup and a pea sized hole at its tip to drop sizzling smoky beef fat onto the mollusc. This is probably the best oyster I will ever taste. Despite dining with an equally loquacious friend, we are both temporarily rendered speechless mouthing ‘wow’. The treat arrives with tiny crunchy balls of apple, bathed in beurre blanc, topped with a nasturtium leaf and explodes with pure, briny, revelatory flavour. This is not a meal for the squeamish or unadventurous. Next up is a ‘Nordic taco’ made from smoked ruby-red reindeer heart seared in a bowl at the table with all-spice and tart lingonberries to wrap in a fermented flatbread. It is so intensely, viscerally savoury and speaks of being deep in the wilds of Northern Scandinavia among the Sani, the indigenous reindeer herders Ekstedt grew up with who so influenced his primal ‘cooking’ technique. With the chefs (head chef opened Ekstedt’s wine bar) coming out of the kitchen to explain and present sizzling dishes, it reminds me of the exhilaration I experienced when I first visited Noma back in 2008 when New Nordic was truly new and I’d never tasted vendace roe, here served simply and exquisitely on charred, ember cooked leek. There’s a lobster dish with a most unusual juxtaposition of ingredients (a few surprises are de rigueur) and hay smoked mallard that comes with exceptional black pudding and trout roe, buckwheat and creamy, earthy turnip puree. It tastes like the soul of a forest. Dishes are explained with poetic pride as are the wine pairings (plenty of unexpected joys such as a Jura red) or soft beverages ranging from barley waters to rosehip, kombucha to freshly pressed apple juice. Dessert arrives as wood-fired cep souffle, improbably light and serendipitously partnered with the tang of wild blueberries and subtle resin of pine needle ice-cream. The dining room doesn’t have the rustic hygge of the Stockholm original I visited some four years ago, yet despite being within the hotel, it feels cosy and Scandi cosseting. Forget the booking frenzy surrounding Noma, somehow voted number one in The World’s 50 Best at its new address, here’s how to experience the Nordic spirit in London without prodigious outlay and push the boundaries of what’s delicious. Reviewed by Sudi Pigott