Best restaurants in Marylebone
Published 07 January 2025

As a neighbourhood bistro of the old school, Xavier Rousset's Comptoir, just off Marylebone High Street, fits its London purlieu to a T. Tables squeezed into a higgledy-piggledy set of spaces, keyed-up French staff, a general air of warm-heartedness and a commendable wine list specialising in the expansive fertility of the Rhône region all contribute to the appeal. Sharing dishes suit the mood – think a baked Camembert with onions and pancetta followed by a great hunk of côte de boeuf with skinny frites and peppercorn sauce. We enjoyed a chicken and chanterelle tart positively blitzed with capers, and a more off-piste serving of juniper-cured sea trout in teriyaki dressing with slivers of ultra-ripe mango. Pork in the form of a rump steak with a black-pudding croquette, creamy morel sauce and mash are what bistro cooking is all about, or there may be hake with a chargrilled tiger prawn in sea herbs and lovage oil. For pudding, our pear tarte fine lacked a little dessert energy, but its accompanying vanilla ice cream was the business. If the broad French boulevards of the main list don't haul you in, look to the separately printed glass selection. Who could resist the siren-like call of Xavier Gérard's Condrieu?

Having learned their trade at Nobu, Tomonari Chiba and Keiji Fuku opened Dinings in 2006 on a quiet residential thoroughfare not far from Baker Street. Little changes. The restaurant itself, crammed into a bijou Georgian terraced house, has a dinky sushi bar at street-level and a handful of tables in the basement. Concentrate on the tapas-sized sharing plates that deliver a clever cocktail of oriental flavours. While the cooking is nominally Japanese, pan-Asian fusion is never far away – as in a mini taco filled with delicious tuna tartare, or sizzling scallops with yuzu, chilli and soy. Sushi and sashimi are delicately prepared – and, occasionally, given a contemporary lift (think sea bass sushi topped with umeboshi purée and tosazu jelly). However, the kitchen understands the intricate techniques and subtle touches involved – especially when it comes to preparing the generally excellent sushi rice. Less familiar dishes such as aubergine nasu miso – strikingly replete with umami – and a splendid grilled o-toro mini donburi (rice bowl) are convincing proof that Japanese food isn't all about ethereal delicacy. The food arrives as and when, while a comprehensive selection of sake is the standout on the drinks list.

Looking pretty in shades of peach and pastel pink, Jikoni’s boutique charms are a perfect fit for this increasingly trendy quarter of the capital. Inside, cute scatter cushions, pillows, arty lampshades, individually designed napkins and covetable tablecloths create a homely vibe – families and all comers happily eat together here. Dreamed up by well-travelled chef and TV presenter, Ravinder Bhogal, this self-styled ‘no borders kitchen’ reflects her mixed Asian/African heritage and the menu roams far and wide. Expect anything from a ‘prawn toast Scotch egg’ with banana ketchup or a mischievous Indian riff on Spain’s classic pan con tomate to a ‘small but delightful’ plate of Devon crab courgette fritti with avocado and coconut chutney or a tangy take on aloo chaat involving potato skin, black chickpeas, burrata, more avocado and crunchy sev. Larger dishes include the wonderfully named kuku paka with sukuma wiki, which sees grilled chicken paired with a spicy coconut sauce, braised 'collared' greens and saffron rice – a triumph of East African/Asian fusion. If you're partial to a spot of dunking, grazing and sharing, try one of the thali-style combos – perhaps sweet mango curry with a steamed dhokla cake, puri, thoran and a crispy mini papad for scooping. When it comes to sweet things, the wicked banana cake with miso butterscotch, peanut brittle and Ovaltine kulfi is rightly renowned, although the strawberry and yuzu roulade (‘bright, airy and creamy’) is also spot-on. To drink, there’s a tip-top selection of spice-friendly wines, an intriguing collection of global cocktails as well as single-estate teas; also check out the range of Toast beers (made with surplus fresh bread). Jikoni’s many virtues extend to warmly personable service and meticulous attention to detail – no wonder there are queues outside the door.

Kol is the word for ‘cabbage’ in Mexican Spanish, and the idea of taking an under-appreciated vegetable and spinning it into haute cuisine might serve as a metaphor for how Santiago Lastra has brought 9,000 years of Mexican culinary heritage bang up-to-date for British diners more used to tacos and tortillas. The expat chef had already done a tour of duty of the world’s most lauded kitchens before overseeing the Noma Mexico pop-up in 2017, and (as at Noma) Kol's menu only features local or native ingredients.

Lastra's signature dish – and the standout of the 10-course menu – is a fat Scottish langoustine tail daubed with smoked chilli, its sweetness cut with a coriander-like garland of sea arrowgrass. Further garnishing comes at the table, courtesy of squeezing out the juices in the creature’s head, before the whole delectable parcel is wrapped up in a tortilla. It’s the sort of bite-size morsel one wishes came in a serving of 10. Despite the theatrical saucing, it is also a fairly simple (if labour-intensive) assembly, as is another hugely enjoyable course involving confit pork cheek with black beans, woodruff and apple, plus crispy pig’s skin to sprinkle on top of more tortillas (kept warm in a bespoke pouch). Although there’s no denying the creativity it takes to pair a corn and yellow pepper custard with caviar and bisect the dish with tagete flowers (one of the most visually arresting plates we’ve eaten in a long time), there are perhaps not enough flavour fireworks to sustain 10 courses.

The room looks just as good as the cooking, with an open kitchen in the middle staffed by young chefs clad in the same earthy-toned colours as their surroundings, while word-perfect waiting staff are as committed to the Kol project as Lastra himself. Overall, however, we felt this was a tasting menu shaped to fit the sort of international ‘best restaurant’ lists that Noma once topped, with Mexican flavours grafted on to an essentially European structure – from the first thimbleful of kombucha and mezcal broth to a pre-dessert sorbet of butternut squash and chilli. Still, Lastra is to be commended for proving that high-end Mexican cuisine works as well in London as it does in Mexico City.

Just be warned that reservations go live two months ahead and disappear almost immediately; the basement Mezcaleria bar may be an easier (and cheaper) way in, with Mexican spirits to wash down small plates every bit as intricate as the dishes served upstairs.

Patricia Michelson started selling cheese in 1992 with a consignment of Beaufort Chalet d'Alpage; today, her esteemed Marylebone emporium/deli is a turophile’s treasure-trove with some 200 specimens in its temperature-controlled cheese room. But there’s more. Head to the adjoining café ‘at No 6’ for bespoke cheese selections prettily arranged on wooden boards, plus a roll call of daytime treats ranging from breakfast croissants, eggs and suchlike to headlining lunches – artisan charcuterie, pâté en croûte with prunes, wild boar tagliatelle, twice-baked Gruyère soufflé and myriad home-baked sweet things. Drink coffee from Le Piantagioni or something from the European wine list. It’s normally walk-ins only, but on Fridays they open late and take bookings.

On the corner of Harley Street and Cavendish Square, this wine bar/brasserie from Parisian big hitter Le Taillevent puts wine front and centre to dining here. Indeed, the sheer breadth, kind pricing, accessibility and rarity of the wines on offer really rewards drinkers. As well as an encyclopaedic list, there are 110 by the glass – hence the name. By using a very handy, easy-to-navigate grid, each menu item is matched to four wines in different price brackets, offered in 70ml and 125ml measures. Should that prove too confusing, a sommelier is on hand to give very good advice. Cooking remains understated, everything is done with care, using good ingredients, overlaid with precision and French familiarity. Sauces are a real strength – notably a light but complex spin on bonne femme accompanying mushroom-stuffed Cornish turbot fillet. A lobster dish, deceptively complex and superbly balanced, utilised pickled discs of pumpkin as a sharp-sweet foil to a light and delicate foaming bisque containing generous amounts of claw and leg meat, all topped by two perfectly poached slices of tail finished with pieces of orange and pumpkin seeds – perfect with a 2015 Anjou Blanc. Elsewhere, an exquisite, glossy and translucent sauce tinged with coffee complemented two pink roasted slices of venison loin, while a whole baby parsnip, parsnip purée and some roasted hen of the woods mushrooms made for a classically sweet garnish – superbly matched by a glass of 2015 Zinfandel. Lunch began with a benchmark gougère filled with hot cheese cream, a glass of perfectly made foaming ajo blanco, and a whole round loaf of malted sourdough alongside generously salted butter, while various riffs on blackberry (sorbet, bavarois, soup) with vanilla yoghurt foam and some meringue shards provided a fitting finale. Set in a former Coutts bank, the whole place looks sleek, glossy and plush – although it comes with a relaxed vibe and surprisingly straightforward service.

Conceived by two Chinese ladies from Chongqing who shared a flat in London, this buzzy, dimly lit noodle joint is squirrelled away in the basement of the Jackalope pub on Weymouth Mews. There’s no table service, so queue to place your order – although you'll be rewarded with some of the best noodles in town. Chongqing cuisine is similar to Szechuan, which means seriously pungent, spicy flavours – as in tender beef brisket with superb noodles and water spinach stirred into life with fresh coriander or signature xiao mian noodles with minced pork. Also try the big silky wontons in a pleasantly numbing broth with yellow beans. Highly addictive stuff. 

When dream-team siblings Karam and Sunaina Sethi opened Trishna in 2008, no one guessed that it was the start of something big; fast-forward 15 years, and the family’s JKS Restaurants portfolio now includes some of the hottest tickets in town (Gymkhana, Hoppers et al). Compared to some of its funkier new openings, this Marylebone original feels distinctly restrained with its whitewashed brickwork, Air India posters, bare café-style tables and jazzy soundtrack – although the food is defined by its assertive flavours and the sheer variety of its spicing (from ‘sweet and subtle to rich, complex and powerful’). The culinary focus is on India’s south-west coastal provinces – Cochin, Kerala and Mangalore – so expect plenty of fresh-tasting seafood in different regional guises. Trishna classics such as soft-shell crab enlivened with green chilli and tomato chutney, salmon tikka with samphire chaat or nariyal scallops (with vermicelli upma and hits of coconut) are joined by equally forthright meat and veggie options. Quail pepper fry is never off the menu, likewise duck seekh kebabs with pineapple chutney and Hyderabadi subzi kofta (dumpling balls of paneer, cashews and almonds gilded with saffron). All the add-ons are up to the mark, while desserts take an east/west trip from strawberry and fennel mousse to smoked mango and cardamom kheer (rice pudding). Service 'can be leisurely,' notes a fan, 'but it's always attentive, charming and helpful'. To match the food, sommelier/co-owner Sunaina Sethi has assembled an intelligent spice-tolerant wine list loaded with classy pairings and ample drinking by the glass or carafe. Otherwise, browse and sip your way through Trishna’s heady ‘tea library’.

Although the counter seating by the downstairs kitchen is long gone, this slice of Argentina in Marylebone still conjures up a moody Buenos Aires hangout, complete with chequered floor tiles, red leather banquettes and stools at the bar. To begin, the focus is on gently deconstructed small plates and signature flavours – from the best-selling provoleta (baked provolone cheese slathered with oregano honey and almonds) to sea bream ceviche or warm green asparagus partnered by a soft-boiled egg, almonds ‘ajo blanco’ and bottarga di muggine (salted, pressed and dried grey mullet roe). After that, it’s all about hefty pampas-reared Argentinian steaks, including classic cuts such as bife ancho (ribeye), lomo (fillet) and asado (grilled flank, served with Roscoff onions, Taleggio cheese sauce and salsa verde). Alternatively, try a fish dish – perhaps grilled monkfish with braised white asparagus, a jamón-spiked ragoût of green peas and chicken jus. If you manage to make it to dessert and you’re not counting the calories, go for the warm cinnamon and rhubarb jam roll with spicy custard and Chantilly cream; otherwise, the ubiquitous dulce de leche turns up in a crème brûlée. House cocktails provide added temptation, and the all-Argentinian wine list dips into the country’s regional vineyards, with bottles from £32.