Here you’ll find Len and Alf’s write-ups of our culinary travels round London. Keep checking back or sign up for alerts when we post a new blog.
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29. Georgia. Iberia, Caledonian Rd
We visited Iberia in December 2023, but I’m only writing this in summer 2025, so my memory is a little hazy. Back again on Caledonian Road for another international food adventure (not far from Azeri Land of Fire and Ethiopian Agelgil). We visited the curiously-named Iberia with my girlfriend. So, what’s Georgian food like? Quite…
28. France. Patron, Kentish Town
We visited Patron on November 2023, but I’m only writing this in summer 2025, so my memory is a little hazy. I used to live in France, for 18 months or so, and got told on a near-daily basis (I’m not exaggerating, or at least, not much) that French food was the best in the…
27. Ethiopia. Agelgil, Islington
The cuisine of Estonia and Eswatini aren’t represented in London so, having eaten at an Eritrean restaurant the week before, it was back to the horn of Africa again for Ethiopian. That’s not a bad thing at all. We met on Caledonian Road (host to four other Ethiopian restaurants!) and settled into the reasonably busy…
26. Eritrea. Adulis, Oval.
Now this is the kind of restaurant that we like. Food from a far-off place we knew little about. Interesting dishes and unusual ingredients. Décor from the homeland. And a menu where the owners have made the effort to provide information about their country, cuisine and culture. In short, Adulis was already high in my…
25. El Salvador. Quinta Pupusa, South Kensington
A few months delayed writing this one up, so shall have to be short. Quinta Pupusa is London’s one and only restaurant specialising in the cuisine of El Salvador, although it actually seems to have been set up by a Brit who spent some time in the country. On their website they have a page…
24. Egypt. Ali Baba, Marylebone
“I don’t think I can face another mouthful” I whimpered to Alf. I felt like Mr Bean in that sketch where he tries to hide his revolting steak tartare in a French restaurant so it looks as if he’s finished. But no such option existed with my bowl of toxic green Molokhia, and I had…
23. Ecuador. Miko’s, Elephant and Castle
If you want a good time, head to a Latino restaurant. In two years of doing the A to Z of World Food, the region that’s provided hands down most fun is Latin America. Yes, you can get more interesting flavours in Asian or African cuisine, or more sophisticated vibes in European restaurants, but for…
22. Czech Republic. Bohemia House, West Hampstead
Ch – ch – Czech it out! It’s the next blog in the A to Z of World Food in London!!! That’s right, and this time we found ourselves on the borders of Hampstead, sitting down for Bohemian fayre with our parents, who’d come up to dine with us one June evening. Bohemia House is…
21. Cuba. Cubana, Waterloo.
Ah, Cuba, pearl of the Caribbean. Che, Castro, communism, cigars… and one of the best ‘C’ countries in this list! I’ve been a bit tardy writing this up – I met Alf at the end of April and it’s now July. But I’ve only got good memories of Cubana, a vibrant, colourful restaurant just behind…
20. Congo (DRC). DeluxeManna, Tottenham Hale
“A lot of countries’ national cuisine is basically bits of grilled meat”. That was Alf’s reflection after our trip to DeluxeManna, a Congolese restaurant in north London. He’s got a point – from Argentina to Brazil, Bolivia to Bulgaria, we’ve eaten a lot of chunks of grilled animal flesh while doing this A to Z…
19. Colombia. Mi Tierra, Tottenham
Afraid I’ve been a bit lazy with updating this blog – we visited Mi Tierra in October ’22, and I’m only writing this in April ’23 – so will be brief as my memory is a bit blurred. Colombia holds a special place in my heart – I spent eight months in the country a…
18. China. Four Seasons, Chinatown
Afraid I’ve been a bit lazy with updating this blog – we visited Four Seasons in Chinatown in September ’22, and I’m only writing this in April ’23 – so will be brief as my memory is a bit blurred. Chinese is, of course, one of the world’s great cuisines, with an enormous richness and…
17. Canada. The Maple Leaf, Covent Garden
“If this is what Canadian food is like, I don’t think I ever want to visit that country!” Such was my summary to my dining companions (Alf, Mum and Dad) after our meal at The Maple Leaf, a sports bar in Covent Garden. The Canada-themed pub is part of the Greene King chain, so I…
16. Cameroon. Maestro Bar, Deptford
While I was waiting for Alf in Deptford, I sat in a pub opposite Maestro Bar, which is probably the only proper Cameroonian restaurant in London. I began reading reviews of the place on Google, and started to feel rather worried. Plenty of one-star ratings from peeved patrons about slow service left me feeling rather…
15. Bulgaria. Sunny Beach, Turnpike Lane
I believe waiting staff channel the national spirit. Think of those wonderfully friendly American ‘servers’. Snide Parisian waiters. Thin-skinned Italians. Bored Brits. Well, the Bulgarian waiters at Sunny Beach, a restaurant near Turnpike Lane, were amusingly blunt – a characteristic I associate with the handful of other Bulgarians I’ve ever met. In a way, I…
14. Brazil. Kaipiras, Kilburn
The best steaks are often described as ‘melting’ in the writer’s mouth. This description never made much sense to me and doesn’t seem particularly desirable. The whole joy of a steak is that it’s something to get your teeth into. Still, the steaks at Kaipiras, a small neighbourhood establishment down a Kilburn side street, come…
13. Bolivia. El Rincon, Holloway
¡Qué idiota! Having sat down and browsed the menu at El Rincon, a quiet canteen on the noisy Holloway Road, I realised I’d made an unforgiveable mistake: this wasn’t really a Bolivian restaurant. We’ve been quite strict about eating at places that only do the food of the named nation. This is the main reason…
12. Belgium. The Dovetail, Farringdon
I’ve got a lot of time for Belgium. It’s a small country that does a few things very, very well. Augustly preserved medieval towns. Tick Cartoons. Tick Large international institutions. Tick But above all it’s the world-beating beer, mussels, chips with mayonnaise and chocolate that really set this understated low country apart. So, I had…
11. Barbados. Big Mike’s Calypso Kitchen, Croydon
Before meeting me and our mum for dinner in Croydon at 6:30, Alf had necked a frankly astonishing four pints with his teacher colleagues in Kilburn…on a Wednesday. Unsurprisingly, he merrily wolfed down his meal at Big Mike’s Calypso Kitchen, although he also needed to pee a lot, which was a problem since the establishment…
10. Bangladesh. Kolapata, Whitechapel
We knew this one would be special the moment we walked through Kolapata’s door on Whitechapel Road. Bangladeshi families sat at metal tables enjoying their Friday right dinner, chatting in Sylheti, while waiters bustled around delivering plates of tasty looking food on trolleys. Sitting at one of the last available spaces by the door, Alf…
9. Bahrain. Villa Mamas, Chelsea
The mouthfeel was very peculiar. Like a spoon of ice cream prepared by someone with alopecia. But, happily the hairy sensation soon disappeared as the candy floss covered sweet treat dissolved in my mouth . This unusual but memorable dessert was the fun culmination of a delicious dinner at Chelsea’s Villa Mammas restaurant. AIf and…
8. Azerbaijan. Land of Fire, King’s Cross
This is what A to Z World Food London is all about! A cuisine we knew nothing about before. Delightful food. Friendly staff. Dishes with strange names, like kuku, cigirtmasi and golubtsi. The country Azerbaijan even has an AZ in its name! I met Alf for Sunday lunch at Land of Fire on the Caledonian…
7. Austria. Fischer’s, Marylebone
A few weeks before I met Alf at Fischer’s, a Viennese-style café/restaurant on Marylebone high street, I’d actually been on holiday to Vienna. That trip had left me with a few, not altogether positive, impressions of the central-European country’s capital. I wondered if a London transplant of one of its turn-of-the-(last)-century coffee and food joints…
6. Australia. Lantana, London Bridge
“So, what do you think of Australian food then Alf?” I asked my brother at the end of our meal at Lantana in Southwark. “Well, it doesn’t seem to exist”. This seemed like a reasonable assessment of the food we’d had at the Australian brunch style restaurant. Don’t get me wrong, this was pretty tasty…
5. Armenia. Jakob’s, South Kensington
This is a tricky one. I only want to say good things about Jakob’s, a simple café on Gloucester Road we visited on a week day evening in October. The owner was incredibly charming, offering us free dessert, a discounted bottle of Armenian wine and generous servings. She played us Armenian music, gave me a…
4. Argentina: Buen Ayre, London Fields
“Try some of this juicy chicken” I suggested. “Oh yeah, that’s really tasty” Alf replied, masticating on a good mouthful of the tender meat. Then with juvenile delight I informed him he was actually eating testicles. Big bulls’ balls. Cojones grandes. His face went a strange colour for a moment, but he swigged gallantly on…
3. Algeria: Khamsa, Brixton
London has very few authentic Algerian restaurants – the majority of places selling the country’s cuisine are either Moroccan or general ‘North African’ joints. But after a bit of googling we found Khamsa on Brixton’s Acre Lane. Turning up on a Sunday evening, it was perhaps no surprise the place was pretty much empty but…
1. Afghanistan: Ariana II, Kilburn
A mound of fragrant steaming rice arrived at our table. Flecks of caramelised carrot and plump juicy raisins were scattered on top. I dug my spoon in and found a hunk of lamb hidden beneath the grains and it eased off the bone. This was going to be good. The meat was fatty, sticky, melt…
2. Albania: Vila Ronel, Kilburn
I want to begin with something positive. The tea. It was served in a cafetiere, and the waiter told us that the herbal infusion (which seemed to be camomile) was typically Albanian. Imagine camomile tea. It was like that. That’s more or less where the positives end. We were back in Kilburn in late July…
The A to Z of World Food in London 