Andrew Edmunds is widely credited as being London’s most romantic restaurant. Then there is a band of candlelit Italians such as Brutto and Luca, both in Farringdon, which are as charming as they are becoming. Oh, and not far away, Ciao Bella, a famously mad place perfect for livelier date nights.
Doubtless you will have heard of Noble Rot, and another French-leaning restaurant, Ducksoup in Soho, a beautiful space and an early adopter of the great braised beans movement of the late 2000s. These helped to pave the way for restaurants such as Camille in Borough Market. It would be as good a restaurant as any to book for a twinkling Valentine’s Day sojourn.
Sessions Arts Club in Clerkenwell might be the strongest contender in snatching Andrew’s crown. It is endlessly romantic, a place where dainty glasses of wine are sipped amidst a backdrop of distressed walls. Across town, west London’s Kitty Fisher’s, popular for years, still continues on elegantly with its steaks and bold reds.
Here are eight other places for Valentine’s Day. Some are older, others new. All are excellent in their way.
Ida
Ida is the perfect neighbourhood restaurant: a beautiful dining room, affordable food and exceptional service. It was opened by husband and wife team Avi and Simonetta Winkhert in 2007 and serves traditional Italian food. The sort you would hope to cook after buying that farmhouse in Tuscany. Also, Harry and Meghan, two big romantics (probably), dined here.
Everything is wonderful, but it would be remiss not to order a bowl of pasta or gnocchi, made each morning. Ida specialises in highly unfussy cooking and is named after Avi’s mother, who hailed from Cupramontana, a dainty commune in the region of Marche known for its rich ragus as it is for lighter seafood dishes.
Handout
Greek food lends itself dutifully to romance. Probably because it conjures memories of boating from one Cycladic island to the next — or a package holiday to Kavos — where squid caught hours before is tenderly braised and retsina is served in bent copper jugs. Lemonia does this, a soothing neighbourhood restaurant of 45 years, where there is an edge of chaos but an assurance only found in places like Primrose Hill.
You cannot go wrong with the hummus and pita bread, so too the saganaki — grilled Greek cheese — while the stuffed vine leaves (dolmades) and spanakopita (feta and spinach filo pastry) are both solid. Later, grilled sea bass, and souvlaki of chicken, lamb or pork.
Press handout
The Basque region of Spain is often credited as Europe’s food capital. Anthony Bourdain thought so, at least. Andanza is inspired by casual Basque eating places, a diminutive space with original tiling and a charcoal grill behind an old church lectern. It is somewhere to nestle and to order little lagers and then, when the food comes, Txakoli, a Spanish wine that ought to be as famous as Rioja.
Andanza specialises in tapas and pintxos. Dishes are generous and affordable, as they should be. Be sure to order the cangrejo con aioli de limon, an unrestrained mountain of crab on a soft hunk of bread, and a glistening plate of jamon. Otherwise, ask about the croquetas of the day and explore the dishes that come with a sense of humour: mini cheeseburgers with manchego and salsa, a Spanish-style “fish and chips”, and yuzu brined fried chicken.
Sichuan Grand
Tough one, but absolutely romantic for those who appreciate a fish tank in a restaurant. Better yet, a Lazy Susan. The Sichuan Grand in Holborn? It has both. It’s also a quite spectacular space generally, adorned with bright lights and dark wooden tables. The Holborn site is the newest of three: there’s one in Oxford, another in Stratford, and a karaoke bar and restaurant in Canada Water which is great fun but might not be what you’re after on Valentine’s Day.
The restaurant specialises in classic Sichuan dishes, unsurprisingly, and serves quite a lot of offal. A signature is the “Mrs and Mrs” (slivers of unnamed offal in a mouth-numbing sauce) or you could try tripe in a variety of ways. Otherwise, there’s shredded jellyfish, sliced whelk, preserved egg with tofu and a dish called “fire exploded pig kidney”. Failing that, share a hot pot, where meats more common in Britain are delicately warmed in heat and spice. Chinese-in-Britain classics like salt and pepper squid, pork spare ribs and hot and sour noodles are on the menu too. One for the true food-loving couple.
Nandine interior
Nandine, a Kurdish restaurant run by Pary Baban, moved from Vestry Road to a new site on Church Street in Camberwell not so long ago and the space is heavenly: it brings a warm, welcoming glow, with painted bricks and leaves falling down untreated wood. As for the food, it is excellent shared, and the wine list is superbly accessible.
Begin with pickles and whatever vegetable plates are on the menu that day. Share “kinger”, or deep-fried potato balls with artichoke root and onion, and then tour the borek — filled filo pies from the Middle East — and kebabs, minced mutton and lamb or chicken shish. The jasmine rice is fragrant, the beharat fries tangy with tamarind; both would help bring about love, no doubt.
Patron
Patron is a glorious Parisian-inspired restaurant in Kentish Town with £10 Negronis and glasses of house wine for £7. French in every sense, there is a curved marble bar and banquette seating; booths in which to hide. This Valentine’s Day, the restaurant is putting on four courses for £80.
You won’t go far wrong with the set menu, which kicks off with a kir royale and only gets better. First, deep-fried potato dauphinoise as a light snack, and then snails, steak tartare or beetroot-cured salmon. Patron does French classics diligently: steak frites is always sound, so too a fillet of sea bass draped in a buttery sauce; the duck confit might even be disarming.
Dove
First, it is in Notting Hill, the setting of one of the grandest romcoms of all time. Second, it is candlelit, fuzzy and floral, a thin dining room abuzz with chattering couples. Jackson Boxer replaced his higher-concept restaurant Orasay with Dove and early impressions suggest this was a good idea.
The deep-fried squares of taleggio and truffle lasagne; the potato cakes with Atlantic prawns and lardo; the winter tomato salad; the ricotta dumplings (should be called gnudi, really) which come swimming in a well-made lobster bisque. Larger dishes include a roast chicken and an “off-menu” burger for £18 made with the trim of beef leftover in the kitchen.
The Tent (at the End of the Universe)
The Tent
If Andrew Edmund’s is London’s most traditionally romantic restaurant, The Tent wins the prize for new-age. It is a dark and brooding restaurant set beneath a sparkly ceiling of drapery. On Wednesdays, there’s live jazz, and the service is lively and gently seductive. Below the restaurant is a nightclub, relatively exclusive by design, with speakers the same as the ones found in Berghain, Berlin.
Chef John Javier — who cooks for the stars (ask him about Harrison Ford and the rubber gloves) — often conjures up surprises. If you order his squid ink rice, he might write the word “c***” in it in green sauce. Good times. And be sure to get a flatbread, the prawns, and the Iberico pork schnitzel, which is the perfect combination of sexy and cute.