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1 week ago | 
theinfatuation.com | Jake Missing |Rianne Shlebak |Heidi Lauth Beasley |Sinead Cranna
photo credit: Koray FiratDifferent people have different ideas of toasties. Some think of the pressed and triangular kind straight from the Breville—these hazardous enclosed pockets are best filled with a combination of molten lava cheddar and baked beans. Others have a more gourmet vision that involves thick-cut bread, a spread of mayonnaise on the outside for crisping, and any number of filling combinations. Whatever your preference, a good toastie isn’t a given. These are the best in London.
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1 week ago | 
theinfatuation.com | Heidi Lauth Beasley |Jake Missing |Rianne Shlebak |Sinead Cranna
To see, to be seen. While it may sound like we’re reprising our secondary school role as Macbeth, this is the nature of some of this pigeon metropolis’ hottest restaurants. These places operate as sceney petri dishes that spread through candid social posts, until they develop into achingly cool London ecosystems. Some thrive on funky wine and Tabis, others spawn a thousand urgent vintage Fendi baguette purchases.
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3 weeks ago | 
theinfatuation.com | Rianne Shlebak
The tangy, sumac-heavy shredded chicken and red onion manouche from Common Breads is something our mind wanders to every time we’re within a five-mile radius of the Victoria bakery. The mana’eesh menu is a cut above the rest. There are Lebanese classics like cheese and za’atar, as well as lesser-found toppings like sujuk sausage and tomato sauce. There isn’t a manouche we don’t like, but if you’re just getting one make it the musakhan.
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3 weeks ago | 
theinfatuation.com | Rianne Shlebak
This tiny Syrian bakery on Uxbridge Road is an excellent spot for mana’eesh, takeaway wraps, and baked goods. Damascene is a small spot with a handful of tables, so it’s best to come in twos. Grab a table, order a selection of their oven-baked flatbreads topped with everything from minced meat and cheese, to za’atar and halloumi, and know that you’ll leave satisfied.
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3 weeks ago | 
theinfatuation.com | Rianne Shlebak
You could come to Diba for a joojeh skewer, but our favourite thing about this Persian restaurant on the far end of the King’s Road is the traditional specials like slow-cooked lamb shank or tomatoey zereshk polo. It’s a warm place to comfortably catch up with a group of friends, have a quiet, last-minute date on the mezzanine seating, or bring your entire family to share kashk e bademjan without worrying about overstaying your welcome.
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3 weeks ago | 
theinfatuation.com | Rianne Shlebak
You’ll find Kamil—after looking very hard—deep inside a maze of Park Royal warehouses. It’s worth seeking out this little Lebanese bakery for crispy, charred lahem beajin and a sunny covered terrace which is great for a casual sit-down breakfast. Inside, solo diners in hi-vis vests eat crispy falafel on FaceTime, and couples pop in for a speedy, practical lunch of spinach and cheese-topped mana’eesh.
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4 weeks ago | 
theinfatuation.com | Rianne Shlebak
RESERVE A TABLEThere’s a stretch of the Tulum coastline where it feels like the restaurants are competing for a noise complaint. You might think you took a wrong turn and ended up at a techno festival. Once you’re in, though, it feels like the club it sounds like: people stand on tables and chairs, waving their napkins in the air. Food comes secondary here, and it’s easy to be so caught up in the chaos that you might forget to order any.
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1 month ago | 
theinfatuation.com | Rianne Shlebak
For the past 20-plus years, Al-Jabal Bakery has been serving excellent, freshly baked Lebanese flatbreads to the people of London. Park Royal locals flock in on weekends for made-to-order tangy spinach and cheese mana’eesh, or lahem beajin (minced lamb) that smells so good it’s inevitably eaten as soon as you step outside. Inside it’s all floured surfaces, with dough being stretched on one worktop, while za’atar and cheese-topped mana’eesh are pulled out of the wood-fired oven.
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1 month ago | 
theinfatuation.com | Rianne Shlebak
Located in a basement in Marylebone that feels like the kind of place Charli XCX would have an afterparty, Nina is undeniably cool. We’d hazard a guess that 90% of the people in this room lower the brightness all the way down when taking a photo, and 100% of them will include the bluefin tuna e melone in their next photo dump with the caption ‘tuna + melon, iykyk’. The younger sibling of Zephyr and Bottarga, Nina has taken the best parts of both spots, and made it Italian.
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1 month ago | 
theinfatuation.com | Rianne Shlebak
Afternoon tea is a British tradition that is served at plenty of London hotels, and the last place we would choose to experience it is at the Bvlgari Hotel. Served in the dark lobby of this five-star Knightsbridge hotel, the afternoon tea is a disappointing afterthought. Tea is served to the sound of obnoxiously loud business calls and interior design consultations, and once the food arrives, you’ll realise why no one else is indulging in this £90 meal (that’s before a £25 glass of champagne).
