The Best Restaurants in King’s Cross : The Complete Guide 2026
Last updated: June 2026
King’s Cross has gone from a place you passed through to one of London’s genuine dining destinations. The pull is the regenerated quarter behind the stations — Coal Drops Yard, Granary Square and the canalside — but some of the best eating is still found on the older streets around it: Caledonian Road, Pentonville Road and King’s Cross Road, where the rents are lower and the cooking is often sharper for it.
This is our complete guide to where to eat, organised by what you’re actually in the mood for: a blowout, a reliable all-rounder, plant-based, something cheap, or whatever’s just opened. Every place here is one we’d send a friend to. We update it regularly, because this is a neighbourhood that changes fast.
How to use this guide: jump to Fine Dining, Recommended All-Rounders, Vegan & Plant-Based, Budget & Cheap Eats, or New Openings.
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Fine Dining & Special Occasions – Best Restaurants in King’s Cross
When you want to mark something — or just eat extremely well and not look at the bill too hard.
Hawksmoor St Pancras — Arguably the most beautiful dining room in the area, in the old booking hall. The steaks are the headline and they deliver, but the separate Martini Bar is reason enough to come on its own. The pick for a proper grown-up dinner or a romantic one.
Booking Office 1869 — Set inside the restored Victorian ticket hall of the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, this is grand, all-day dining with the drama turned up. Classic dishes given a modern lift, cocktails to match the surroundings. Good from early breakfast through to a late supper.
German Gymnasium — A vast, listed Grade II building (London’s first purpose-built gym) turned into a glamorous Central European brasserie. Schnitzel, strudel, sparkling wine and a sweeping staircase. Better for the occasion and the room than for any single dish, but it earns its place.
Barrafina — The Coal Drops Yard branch of the Hart brothers’ Spanish counter, and still among the best tapas in London. No bookings, so perch at the bar, watch the kitchen and order the daily specials chalked up on the board. Tortilla, prawns, whatever’s freshest.
Decimo — Peter Sanchez-Iglesias’s Spanish-Mexican restaurant on the tenth floor of The Standard, reached by a red bubble lift on the outside of the building. Skyline views, mezcal, live DJs and a party that builds as the night goes on. Loud and proud rather than hushed and reverent.
Hicce — Pip Lacey’s live-fire small plates spot in Coal Drops Yard. Skewers off the grill, globe-trotting flavours, draught wine and a buzz that tips into house-party territory in the evening. A smart middle ground between casual and special.
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Recommended All-Rounders – Best Restaurants in King’s Cross
The reliable backbone of the neighbourhood — places you can book with confidence for almost any occasion.
Dishoom King’s Cross — The Bombay-Irani café that needs little introduction. The bacon naan and a morning chai is a King’s Cross rite of passage; dinner is just as good. Expect a queue, or come off-peak. An institution for a reason.
Caravan King’s Cross — All-day dining in the Granary Building: brunch that draws crowds, small plates, their own roasted coffee and a big, relaxed room. The dependable choice when you’ve got a mixed group and no fixed plan.
The Tamil Prince — Technically just up Caledonian Road, but unmissable. A pub turned destination South Indian kitchen, regularly named among London’s best. Book well ahead — it’s small and very busy.
Hoppers — JKS’s spacious, family-friendly Sri Lankan spot in Pancras Square. Egg hoppers, devilled paneer, dosas the size of a bath towel, and their own Toddy ale. Built for a happy group meal.
Lina Stores — Fresh, handmade pasta near Coal Drops Yard, in the brand’s signature pale-green stripes. Negronis, antipasti, then pici or pappardelle. Cosy and consistently good.
Cafe BAO — The all-day, sit-down member of the BAO family, between the canal and St Pancras, with a takeaway bakery attached. Get the ham hock congee with its pastry topping if you order one thing. There’s a BAO branch in the area too if you just want the buns.
Granger & Co — Bill Granger’s sunny, Med/Southeast-Asian all-rounder. The brunch is the draw — this is where ricotta hotcakes and good coffee belong.
The Lighterman — A handsome canalside pub and dining room right on Granary Square, with terraces on three levels. Modern British food, a decent wine list and the best people-watching seats in the quarter on a sunny day.
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Vegan & Plant-Based – Best Restaurants in King’s Cross
Strong options here, from fully plant-based kitchens to places where the veg dishes outshine everything else.
Mildreds King’s Cross — The anchor for plant-based eating in the area. A long-running, fully vegetarian/vegan kitchen with a globe-spanning menu that wins over committed carnivores. Reliable, generous and genuinely tasty rather than worthy.
Bubala King’s Cross — A mostly-vegetable Middle Eastern restaurant in a striking double-height space at Lewis Cubitt Park. Everything’s designed for sharing and it’s vegan unless stated otherwise. The “Bubala Knows Best” set menu is the easy way in. One of the best vegetarian rooms in London right now.
Plant-forward picks elsewhere: Hoppers and the Sri Lankan and South Indian spots are naturally rich in vegan choices; Sons + Daughters does a creamy vegan tofu breakfast muffin worth crossing the Yard for.
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Budget & Cheap Eats – Best Restaurants in King’s Cross
You do not need to spend big to eat brilliantly around here — some of the most interesting cooking is also the cheapest, especially east of the stations.
Dim Sum Duck — A tiny, cult favourite turning out outstanding dim sum and roast Cantonese duck for very little money. Cheung fun and soup dumplings are the orders. So popular it’s just opened a second site on Pentonville Road (same menu, two minutes away) — see New Openings below.
Merkato — A lively Eritrean and Ethiopian restaurant on Caledonian Road with gargantuan portions and serious critical love. Order the kitfo or a sharing platter, scoop it up with springy injera, and roll home. Brilliant value.
Fatto Pizza & Beer — The casual Neapolitan from Fatto a Mano: 24-hour-proved dough, a light crust and a buzzy room. A quick, well-priced dinner with friends.
Plaza Pastor — The relaxed taco-and-rotisserie-chicken end of the El Pastor family, on a covered, heated terrace in Coal Drops Yard. Casual prices, surprising attention to detail, seven house salsas.
Canopy Market — The weekend street-food market (Friday to Sunday) in the old coal office. Doughnuts, arancini, grilled cheese, hot sauces — graze your way around for under a tenner.
Cheaper still on King’s Cross Road: for honest, low-cost cooking head to the southern stretch — Vietnamese, Thai and similar family-run spots where mains start well under £15. The kind of places that don’t make the glossy lists but locals rely on.
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New Openings (2025–2026) – Best Restaurants in King’s Cross
The freshest arrivals worth your attention. (Openings move fast — if something here has changed, tell us and we’ll update.)
Dim Sum Duck (Pentonville Road) — The cult dim sum and duck spot opened a second restaurant in early 2026, taking over the former Meat House just a couple of minutes from the original, serving the same menu seven days a week. More tables, same brilliant food.
Tamila — From the team behind the much-loved Tamil Prince and Tamil Crown, this casual rotis-and-curries spot landed near the station in early 2025. Walk-in friendly and very good value.
Dr. Noodle — A King’s Cross outpost (open since early 2026) for a fast, casual Sichuan noodle fix. Useful when you need something quick and punchy rather than a sit-down occasion.
Longboys — Finger-shaped doughnuts from two heavyweight pastry chefs (ex-Hakkasan and ex-Mandarin Oriental), now in Coal Drops Yard. A proper sweet-tooth detour.
Midnight Pantry — A King’s Cross takeaway hut (opened mid-2025) doing chunky, Asian-inspired cookies. A grab-and-go treat near the canal.
Sushi on Jones — An eight-seat counter bringing New York-style omakase to King’s Cross at a relatively gentle price for the format — around £48 for twelve courses. Intimate, and you watch every step.
Also keep an eye out: the area continues to draw new American-style sandwich shops along King’s Cross Road, and King’s Cross has been hosting an increasing number of food festivals and pop-ups in Granary Square through the year.
Best New Openings in Islington, Shoreditch, King’s Cross & Hackney (2026)
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Practical Info – Best Restaurants in King’s Cross
- Getting there: King’s Cross St Pancras is one of London’s best-connected hubs — six Underground lines plus National Rail and Eurostar. Everything in this guide is within a 10–15 minute walk of the station.
- The two halves: the regenerated quarter (Coal Drops Yard, Granary Square, the canal) is polished and pricier; head south and east (Caledonian Road, Pentonville Road, King’s Cross Road) for cheaper, often more characterful cooking.
- Booking: the fine-dining names and The Tamil Prince book up fast, especially at weekends — reserve ahead. Barrafina and Dim Sum Duck are walk-in/counter, so go early or be ready to wait.
- Best for groups: Hoppers, Caravan and German Gymnasium all handle a crowd well.
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Spotted something that’s closed, moved or just opened? We keep this guide current and we’d rather get it right — let us know.
