Best Restaurants Islington

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Best Restaurants Islington

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Mike
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March 24, 2026

Best Restaurants Islington, Highbury, Finsbury Park, Holloway, Archway and Nearby Areas

Looking for the Best Restaurants in Islington? Islington has one of the most useful restaurant scenes in London because it is strong at more than one thing. It does polished pasta restaurants, standout Thai, excellent gastropubs, great-value local favourites, proper special-occasion dining and easy weeknight go-tos unusually well. Once you stretch the map slightly into Highbury, Finsbury Park, Holloway, Archway, Tufnell Park, Clerkenwell, Farringdon, King’s Cross, Old Street and City Road, the choice gets even better. Current coverage from Time Out, Hot Dinners and the MICHELIN Guide keeps pointing to this wider North and inner-East London stretch as one of the best places to eat right now.

If you only want the headline names, start with Trullo, Farang, Westerns Laundry, Sambal Shiok, Rake at The Compton Arms, Palmyra’s Kitchen, St. JOHN, Bouchon Racine, Quality Chop House, Luca, Barrafina Coal Drops Yard, Coal Office, Decimo, Dim Sum Duck and Daffodil Mulligan. That shortlist balances critic support, neighbourhood relevance, Michelin recognition where applicable, and actual usefulness for readers deciding where to book.

Best restaurants in Islington and Highbury

The core Islington list is still led by Trullo, Farang, Sambal Shiok, Westerns Laundry, Tofu Vegan, Ling Ling’s at Godet, Rake at The Compton Arms and Prawn on the Lawn. Time Out’s Islington guide highlights much of that group directly, while Hot Dinners’ Islington, Angel and Holloway roundup reinforces how strong the area remains beyond just Upper Street.

If you are narrowing it down, Trullo is still the classic “you can’t really go wrong” Islington recommendation. Farang is one of the area’s strongest all-rounders and is listed by MICHELIN as a Bib Gourmand, which makes it one of the best quality-for-price picks in this whole guide. Westerns Laundry is one of the smartest nearby options for a more polished meal, while Sambal Shiok remains one of the easiest places to recommend if you want maximum flavour and personality.

For readers who want a slightly more local feel, Rake at The Compton Arms is one of the most useful pub-with-serious-food recommendations in this part of London, while Ling Ling’s at Godet has enough wider London buzz now to justify its place in the shortlist too. That second point is an editorial judgement, but it is grounded in recent Time Out coverage of both Godet and Islington’s current best restaurants.

Best restaurants in Holloway and Archway

When you zoom into Holloway and Archway specifically, the list gets shorter, but there are still a few names that really matter. Sambal Shiok is the standout Holloway Road recommendation in current mainstream guide coverage, and the wider Holloway catchment also benefits from nearby heavy-hitters like Westerns Laundry and Rake at The Compton Arms.

Archway itself has less high-level current list coverage than Islington, King’s Cross or Clerkenwell, so the more honest editorial approach is to treat it as part of the wider North London restaurant orbit rather than pretend it has a huge destination-dining scene of its own. In practice, that means recommending the strongest nearby places rather than padding the list.

Best restaurants in Finsbury Park

Finsbury Park is better than people often expect. Time Out’s current guide highlights Tollington’s, Dotori, Palmyra’s Kitchen, Dilara and The Plimsoll, while its wider London list singles out Palmyra’s Kitchen as one of the capital’s notable affordable favourites.

The most useful Finsbury Park picks are Palmyra’s Kitchen for excellent value, Tollington’s for a modern seafood-leaning dinner, Dotori for dependable casual eating, Dilara for a stylish all-day option, and The Plimsoll if you want the gastropub angle. I would also keep Gökyüzü in the wider conversation as a long-running local classic, although the freshest high-authority coverage I found leans more heavily toward the Time Out shortlist above.

Best restaurants in Tufnell Park

Tufnell Park has much lighter standalone restaurant coverage than Islington, Clerkenwell or King’s Cross, which usually tells you something. The area is still useful, but it is more practical to frame it as part of the nearby Kentish Town–Archway–Holloway–King’s Cross dining orbit than as a major destination in its own right.

For a “best restaurants in and around Tufnell Park” angle, the stronger editorial move is to lean on nearby standouts such as Sambal Shiok, Westerns Laundry, Palmyra’s Kitchen and the King’s Cross restaurants a short trip away, rather than overstating the neighbourhood itself. That is an inference based on the relative density of current critic coverage across the areas named.

Best restaurants in Clerkenwell and Farringdon

This is where the serious dining depth really kicks in. Time Out’s current Clerkenwell guide highlights Luca, St. JOHN, Morchella, Bouchon Racine, Ibai and Passione Vino, while Hot Dinners’ Clerkenwell guide reinforces the area’s status as one of London’s strongest restaurant neighbourhoods.

The essential shortlist here is St. JOHN, Bouchon Racine, Quality Chop House, Luca, Brutto, Morchella, Passione Vino and Quality Wines Farringdon. Luca is confirmed by MICHELIN as a one-star restaurant, St. JOHN is also Michelin-starred, and Brutto appears in the current MICHELIN Guide as a Bib Gourmand.

For different moods, Luca is the polished special-occasion choice, St. JOHN is the London institution, Bouchon Racine is one of the most loved classic-feeling dining rooms in the area, and Brutto is one of the best-value, most characterful meals around Farringdon and Clerkenwell.

Best restaurants in King’s Cross

King’s Cross is now a proper food destination rather than just a station neighbourhood. Time Out’s current King’s Cross guide and Hot Dinners’ January 2026 roundup both make that clear, highlighting names such as Barrafina Coal Drops Yard, Coal Office, Decimo, Bubala King’s Cross, Hoppers King’s Cross, Dim Sum Duck, Supawan, Tamila, The Yellow Bittern, Parrillan, Hawksmoor St Pancras and Caravan.

The strongest King’s Cross list right now is Barrafina Coal Drops Yard, Coal Office, Decimo, Dim Sum Duck, Supawan, Tamila, Bubala King’s Cross, Hoppers King’s Cross, Parrillan and Hawksmoor St Pancras. For a bigger dinner, Coal Office, Decimo and Barrafina are the headline picks. For value, Dim Sum Duck, Supawan and Tamila are especially useful, with MICHELIN listing Tamila as a Bib Gourmand.

Dim Sum Duck is worth singling out because both Time Out and Hot Dinners have recently highlighted its popularity, and both noted its second King’s Cross site opening in early 2026. That kind of repeated attention usually signals a place with genuine momentum rather than just polite guide-book presence.

Best restaurants in Old Street and City Road

For Old Street and City Road, the clearest must-know destination is Daffodil Mulligan. Time Out’s review places it on City Road by Old Street and presents it as one of the key food-led nights out in the area.

The wider Old Street–City Road zone works best when treated as part of the overlap between Old Street, Shoreditch and the eastern edge of Clerkenwell. That makes nearby names like Bistro Freddie, Lagana and some of the stronger Shoreditch/Spitalfields restaurants relevant too, especially for readers happy to walk or hop one stop. That framing is an editorial inference, but it follows the way current area guides cluster these neighbourhoods.

Best Michelin-backed restaurants in this wider Islington area

If you want the strongest MICHELIN-backed picks across this whole catchment, the key names are Luca, St. JOHN, Farang, Tamila and Brutto. Luca and St. JOHN are in MICHELIN’s current one-star London listings, while Farang, Tamila and Brutto are all in the current Guide with value-focused recognition.

That matters because it gives this part of London a particularly useful mix: you can do serious Michelin-recognised dining without leaving the area, but you can also eat extremely well without spending Michelin-star money.

Best budget restaurants

If value matters most, the names I would surface first are Farang, Palmyra’s Kitchen, Dotori, Tamila, Dim Sum Duck, Sambal Shiok and Brutto. Some of those are directly supported by MICHELIN’s Bib Gourmand recognition, while others are repeatedly highlighted in current area guides for delivering far more than their price point suggests.

Best vegan and vegetarian-friendly restaurants

For vegan and vegetarian-friendly eating in this wider Islington zone, the easiest names to recommend are Tofu Vegan in Islington and Bubala King’s Cross. Tofu Vegan appears in current Islington best-of coverage, while Bubala is repeatedly included in current King’s Cross restaurant roundups.

This is also one of those parts of London where vegetable-led dining does not feel like an afterthought. Readers looking for meat-free options are not stuck with fallback choices here. That is an editorial assessment, but it is supported by the strength and visibility of those restaurants in current area guides.

Editor’s shortlist: best restaurants in Islington and nearby

If I were narrowing this down to one strong editorial shortlist for a reader, I would split it like this.

Islington / Highbury / Holloway: Trullo, Farang, Westerns Laundry, Sambal Shiok, Rake at The Compton Arms, Ling Ling’s at Godet.

Finsbury Park / Archway / Tufnell Park orbit: Palmyra’s Kitchen, Tollington’s, Dotori, Dilara, The Plimsoll.

Clerkenwell / Farringdon: St. JOHN, Bouchon Racine, Quality Chop House, Luca, Brutto, Quality Wines Farringdon.

King’s Cross: Barrafina Coal Drops Yard, Coal Office, Decimo, Dim Sum Duck, Tamila, Supawan, Bubala King’s Cross.

Old Street / City Road: Daffodil Mulligan, with Bistro Freddie and Lagana as nearby extras if you are stretching slightly east.

Best overall picks

If you only want the absolute top shortlist, I would put these first: Trullo, Farang, St. JOHN, Bouchon Racine, Quality Chop House, Luca, Barrafina Coal Drops Yard, Coal Office, Decimo, Dim Sum Duck, Daffodil Mulligan and Palmyra’s Kitchen. That list balances destination-dining strength, local usefulness and value especially well. The balancing is my editorial judgement, but it is grounded in the current coverage above.

FAQ

What are the best restaurants in Islington right now?

The strongest Islington picks are Trullo, Farang, Westerns Laundry, Sambal Shiok and Rake at The Compton Arms.

What is the best restaurant near King’s Cross?

For a special meal, go to Coal Office, Decimo or Barrafina Coal Drops Yard. For a cheaper but still brilliant option, Dim Sum Duck and Tamila are two of the best bets.