Dining Out: 8 Places For Eating Al Fresco in London

Where to eat and drink outside.

As I write this post, I can actually hear the rain against my living room window. In some ways this is romantic and in other more pressing ways it is deeply fucking annoying because a) it’s July, b) I’d love some sun, and c) in my infinite wisdom I – operating under the delusion that we might get a “summer” by this point – decided a while ago that this fortnight’s paid subscriber post would be dedicated to eating al fresco. 

Obviously the idea of eating outside doesn’t feel especially compelling at this very moment but if you think back to the last time you did it on a warm day – maybe you had anchovies with olive oil that you dunked bread into, while drinking a glass of wine with a single ice cube in it – it was pretty good, right? Of course you probably had dad rage at some flies (is there anything that universally makes a person scream FUCK OFF like an insect going near your plate?) and got sunburn, but other than that, you had a lovely time didn’t you? 

Because eating outdoors is something we get to do so little in the UK, there is a special novelty that comes with it, and it’s a feeling I absolutely love. It makes me feel golden and light and lovely to be outside, in a top with no sleeves, spearing bits of charcuterie onto the end of a fork or what have you. So, in honour of that feeling, and on the off chance that the sun does deign to shine a bit over the coming weeks, I’ve put together a few top-of-my-head recommendations for places in London that I like, which have especially cute or fun or interesting outdoor areas. You can read about those below, along with my “must order” tip for each one. With any luck you might be able to actually put this advice to use sometime in 2025 x