The best and worst of London food (media) in 2025
An end of year acid reflux, by Jonathan Nunn
The ‘sabzi’ debacle, Keith Lee reviewing a jacket potato, Eating with Tod’s Festive Feast, Bengal Village’s Mr. Raj, the long-awaited David Ellis heel turn, the Best Broasted Ed Sheeran lookalike, Crystal Cafe Homerton, ‘Paul Hollywood has “martyred Hezbollah fighter” physiognomy’, Thomas Straker holding Boris Johnson’s child, the Hugh Corcoran remontada, lurking on r/LondonFood. 2025 has been the most terminally online year in London food media history.
Traditional food media is in decline. In last year’s report, I wrote that there was uncertainty over three of the most influential roles in the industry: the editorship of OFM, the Evening Standard restaurant critic and the Observer restaurant critic. A year later, OFM has announced it will no longer be publishing in print, the once-daily Evening Standard has rebranded to the weekly The Standard, and there is still no permanent Observer restaurant critic. A recent article by Simon Parkin in the Observer titled ‘How we lost our taste for the vicious restaurant review’ gives a good outline of the state of play, although I think it misses something fundamental: it’s not that people have lost their taste for bad reviews, it’s that most journalists can literally no longer afford to be critical. As long as there are few publications willing to pay people well and cover restaurant costs, as long as freelancers have to rely on taking free meals to make ends meet, then journalists will edge ever closer to becoming poorly-remunerated influencers.
Actual influencers, meanwhile, are not just part of the culture but now are the culture, moving from our phones into the real world like Sadako crawling out of the TV screen in The Ring. Just this year, Tod had Fume Festival, Bite Twice opened a pizza shop, and Big John did a show in Los Angeles and then got deported from Australia. I think these are canny moves from people who have received success quickly and know it can just as easily be taken away. In a revealing article for The i, Gizzi Erskine lamented the changes to Instagram that have left old-school influencers hearing ‘the sudden, sharp thud of watching our carefully built platforms collapse in reach, engagement, and therefore, earnings.’ It’s a reminder that real influence is in the hands of a very small number of powerful tech companies, and that tectonic media shifts are due to algorithmic tweaks designed to make these platforms money, not a response to anything people actually want. This is one of the main reasons why we decided to make print a major part of what we do this year (you can still buy Issue 2 here).
As for London restaurants, it’s been a difficult period as ever, with many sad closures: Lyle’s, FKABAM (for now), Hill and Szrok, Locanda Locatelli, Chick ‘N Sours, Thattukada, Kaieteur Kitchen, the Lido cafés and many more. But I would like to end on a positive note. One of the most welcome trends I’ve seen this year is owner-operated businesses moving from the home into the restaurant space, channeling all their care into a small and sustainable number of dishes, with few overheads. I’m thinking of Boutheina Ben Salem cooking Tunisian food at Oula, Spasia Dinkovski transforming Mystic Borek into Doma, and Farsin Rabiee and Ziad Halub opening Logma, which served me my last meal out this year. Even the bakery on Ballards Lane I spotted a few days ago serving Iranian soups out on the street is a promising harbinger. I hope to see more of this independent spirit in 2026 – if journalists and influencers can unite on one job, it’s to hunt out these places that are true to themselves and help them thrive.
Meals of the year, 10-6
10. My third meal at Dilpasand in Whitechapel that confirmed its place on the Vittles 99. A subsequent meal made a strong case for the brains masala being one of the best dishes on the menu.
9. A solo meal at Trattoria Masuelli San Marco in Milan, with a perfect order of fried brains, puntarelle, veal costoletta, and a small portion of saffron risotto.
8. A Vittles staff meal at Banquet just outside of Colchester which remains the best dim sum I’ve had all year.
7. A completely lucky find: Asia Restaurant Grandmother Food in Vienna, which serves outstanding homestyle Zhejiang, Sichuan and Hunanese dishes and is run by a Hakka chef from Calcutta. Came back again to double check it wasn’t a fluke: it wasn’t.
6. My favourite fine dining meal of the year was at Le Clarence in Paris, which was also a reminder of what I find lacking about London’s fine dining. Unfortunately chef Christophe Pelé left soon after, so I didn’t know it was a swansong.
Who wore it better?
‘Here is a room that considers Versailles a touch demure’ ~ David Ellis on Lilibet’s, 23rd October 2025
‘I nod politely, even though this place seems less elegant and more Versailles before the revolutionary horde storms the gates’ ~ Jay Rayner on Lilibet’s, 7th November 2025
‘Lilibet’s has about it the air of how the palace of Versailles would look if its designers had been allowed really to let their hair down’ ~ Grace Dent on Lilibet’s, 9th November 2025
The 99 By Numbers
Earlier this month we announced the Vittles 99, our list of the best places to eat in London. ICYM, here is a breakdown of the entire list in numbers.
25 - London boroughs represented (plus a borough not technically in London)
20 - Michelin stars in the list
40, 29, 17, 7, 5, 1 - Restaurants in Zones 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively
20, 14, 10 - Restaurants located in Westminster, Hackney and Southwark (the most represented boroughs)
6 - Pakistani restaurants (the cuisine most represented on the list outside ‘British’)
5 - Turkish, French, Cantonese and Japanese restaurants (the next most represented cuisines)
4 - Turkish businesses who contacted me afterwards to ask if we could write about them too
6 - Restaurants with ‘café’ in the title
2 - Restaurants with ‘café’ in the title that are legitimately cafés
3 - Restaurants run by people who are my friends
2 - Restaurants run by people who I am in active beef with
2 - Times River Café was mentioned without actually being on the list
2 - Restaurants located in hotels (The Ritz and Saikei)
1 - Legendary chef mistakenly announced as dead due to a typo
Favourite articles of the year
Eat, Pay, Love by Earnest Graham The Hunger
An exposé of the Chicago influencing scene that involved the author creating a fake restaurant called Sagi (Japanese for ‘fraud’) and then navigating the murky world of paid promotion. This article comes the closest so far to explaining the economics of influencing.
Inside the World of ‘The Great British Bake Off’ by Ruby Tandoh The New Yorker
The article Ruby was born to write imo!
Who is paying for fake five-star reviews of The Ritz? by Jim Waterson London Centric
Jim Waterson has shown that it’s possible to create a successful London publication by focusing on two things that unite all Londoners: infrastructure and low-level scams. This is one of the latter, involving a Google review scam that appears to be simple, but turns out to be something else entirely.
He’s one of London’s most famous chefs. So why do so many people say Victor Garvey owes them money? by Andrew Kersley The Londoner
The Londoner has been responsible for some excellent investigations this year, and none better than this one by Andrew Kersley (incidentally, the inventor of the Vittles Pub Guide). Incredibly, SOLA is still running.
Mise en masse by Barclay Bram The Economist
The cruise ship piece, but make it about food. This very fun podcast essay is about the logistics of feeding a cruise ship, which involves a staggering amount of spreadsheet work (and no small amount of exploitation). I want a whole podcast with Chef Gary.
How restaurant hype happens: a tale told through booking data by Clara Murray Financial Times
The FT has had an excellent year, showing what a food section can do with curiosity and ambition (plus a dedication to print). This fascinating piece uses booking data to quantify influence, whether it’s from Topjaw or Michelin.
Whining and Dining by Ian Trueger The Fence
A print-only long read on the influence of private equity on the city’s dining scene, containing the first insinuation I’ve seen published that a certain beloved restaurant group is being ‘fattened for acquisition’.
Incidentally, The Fence are running a fundraiser right now which involve many restaurant related prizes: you can support them here.
Further sections in this newsletter
Meals of the year, 10-6
Who wore it better?
The 99 By Numbers
Favourite articles of the year
Instagram reel of the year
Publication of the year
Typo of the year
YouTube video of the year
Influencer of the year
The annual Jonathan Nunn award for services to posting
The annual Thomas Straker award for getting away with it
Standby of the year
Headline of the year
Influencer beef of the year
The most succinct and accurate explanation of the difference between Big John and Thomas Skinner, by Amelia Horgan
Offer I couldn’t refuse of the year
Meals of the year, 5-1
Predictions for 2026
Who wore it better?
The 99 By Numbers
Favourite articles of the year