Outdoor Situation: Walk-In Front Yard

40 Maltby is one of London’s most reliably lovely restaurant experiences. It’s a wine bar, an exemplary small plates restaurant and a sandwich maker extraordinaire. For the organised, lucky, or very patient: there are a handful of intimate tables outside - right next to Maltby Street - for their bar menu and drinks, Wednesday to Saturday, from 5:30pm.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Benches & Pavement Seating

The first in a now top-tier family of London gastropubs, The Anchor & Hope is one of London’s best outdoor long lunch locations. The menu is full of changing Mediterranean-ish small and big plates, while the pavement seating is very comfortable. In fact, it’s glorious in good weather.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Pavement Seating

The weekend menu at this bakery and brunch spot near Hackney Downs is nothing short of drool-worthy, with their fried chicken buns and tacos up there with the best in London. Seating-wise there’s a good amount of big and small tables out front, just arrive early as it’s first-come first-served.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

Usually, everything in the cosmos has to align for you to nab one of the al fresco tables at the Drury Lane branch of Barrafina. But if you do happen to get one of the few, it’s brilliant - the only thing that could be better than eating amazing tapas inside at their counter is eating it in the sunshine. As well as any of the seafood specials, the crab burger should be on your order, along with a glass of something crisp and sparkling.

n.b. Barrafina Drury Lane is closed until June 2021. Other branches in Covent Garden, Soho, and King’s Cross are open.

Outdoor Situation: Front Terrace

Frankly, eating a perfectly crispy tarte flambée with a glass of fizz should be an all year round thing, but doing that at Bellanger on a summer’s day is a must. The big terrace, wide open doors, and location opposite Islington Green make this one of London’s most un-London summer spots. By that we mean it lives up to its Parisian brasserie billing, so you’re likely to find yourself having a glass of something nice with breakfast.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Greenhouse

Brat’s long term London Fields residency has quickly become one of London’s best outdoor-indoor restaurants. Food-wise, the flame-grilled goods remain as delicious as ever: from that anchovy bread, to John Dory, to a new luscious roast chicken rice. Even better is that the covered arch is open for dinner every day of the week.

Outdoor Situation: Front Patio

When the sun’s out, Bright is one of our favourite places to be. This London Fields wine bar and small plates spot has large sharing tables out front and it’s an extremely easy place to while away several hours. Sit down, ask the excellent staff what they recommend to drink, and get yourself comfortable.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Terrace & Pavement Seating

Hidden in plain sight on Store Street in Bloomsbury, Café Deco is where much of London should be spending the summer (once it arrives). The restaurant, wine bar and all-round homely spot has a handful of covered and uncovered tables out front for you to enjoy a plate of gnudi in the day, or a bowl of ice cream as the sun sets.

Outdoor Situation: Front Terrace

There are heaps of seats outside Caravan’s King’s Cross location, but it does get very busy. When it’s good, it’s great - solid coffee that’s roasted in-house, a nice menu of brunch and all-day dishes for every taste, and cocktails. Bonus points for being in a prime spot for people watching, especially at the weekend.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

Campania probably has the most romantic outside seating in London. It’s a handful of tables on a cobbled street, candlelit, and (preferably) piled with risotto and pappardelle. The setup is perfect. And your organisation or luck will have to be the same. Menu-wise, just make sure you ask them to send gnudi.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Front Garden

A pint of crisply cold Guinness, a foie gras-filled toastie, and a south-facing table is our kind of outside dining. If you’re partial to something similar, then you’ll love the Canton Arms too. The Lambeth gastropub has a popular front garden full of eaters and drinkers alike. The European-flavoured menu is always different, from peaches and stracciatella, to brill and bean salad.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Pavement Terrace

A meal outside at Ciao Bella is one of London’s great pleasures, mainly because you kind of don’t feel like you’re in London. The outside terrace is best suited to early evening meals with a bottle of wine, nicotine, and even more wine. It’s a rare restaurant that’s bang in the middle of London, and just the right balance between comfortable and crowded. Plus, when do you ever not want a good plate of pasta?

Outdoor Situation: Back Garden

The Sicily on steroids Italian trattoria has a cute (and of course, very curated) little back garden-cum-patio. Sure, a lot of the food won’t necessarily blow you away, but the evening-only Gran Carbonara is an entirely loveable cheese-fest, and is - crucially - served out of a giant wheel of pecorino.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

If you’re after that Parisian boulevard café feeling - wine, cigarettes, and unashamed people watching - then you’ll want to sit on the pavement terrace at Colbert, a French all-day brasserie on Sloane Square. Expect lots of rattan tables, steak tartare, fresh patisserie, and, realistically, a bit of a battle for a seat at peak hours.

Outdoor Situation: Back Garden

The Dexter cheeseburger from Four Legs at The Compton Arms is an A-list celebrity in London these days. Combine it with the pub’s semi-secret back garden plus an always-changing menu that features things like hot sauce-topped oysters and tres leche cake, and you may just have the best outdoor set-up in north London.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Front Terrace

The enormous terrace at Darby’s, in the middle of Vauxhall’s shiny and semi-dystopian Viaduct Gardens, is ideal for a pint of Guinness and a crab roll. The Irish-inspired restaurant, bakery, and sometimes pizza-slinging hatch is an excellent choice for a more adult al fresco meal with a dozen plus oysters.

Outdoor Situation: Two Tables

Two metal tables on King’s Cross Road may not sound like the most glamorous outside setup in the world but, frankly, when the sun is shining the steamer baskets are, well, streaming, there are few better places to be in London. Dim Sum & Duck’s outdoor options may be limited and unbookable, but they are very much the place to be.

Outdoor Situation: Veranda

It’s not fully outdoors, but the veranda at Dishoom’s Shoreditch restaurant easily surpasses a majority of ho-hum terraces. You’ll be lucky to bag a table here, but it’s worth the hassle - whether you’re grabbing a bacon and egg naan for breakfast, or 0settling down for dinner with a plate of sizzling lamb chops.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Market Seating

Outside, but also protected under the sometimes leaky arches of Borough Market, is Elliot’s. Everything from their cheeseburgers to their mussels to their biodynamic wines is done nicely and deliciously, and they’re a reliable choice for picky and passionate diners alike.

Outdoor Situation: Garden

Esters is a superb breakfast and brunch cafe, but their food is not your usual egg and avocado affair. Think poached eggs with fried leeks or confit pork and rhubarb ketchup. The excellent menu is always changing and you can enjoy it in their secret-feeling back garden. FYI it’s walk-in only.

Outdoor Situation: Roof Terrace

Forza Wine is way up high on Rye Lane, and it leans more restaurant than bar. Once you see a couple happily sharing an oil-drenched panzanella on a roof in the sun, you’ll understand why. Even the inside seats feel kind of outside here and it’s one of London’s most glorious summertime eating and drinking locations.

Outdoor Situation: Front Patio

The much-loved Caribbean spot in Brixton is a dreamy setting for a summer’s day. There’s plenty of seating, rum and Ting on the menu, and perfect summer nibbles like codfish fritters or pepper prawns. If you’re in a group, share the lot alongside some roti and jerk chicken as well.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

If you’re looking for an unadulterated London experience, then a meal at Gökyüzü, sitting on Green Lanes, should be very high up on your list. Flatbread, cacik, kofte, and Efes will flow and there’s always room for a friend or two to join your table at the last minute.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

Hand is in the heart of Stratford’s purpose-built East Village, and its Mediterranean brunches are probably our favourite part of the ‘Olympic legacy’. There are plenty of benches to sit on outside, and usually busy with family, friends, and generally feel-good atmosphere.

Outdoor Situation: Leafy Terrace

The multi-layered moneyed mega-restaurant opposite Green Lanes has added a rather glorious terrace to its (solid gold) bow. Truffled croque madame, croissant tartlets, and other perfectionist OTT delights are on the all-day menu if you’re after something altogether a little fancier.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Front Terrace

Although their Soho and Marylebone locations are still superb, its Hoppers Kings Cross location that’s where you want to be for a Sri Lankan feast in the summer. There’s a covered terrace running along the front of the restaurant and if you’re in need of warming up, an order of chickpea and kashew kari should do the trick.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Terrace

J Sheekey’s street-side patio, is, even though you’re in a touristy part of London, relatively sheltered from the crowds. If you’re going to splurge on a fancy seafood tower, it should be here. But even if you’re not looking to flash the cash, it’s great for a few oysters and a glass of champagne before heading elsewhere.

Outdoor Situation: Private Pavilions, A Greenhouse, & Other Covered Areas

Part grocery, part indoor restaurant, part luxury, waterproof canal-side encampment, Joy is a pop-up/residency at the northern end of Ladbroke Grove focused on seafood and fire. A private, heated, covered pavilion on this W10 courtyard is the perfect London summer-ready spot for intimate birthdays and other small-scale celebrations, and a wood-grilled lobster with wild garlic butter the perfect order. Also, the gnudi should not be ignored.

Outdoor Situation: Garden & Pavement Seating

The superlative-laden brunch cafe, home to breakfast patty muffins and ‘hungover sauce’, has a big outside garden absolutely begging to be filled with delicate sorts needing the combo above. Remember that the Tooting spot is something of a destination - so there could be a wait - but their pistachio cake is worth it.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

Some people are a little picky about what they eat on a summer’s day. They want something light but filling. Delicious but not too rich. These are not the people you want to be eating outside at Kitty Fisher’s with. You want absolute hedonists like yourself. Friends who will revel sitting in one of the two tables out front, delighted to spend two hours (minimum) devouring Welsh rarebit, croquettes, and more.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Terrace

Deliciously warming, nourishing, and filling atsu-atsu aside, Koya’s location in Bloomberg Arcade is completely covered thanks to the wonders of modern architecture. Outside of a particularly spiteful wind, nothing will get in the way of you and your hand-pulled udon. One to head to if you can imagine it being a little too hot.

Outdoor Situation: Garden Seating

Kudu’s little oasis out back was very much previously the bin-and-cheeky-cigarette area. Now, the South African-inspired spot in Peckham has transformed the space into a colourful, covered, and altogether idyllic looking garden. You can book too, so prepare to settle in and break some of that lardon butter bread with friends.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

The weekend is primetime at La Chingada. When the al pastor spit is juicily rotating and the suadero (confit beef brisket) is at its most tender. It’s when there are high tables outside, and people are standing and drinking and smoking, and it’s when you want to be at this Surrey Quays taco shop.

Outdoor Situation: Patio Seating

We once described La Goccia at Petersham Nurseries in Covent Garden as ‘the beautiful lovechild of a spa and a florist’. With tables set up outside on Floral Court, it makes for a serene spot to enjoy a few Italian small plates and a bottle of wine.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

Once you’re sitting at La Mia Mamma’s location on Hollywood Road you’ll feel like you’re starring in a Hugh Grant-and-pasta-heavy romcom. The homely Italian spot is perfect for a romantic pavement-side dinner complete with cacio e pepe and a kitchen of mammas.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

After a potato, anchovy, mozzarella pizza with a side of smoked burrata and honey truffle butter, you’re more than likely to feel like the salumi this Italian Hackney restaurant is named after. It can be hard to resist here though. There’s a good amount of pavement seating, and the menu is full of things you’ll want to eat and drink.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

One of Primrose Hill’s most beloved restaurants, Lemonia’s pavement seating setup is perfect for lazy lunches with lots of meze and a lot less ouzo. The old-school Greek spot is a favourite for a reason: for its reliably tasty kebabs and the guarantee of a friendly atmosphere.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

Oh Llewelyn’s. Lovely, lovely Llewelyn’s. This Herne Hill restaurant is the kind of place you expect to see in a Richard Curtis film. It’s popular, so it’s worth booking ahead for the chance to eat some delicious food, sit in the shade of the square’s tree, and get in some top people watching.

Outdoor Situation: Roof Terrace

A meal on The Marksman’s first-floor terrace is invariably a great meal. You’re up high, in the middle of Hackney Road, eating potted shrimp, or mushroom and celeriac pie, basking in the sun, whilst simultaneously being in a boozer. It’s great for small groups or a nice meal with a friend, and after you’ve eaten, there’s still a lovely pub waiting for you downstairs.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Terrace

Though sibling restaurant Xi’an Impression has a couple of tables outside, it’s Master Wei you want to be heading to on a scorching day that calls for some cold liangpi noodles. Their outside terrace down the end of Cosmo Place in Bloomsbury is cute, covered, and most importantly very close to their biang biang noodles.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

Exmouth Market is easily one of London’s nicest streets, and Moro is easily one of London’s nicest restaurants. The Moorish-influenced menu is full of charcoal grilled meat and fish, tabbouleh, babaganoush and, basically, everything you’d want to eat when the sun is shining on a buzzing parade in the middle of London.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

Morito remains one of the most reliably delicious places to eat on pretty much any occasion. The menu changes, but it’s hard to go wrong. Roast quail, seafood rice, any croquette, and cheese fritters are favourites. Oh, and roast cauliflower salad. You’ll more than likely be perfectly happy with everything. Their Exmouth Market spot is still the best, with tables out on one of London’s nicest pedestrianised roads.

Outdoor Situation: Garden Seating

If seafood manti and crispy calamari in a secret and Santorini-feeling patio (with Santorini prices) sounds like just the ticket, then Mazi’s your place. The upmarket Greek spot in Notting Hill has a lovely whitewalled back garden that’s made for couples and groups looking to be transported.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

Yes, it’s been sunny for four days. No, you don’t need to move so that you can finally live somewhere with a summer terrace. Just head to Mr Bao in Peckham instead. This Taiwanese spot in Peckham is cute, charming, and very popular, so book ahead to get one of their outside tables.

Outdoor Situation: Front Patio

Sunsets and siu mai dumplings: a match made in heaven. The people who run My Neighbours The Dumplings clearly thought similarly, as the front terrace of their Clapton location is made for this combo, and the veranda in their Victoria Park branch is similarly lovely on a summer’s day. Their chocolate spring rolls with ice cream and a glass of ice cold sake aren’t too shabby either.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

Lamb’s Conduit Street is another seriously good looking place to eat, drink, and be a little bit loud. If it isn’t at Ciao Bella, then it should be at Noble Rot, though we’d recommend hitting both. Bagging an outside table at the superb wine bar and restaurant is no easy feat, but it’s worth making the effort as the food, staff, and setting are all top notch.

When we think of Padella we think of their cacio e pepe. And their notorious queues. But mostly, cacio e pepe. The second branch of this famous handmade pasta spot has a roomy outdoor-indoor terrace and you can also queue for it virtually.

Outdoor Situation: Terrace

Victoria Park’s wildly popular café is one of London’s most picturesque brunch spots. Getting a table can turn into a bit of a bun fight, and Pavilion’s cinnamon bun is, incidentally, quite tasty, but it’s worthwhile when you’re basking with a plate of pancakes in front of you.

Outdoor Situation: Terrace

If your idea of summer involves eating chargrilled prawns, picking on bread with hummus, and going at some smoky quail, then you’re going to love Peckham Bazaar. The Mediterranean menu isn’t the only thing to like here either, because this spot has one of London’s most secluded and lovely front terraces. Combined with the food, it makes for a brilliant summer lunch or dinner spot.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Glasshouse

Petersham is arguably the most charming restaurant in all of London. Set inside a giant greenhouse in Richmond, it feels a million miles away from the city and all the noise and discarded hot wings that come with it. Yes, the seasonal Italian food here is expensive, but it’s also fantastic and worth splashing out on for a special occasion.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

Popham’s Hackney outpost is probably the biggest (and best) bakery in E8. The outside tables are ideal for a coffee and almond croissant catch-up, although you may have to fight off east London’s most fearsomely chic 4x4-buggy equipped parents to get them.

Outdoor Situation: Courtyard

One of our favourite spots in Chelsea also happens to be in a cute courtyard off the King’s Road. Phat Phuc is a little noodle bar making everything from laksa, to noodle salads, to pho. Open from 11am to 6pm, this is a go-to if you’re in the area and looking for a good value and tasty bowl of food in a secluded courtyard.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

The inside of Quality Wines is undeniably and unequivocally one of London’s most charming spaces. Sputter and keel over mid-gilda here, surrounded by candlelight and bottles of a brilliant, ranging wine list, and we couldn’t complain. Outside on a warm evening, with tables and chairs scattered along the Clerkenwell Road, will be just as good.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Terrace & Pavement Seating

It doesn’t get more Soho classic than Quo Vadis. A few glasses of wine, their smoked eel sandwich, a little eavesdropping. Sign us up any day, any week, and any lifetime. Plus their outside seating, a mixture of attached boothy type things and straight tables on Dean Street, is great.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Front Terrace

The Red Duck in Balham is the kind of restaurant you’ll want to return to time and time again. The atmosphere is laid back, the service is friendly, and their intimate front terrace is a great place to casually share a whole duck on date night. We’re talking modern little stools, their bright red rainproof canopy, and some great people (and cute dog) watching. On a sunny day be sure to also get involved in the Bordeaux cask-aged negronis. They’re great.

Outdoor Situation: Riverside Garden

If there’s a big occasion coming up for you, then suggesting The River Cafe would be a very good idea. Even if you’re a devout atheist, nabbing one of the garden tables and praying for the sun to shine feels like the way to go. Sure, you’ll need to book way ahead. And it’ll be very pricey. But eating some of London’s best Italian food in an idyllic space that looks over the Thames is, almost, priceless.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Garden Seating

Rochelle Canteen is, without doubt, one of the top restaurants in London for eating in the great outdoors. Buzz yourself into the old Shoreditch schoolyard and enjoy a long lunch or a relaxed supper filled with cod’s roe, chatter, and a glass of something bubbly. We like to think of it as London’s little Garden of Eden.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Terrace

Sager & Wilde’s outpost on Paradise Row ticks all the boxes you’d expect of an east London restaurant. It’s housed in an old railway arch, with scuffed furniture, small plates of French and Italian-leaning food, and a nice list of wines by the bottle or glass. Come summer, the spacious terrace is excellent to lounge around on with a group of mates.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

If you think that sitting outside Sambal Shiok, mid-summer, with a bowl of laksa is a silly idea then we’re afraid we won’t get on. That said, the Malaysian favourite also has fantastic fried chicken, noodle salads, and more to enjoy instead.

Outdoor Situation: Rooftop

If you like your oysters with a side of ‘check out that view’, then you’re going to be really into Seabird. This isn’t another rooftop cocktail bar masquerading as an overpriced restaurant. No, it’s actually home to some of London’s best oysters and with their roof terrace it’s a special combination.

Outdoor Situation: Garden Seating

A lifesize cut-out of Jeff Goldblum, mortadella banh mi, a brilliant sun trap of an outdoor patio are all things that Snackbar has. All very good things. The hip Dalston cafe has a menu that’s always moving and, moreover, always delicious.

Outdoor Situation: Fully Covered Terrace

If you’re looking for some high quality sushi, you should head to Sumi. The second restaurant by chef Endo, this Westbourne Grove spot is more down-to-earth than his eighth-floor omakase counter in White City, with a calming interior and a covered front terrace offering a mix of big sharing tables and tables of two. Despite being a lot more lowkey, the sushi is still the same sky-high standard, and with a small-ish à la carte menu of main dishes like mushroom gohan, and a sushi menu of nigiri, sashimi, and hand rolls, you can’t really go wrong. The nigiri is exceptional, and if you’re not in the mood to spend £100+ on lunch, then stick to the raw fish and steer clear of the ‘main’ section. The sushi is more than enough to leave you feeling satisfied anyway.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

Towpath Café is so summery that it’s, quite literally, only open when the season is right. The Hackney canal-side spot is always rammo when the sun is shining, and that’s not just because it’s a lovely place to be. The sandwiches and salads and things on toast - from confit garlic and goat’s curd, to enormous Bull’s hearts tomatoes - are all simple and delicious.

Outdoor Situation: Covered Terrace & Garden Seating

Here’s a fact: there can never be too many pubs in London with great food and a great outdoor space. In actual fact, there aren’t that many, but The Clarence Tavern is one of them. With a covered terrace plus several tables and chairs fully out waiting for you to bask in, The Stoke Newington pub is a fine choice all summer long.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement & Garden Seating

Restaurant gardens - especially leafy ones - are fairly special spots in London. So combine a Camberwell green space with a saucy Neapolitan pizza, a pot of some of the finest homemade chilli sauce around, and a strong drink and you’re onto a foolproof winner in the shape of Theo’s.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement & Terrace Seating

A spaceship-looking offshoot of the Caravan group, Vardo’s appeal lies in its keep-everyone-happy all-day menu and, more importantly, the fact it has a pretty fantastic roof terrace a few minutes from Sloane Square.

Outdoor Situation: Terrace

Villa Mamas is a Bahraini restaurant ten minutes from Sloane Square with the Made In Chelsea terrace area that you may or may not be dreaming of. Plonk yourself down on one of their cute little sofa seats, get yourself some khubus (flatbread) and dips, and prepare to worry about the bill later.

Outdoor Situation: Courtyard Seating

Easily one of London’s nicest restaurant spaces, Western’s Laundry switched their covered lockdown market into covered courtyard dining when restaurants reopened. Their menu leans seafood, so expect things like baked cuttlefish fideo pasta and aioli or turbot and pink fir potatoes with butter sauce. There are a couple of meat bits too, but you come here for the fish and the funky biodynamic wine list.

Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating

Zeret’s enormous shared platters of injera, misir wot, azura, and more is some of the best communal eating you can do around Camberwell. The Ethiopian restaurant also does a £26 sharing platter for two which - sat out front in the sun along - is our idea of the perfect summertime meal.