For a majority of the year Londoners take shelter at home or in pubs, taking off layers, putting layers back on, before taking them off again. Our climate makes for an extremely indecisive strip tease. But, in the brief moments it’s hot and glorious outside, you need to be ready to take advantage. Which is where we can help. Here’s a guide to the best restaurants with gardens, terraces, or tables on the pavement.
the spots
Outdoor Situation: Front Garden
Rochelle Canteen is, without doubt, one of the best restaurants in London for eating in the great (urban) 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: 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, and there are only a few tables outside, but 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Front Patio
There’s no lack of outdoor eating and perching space around Brixton Village, but Eat Of Eden probably has the best spot of them all. The Caribbean Ital-inspired vegan spot is on a corner with plenty of tables and benches out front, and its quinoa, plantain, and spiced chickpea-filled combo platters are perfect for a group.
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.
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.
Fish, Wings & Tings
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: Terrace
Victoria Park’s wildly popular cafe 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
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: 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 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: 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: Front Garden
If you’re around Chelsea, Peruvian spot Chicama is a good shout in good weather. Their seafood bits can be hit or miss, but you definitely want to get involved in their vegetable dishes. On summer days they open up all the doors, and there’s several quaint little table and chairs in their courtyard.
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: Terrace
A summer trip to Westfield may not be near the top of your list on a beaut of a day, but sitting outside outside eating Indian small plates at Kricket is something that should be. This place has a big outdoor terrace, some excellent Keralan fried chicken, and there are plenty of cocktails to choose from.
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: 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: Front Patio
Jolene is one of those restaurants that can make people go a little misty-eyed when mentioned. The bakery, wine bar, small plates restaurant, and all-round aesthetic delight has a spacious seating area facing Newington Green, as well as big open doors to give an inside-outside feel. Come in the day, and stay until the night.
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: 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: 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.
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: Riverside Garden
If there’s a big occasion coming up for you, then suggesting The River Cafe would be an 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: 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 - complete with football-showing outside television - plus an always-changing menu that features things like buttermilk fried chicken and seasonal salads, and you may just have the best outdoor set-up in north London.
Outdoor Situation: Terrace
When you’re close to the Southbank, it isn’t easy to think of somewhere spacious to eat and drink outside, but Spiritland fits the bill. The music-led restaurant and bar has an enormous terrace that doesn’t feel like common knowledge. Either that or it’s just really big. There are cocktails and a big crowd pleasing menu too.
Outdoor Situation: Terrace
Greyhound Café has one of the best, and most unexpectedly central, terraces in London. With a range of seating - from soft sofas to tall tables - this is an excellent outdoor space to have a few cocktails and see what takes your fancy on the menu. We’d recommend keeping to the less fusion-y Thai stuff.
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
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: 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 settling down for dinner with a plate of sizzling lamb chops.
Outdoor Situation: 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: 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
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 Spanish food 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 crisp sparkling wine.
Outdoor Situation: Terrace
The enormous terrace at Darby’s, in the middle of Vauxhall’s shiny and semi-dystopian Viaduct Garden’s, 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.
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: Roof Terrace
An undeniably stupid restaurant with an undeniably brilliant outdoor space, Parrillan is an enormous and comfortable terrace in Coal Drops Yard. While we can’t endorse a grill-it-yourself meal here - it’s a high price for excellent produce and little else, the space is perfect for a few drinks and nibbles in the sun.
Outdoor Situation: Back Garden
Bermondsey Street’s packed with great and varied places to eat. But you just want to sit outside in the sunshine with a beer and a burger. The Yard Cafe at the top of the street fits the bill perfectly. The restaurant is housed in a converted parking garage, and there’s a roomy outdoor area with proper tables. It’s a good call if you’ve been at the nearby White Cube and need to get some sunshine.
Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating
While Emilia’s isn’t quite east London’s answer to St. Tropez, this handmade pasta restaurant serves solid, tasty carbs alongside a variety of sauces, as well making a decent Aperol spritz. It’s opposite St. Katherine’s Docks, so you’ve got a therapeutic view of water and bobbing boats, alongside an even more therapeutic view of pasta.
Outdoor Situation: Pavement Seating
There aren’t heaps of seats outside at Exmouth Market spot Caravan, but it’s worth hanging around for one. When it’s good, it’s great - great coffee that’s roasted in-house, a nice menu of brunch and all-day dishes, and cocktails. Bonus points for being in a prime spot for people watching, especially at the weekend.
