LDNGuide
The Best London Restaurants Open On Mondays
photo credit: Giulia Verdinelli
It’s happened to us all. We make Monday dinner plans we kind of hope will fall through, leave it until the day to pick somewhere to eat, and inevitably end up at the closest Nando’s because our favourite restaurant is shut. Except the good news is that there are plenty of lunch and dinner options open—you just need to know where to look. And look no further than this list of actually great spots we’d happily eat at any night of the week.
THE SPOTS
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
There’s something about Tashas’ beachy coastal aesthetic that makes us feel like we’re in an alternate reality where the sun is always shining on Battersea and passion fruit granitas are a routine part of our day. The pastas are the highlight, and Savva’s chicken rigatoni is undoubtedly our favourite. Yes, the sauce has enough double cream in it to make Gino D’Acampo’s forehead veins pop, but it's a comforting meal that we’ll never tire of. We love Tashas for a quiet post-work dinner after a stressful Monday in the office, although the cafe is open all day so you can rock up whenever you like.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
At Alley Cats Pizza, a walk-in-only, NYC-style pizza spot in Marylebone, exposed brick and checkered tablecloths take you to the streets of Brooklyn. Every day of the week, diners fill the buzzy, industrial-looking room, dunking crispy margherita crusts into the fiery scotch bonnet dipping sauce, and getting messy with a sweet onion jam-heavy mushroom slice. It’s the perfect spot to get an excellent last-minute pizza to start your week off right.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Rita’s Chilli Chaat Corner is a small, canteen-like spot in Southall, filled with shoppers coming from the market and families popping in for a lazy dinner consisting of excellent yoghurty samosa chaat, and refreshing, citrussy pani puri shots. Visit on a Monday for some of the best Indian street food you can find in London and order plenty of chaat—there’s a reason it’s in the name.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
There are plenty of reasons to go to The Best Broasted, but the signature chicken at this excellent Syrian spot in Willesden Green is the kind of thing you should happily travel across London to get your hands on. From the crunchy, sweet breading that clings to every succulent piece of meat, to the selection of pickles, the pot of creamy toum, and the chipped potatoes that come with it, it’s moving and memorable stuff.
photo credit: Giulia Verdinelli
Open until 11pm on a Monday, Chicken Kitchen is a casual Caribbean spot on Goldhawk Road that combines two godly creations—the fried dumpling and jerk chicken. The dumpling is so fluffy that you could very well eat a whole batch of them alone (which they do sell), but the Caribbean jerk spiced chicken inside is saucy and full of smoky, spicy flavour. Pop in for a speedy dinner when you’re not fussed about the aesthetics.
photo credit: Giulia Verdinelli
This King’s Cross spot’s dumplings, from xiaolongbao to cheung fun, are superb. A trio of delicate glass wrapper prawn and chive dumplings and a foursome of bathing pork balls have taken permanent residence in a very important part of our brain: the part that looks like a merry-go-round and has different delicious foods manically turning 24/7. And Dim Sum & Duck is open for lunch and dinner on Mondays.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
The British-powered Italian-influenced spot in Shoreditch is The Place To Be. With oaty interiors not unlike Kim Kardashian’s fortress-cum-gallery home and seating for every kind of situation, it serves its tagliatelle al ragu goodness to a big, buzzy, and blow-out crowd with consummate ease. Mondays are just like any other day, with lunch served midday until 3pm and dinner from 5:30pm until 11pm.
photo credit: Trullo
From the homemade pappardelle to the Amalfi lemon tart, everything at Trullo is something that you’ll want to eat. Again. And again. And again. This elegant Tuscan trattoria with white tablecloths and a loose atmosphere isn’t just a Highbury classic but a London one. On Mondays it’s open for lunch and dinner, and, whether you come in for a plate of pappardelle or a pork chop, you’re going to be starting your week in the best possible way.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Miznon’s menu reads like the top shelf of a newsagent. Customers are ‘creatures’, a cottage pie is like ‘heaven’, and tomatoes are notably ‘naked’. But off paper the much-heralded Israeli pitta restaurant in Soho is dynamic in different ways. There are bigger tables and banquettes, as well as the counter—and those seats are best used to enjoy the smuttier parts of the menu. Sac de coq, tomato ovaries, and the like. It’s open all day and night on Mondays.
photo credit: Giulia Verdinelli
Nandine’s location on Camberwell Church Street is dinner-only, aside from weekends, and thanks (in part) to the introduction of a big old ocakbasi grill in the kitchen, the Kurdish food is even better than its Peckham restaurant. You’ve got a juicy, seven spice chicken shish with flatbread and salads, a giant stuffed meatball that wouldn’t look out of place at Lord’s, and a coconut pudding that’s a very sweet ending to any meal.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Mangal II is part of the old school of N16′s Turkish restaurants, but it’s the only ocakbasi restaurant we know that’s mixing the old with the new, and also with low-intervention wine. The menu still features homemade kofte, grilled onion salad and the like, plus you’ll also find aged pollock alongside a feta slaw and beef sucuk fat mayo. Given it’s doing brilliant new things, you want to book even on a Monday.
photo credit: Giulia Verdinelli
A low-key Ethiopian restaurant in Camberwell, Zeret Kitchen is constantly buzzing with families and friends sharing giant vegetarian platters generous with misir wot (spicy lentils) and shuro wot (roasted spicy chickpeas) all to be piled onto injera and into your mouth. Just know that it’s dinner only on weekdays.
At Japanese spot Tanakatsu, you can get a solid pork katsu curry for under £20, at lunch or dinner, any weeknight you fancy. If that’s not reason enough to head over to Angel after a day at home or work, then we don’t know what is. But, just in case, we’ll give you some more: sushi, a selection of teriyaki dishes, and chicken kara-age.
photo credit: Karolina Wiercigroch
Aside from being our go-to London spot for all sorts of occasions, Noble Rot also happens to have the best set lunch menu in the city. Hands. Down. Available at their Lamb’s Conduit Street, Soho, and Mayfair restaurants, it’s £22 for two courses of European-leaning dishes. Which leaves you lots of flex (budget wise) to add a little something on from the best wine list in London, some of which is available in half-size (and half-price) glasses. Whatever you do, don’t skip the bread. Open on Mondays for lunch and dinner.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Master Wei is the second restaurant from the folks who run Xi’an Impression. Need we say more? Probably not, but we will anyway. It’s got the same Chinese specialities that we know and love—cold liangpi noodles, rou ji mo buns, biang biang noodles—only in a bigger space in Bloomsbury. It’s super casual and walk-in only, and you’ll end up here every day of the week.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
The food at this Colombian spot on a corner of Brixton Market is delicious. Their £14.50 deal consisting of a changing soup, choice of meat with rice and plantain, drink, and a banana is undoubtedly the tastiest deal in London. In every sense of the word. The atmosphere is welcoming and humming and makes you want to be friends with everyone in there, even on a Monday.
photo credit: Giulia Verdinelli
The City outpost of Koya is a killer spot for a meal that involves a bowl of steaming curry atsu-atsu and your face. Other people are of course welcome, but the beauty of a meal at Koya is that a bowl of udon and broth is meant for you and just you. Of course we’d recommend sharing the evening-only tonkatsu as well, but if you’re looking for a Monday meal with a bowl of goodness, then this Japanese spot is the place.
Forza Wine is up on Rye Lane and it leans more restaurant than bar. Once you see a couple happily sharing an oil-drenched panzanella in the sun, you’ll understand why. It’s all sharing plates: cauliflower fritti with aioli, a cheese string-like fontina toastie with hot sauce. As the name suggests, there’s a solid and natural-filled wine list too, and you can sit inside or out (there are covered seats) at lunch or dinner.
photo credit: Giulia Verdinelli
Lemonia is a classic north London establishment that’s been feeding friends and family homely Greek food for what’s coming up to half a century. It’s always busy, it’s always bustling, and you should always make sure the tyrokafteri, calamari, and baklava are on your order. There’s a good-value lunch deal too—for £18.50, work your way through fish croquettes, fluffy pitta, oven-baked swordfish, and a rice pudding.
The Spanish and North African menu is always switching around at Morito, but it’s very hard to go wrong at this buzzing restaurant on Hackney Road. Roast quail, seafood rice, any croquette and cheese fritters are favourites. Oh, and roast cauliflower salad. But you’ll be happy whatever. Room-wise, sitting at the counter is perfect for a couple, or bring the parents if you want to modestly impress them. Open on Mondays for dinner only.
Head to Fischer’s in Marylebone for an old-fashioned Austrian-style meal of schnitzel, or a bratwurst with potato salad and sauerkraut. Come with someone else and you can even split a hefty strudel too. Like its siblings (The Wolseley, Brasserie Zédel, Colbert), Fischer's is consistently solid and the room that feels like being transported to another time, will make you smile. Open all day on a Monday.
photo credit: Giulia Verdinelli
It’s no coincidence that one of our favourite restaurants in London is also one that’s open every day of the week. Theo’s is the move when you want a proper pizza in a proper restaurant with a proper drink. A margherita and a negroni will set you back around £20 at this Camberwell stalwart, meaning that you and your friend, date, dog, whatever, can find room for some tiramisu as well.
photo credit: Kiln
Kiln isn’t just one of the best Thai restaurants in London. It’s one of the best restaurants in London full stop. The bar is where you want to be at this hot hot hot Soho restaurant, where the clay pots sizzle in front of your eyes, and a bead of sweat will form on your head as you take another bite of ox heart laab. Come for a solo Monday lunch at the counter, or head downstairs with friends.
