LDNGuide

The Best Restaurants Near King’s Cross

From dependable Thai spots to excellent Malaysian roti and fancy French food, these are the best restaurants near King’s Cross.
The Best Restaurants Near King’s Cross image

photo credit: Koray Firat

King’s Cross feels like one of London’s busiest areas. Getting a desk at the British Library is akin to getting into Berghain. Hordes of people wait, willingly, inside a train station to get a picture with a fake platform. Hordes of people wait, impatiently, to get on a train home. Plus the students. They’re everywhere. And then, after all of that lot, you’ve got the ones who are there to eat and drink. Thankfully there are a decent amount of places within 10 minutes of the station. The best of them are in this guide.

THE SPOTS

Malaysian

Kings Cross

$$$$Perfect For:Catching Up With MatesHalalWalk-InsTakeawayLunchVegetarians
Earn 3x points with your sapphire card

There’s often a polite queue and a merry-go-round of delivery drivers outside this tiny Malaysian spot in King’s Cross. A sure sign that something very right is going on here. That something is Hawker’s Kitchen’s roti. While not the only thing that’s worth travelling for, the outstanding flatbreads—freshly made, ludicrously flaky, and a world-class vehicle for any sauce and curry—are sensational. The elbow-bashing, apology-filled space is a functional room made for huddling in and leaning over channa masala, kway teow goreng, or beef rendang.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

RESERVE A TABLE

POWERED BY

OpenTable logo

La Chingada adds colour and flavour to a surreptitious location in that dingy middle area between Euston and King’s Cross. There are multicoloured murals, tables, and salsas—and pretty much everything that works so well in its original Surrey Quays Mexican restaurant has been seamlessly transported across the river. Al pastor and carnitas are juicy and fruity with moments of spice. And the tortillas, corn and made with reliable integrity, are excellent. Come by on Sunday to check out their dish of the day, be it chilaquiles or pozole.

Paolina Thai Cuisine is like the faded jumper you gravitate to—there are fancier options in your wardrobe, but time and time again you find yourself throwing on that dependable knit. Tucked down a side road, this Thai spot is a go-to for a reliably good solo lunch or to have a quiet date night involving solid pad thai. We’re a big fan of hunkering down on the lower level—where there are sauna-amounts of wood covering the walls and floors—with a portion of duck spring rolls stuffed to the brim like mini bolster cushions.

The Midland Grand Dining Room is a brasserie inside the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel and is as regal as a National Trust home—and has food to match. There are parmesan fritters complete with a coppa fascinator fit for Ascot; crab toast that has as much flavour as the room has gold; and, like any French restaurant worth its salt, soufflé du jour. Just know that the prices mean this isn’t a casual, pop-in kind of restaurant.

Dim Sum & Duck is the best all-round Cantonese restaurant in London. That’s not hyperbole, that’s just us being very honest about the fact that we’re one exceptional Dim Sum & Duck xiaolongbao away from making merch. A casual space serving melt-in-your-mouth duck and glistening mountains of beef ho fun, this place should be at the very top of your King’s Cross agenda. Just be warned that when it comes to the quality of their dim sum, the secret is very much out so you might have to queue for a table.

Unlike Bao's other London outposts, this Taiwanese spot is less about a sit-down meal and more about picking up some delicious sweet stuff wrapped up in equally delicious steamed dough. Think peach-shaped red bean and white chocolate bao, molten seasonal specials, and our personal favourite, the salted egg custard sad face bao. They’ve also got a short menu of their signature savoury baos that you can sit down and enjoy in the warm, casual dining area.

Decimo is the kind of loud and proud restaurant that you go to for a big, cool birthday, or to lean against the DJ booth in a velvet tux hoping to get discovered by the person who signed Grimes. On the 10th floor of The Standard, this flashy hotel restaurant with skyline views isn’t just for people-watching and rubbing shoulders with London media types. You’ll also find some pretty great cocktails and Spanish and Mexican-inspired food here too. Expect big prices, but for the pork tacos and buzzing atmosphere, it’s totally worth it.

We always welcome a pleasant surprise. Say, an old-school pub that serves some great tapas in a warm, candlelit setting. The Norfolk Arms still has its Victorian tiled exterior and retro stained-glass windows but it’ll work for countless dining dilemmas. Catch-up with that uni friend it’s taken four months of WhatsApp strategising to meet? Third date with that person you’re finally calling by their name rather than Sociopath TBC? The Norfolk Arms has got you covered with garlic-packed seafood options and bottles of rioja to split over candlelight.

The only place beginning with a D with longer and more consistent lines than Dishoom is a theme park that serves giant turkey legs to families looking to hug an adult in a mouse costume. None of that goes on at Dishoom King’s Cross, but you will have to wait a while for your chicken ruby in the evening or bacon and egg naan first thing. The good news is that the Indian food’s worth the wait at this permanently busy spot.

This spot is Temporarily Closed.

For all the cold hard cash packed into Granary Square and Coal Drops Yard, it’s Caledonian Road where you want to head for a meal around here. Kaki is a Chinese restaurant where the menu options go into triple figures. Don’t let that put you off though, because this is a restaurant you’ll want to come back to. The food moves around different regions of China, meaning you can try everything from a hot pot or meatballs, to mapo tofu. There’s also one huge round table, lazy susan and all, that’s ideal for a big group.

Londoners are in a pretty fortunate position when it comes to Thai food and Supawan, at the bottom end of Cally Road, offers some of the best in the city. It’s a pretty understated restaurant, with a simple and comfortable setup that suits small groups as well as large, but the food is quite the opposite. This is slap in the face stuff. Flavours, from things like the crispy rice salad and stuffed chicken wings, hit you hard and happily.

If you’re looking for an enormous space with exposed brickwork, baked eggs, and high enough ceilings for a loud debrief of the night before, look no further than Caravan. There are a few outposts of this cafe-restaurant mini-chain in London, but the King’s Cross location is our favourite daytime one. On cold days there’s plenty of room to hunker down inside, working up the courage to face whatever storm is currently doing its worst to your hair.

Beer + Burger is a casual burger spot down the side of the Granary Square Waitrose. If you’re willing to rub shoulders with (thankfully fast-moving) hordes of local workers on a weekday night, it’s as good a place as any to grab a quick drink and a bite. They have a big selection of beers on tap, and whether you’re here with a crowd of friends for several rounds and some food, or popping in for a solo cheeseburger and some deep-fried jalapeños on your way home, you won’t regret it.

There are many ways to physically exert yourself for 10 minutes. Make of that what you will, but our favourite way is to walk for 10 minutes from King’s Cross to Roti King behind Euston. This Malaysian restaurant serves one of London’s finest great-value meals. The regular roti canai costs around a tenner, while the meat and fish options are a couple of pounds on top of that. Be prepared to queue at peak times as it’s no reservations. But it’s definitely worth the wait.

Chase Sapphire Card Ad

Suggested Reading

Rémy Martin

The Best Restaurants In Islington

From handmade pasta and Peruvian skewers, to vegan Chinese and top-tier gastropubs.

The 14 Best Restaurants In Camden image

Camden is home to many places you don't need to visit, but these restaurants are worth checking out.

undefined

Move over Soho, sod off Shoreditch, because Clerkenwell has some of London’s most superb and celebrated restaurants.

Infatuation Logo

Company

2024 © The Infatuation Inc. All Rights Reserved.

FIND PLACES ON OUR APP

Get it on Google PlayDownload on the App Store