5 best restaurants in Queen's Park
Whether you're hankering after lunch in a charming pub, or dinner on a cobbled street, Queen's Park has everything your hungry heart could wish for. Queen's Park wasn't always the culinary destination it is now, but thanks to a slew of new openings, we think the north-west London neighbourhood is well worth travelling for. Locals will enjoy the revamped Salusbury pub, a forever favourite that now offers a brilliant ‘British country’ menu. Visitors who are in the area for the farmers' market, or perhaps visiting Nicola Harding's showroom, might want to make a reservation at buzzy new spot Canal, which sits just between Notting Hill and Queen's Park.
Best restaurants in Queen's Park
1/5The Salusbury
Cuisine: Modern British
Best for: Long Sunday lunchesThe Salusbury reopened this summer after a charming revamp. A longstanding favourite with locals, the pub's new owners, Alex Payne and Gareth Cooper, are committed to preserving the atmosphere of a neighbourhood pub whilst elevating and expanding the offering.
The kitchen is headed up by Tarryn Bingle, formerly of Michelin-starred La Trompette and The Rectory. Food is seasonally-led, stylish without being fussy. Excerpts from the menu include Dorset crab cacio e pepe, Suffolk lamb with smoked potatoes and Chateaubriand with chunky chips.
2/5Don't Tell Dad
Cuisine: Modern British small plates
Best for: Date night or morning pastriesDon’t Tell Dad, the brainchild of Coco di Mama co-founder Daniel Land, is a new kid on the block, having opened in January of this year. The restaurant is filled with a warm glow from the retro wall lights and has been smartly kitted out with green cord banquettes, parquet flooring and uneven Moroccan zellige tiles, resulting in a welcoming yet stylish space to enjoy the exceptionally executed food by head chef Luke Frankie, previously of Noble Rot.
Highlights on the menu include the truffle and cheddar beignet appetiser (a moreish, umami mouthful of carb and cheese) and the tea-smoked trout starter served with zingy horseradish and pickles. The elevated homeliness of the food has a distinct, but not at all unwelcome, echo of St. John about it, down to the freshly baked madeleines, which take 15 minutes to prepare and are served warm with orange and cream.
3/5Canal
Cuisine: Modern European
Best for: Lunch in the sun or dinner with a DJNot quite Notting Hill, not quite Queen’s Park, Canal sits near Westbourne Park station down a quiet cobbled street. This location does have its advantages, however – it's well off the beaten track for tourists, and is right on the edge of the canal, as the name suggests, with a suntrap of a waterside terrace for warm days. The delightful servers call this the ‘West London Riviera’, and it certainly has an, um, urban charm. The restaurant was set up by Dominic Hamdy, who is the man behind stylish London openings Bar Crispin and Bistro Freddie, and is a collaboration between his group and the coliving space Mason & Fifth, which occupies the rest of the building. Canal has impeccable credentials at every level: chef Adrian Hernandez Farina, comes with experience from Humo, Lchuca and Coal Rooms among others, the grown-up cocktails on tap were designed by East London's A Bar with Shapes for a Name, and the staff outfits were created by fashion designer Nicholas Daley.
The menu revolves around seasonal sharing plates: on our visit we enjoyed a moreish plate of Mangalitza sausage with pickled chilli, a sea bream crudo swimming in cherries and oil, which demanded to be mopped up with sourdough. The ‘table cheeseburger’ is a must – a heavenly little slider that has all the addictive qualities of a McDonalds but with a lot more sophistication. Succulent monkfish in a tomato and caper sauce and tortelli filled with ricotta completed a very satisfying meal.
James Morris4/5Ida
Cuisine: Italian
Best for: Long family-style lunchesThis neighbourhood restaurant is – as all great neighbourhood Italian spots should be – a real family affair, run by Avi and Simonetta and their children. Opened in 2007 in a picturesque Grade II-listed ex-corner shop in Queen's Park, the decor is eclectic and lovely, with pictures lining every wall. The food is consistently good, and they know how to handle classic dishes with confidence. Look out for Avi's new book which chronicles the history of the restaurant.
5/5Milk Beach
Cuisine: Modern European
Best for: Excellent for brunch, equally good for dinnerWhile its Soho counterpart opened in 2022, their outpost on the quaint mews of Lonsdale Road is the original, having launched in 2018, and is an ever popular spot with locals for a lazy Australian-style brunch (though it is also open for dinner). With such stylish neighbours along the same street as Nicola Harding's NiX showroom and Don't Tell Dad (also on this list), the light-filled, airy interior is a relaxing place to sit with friends on a Sunday morning after a stroll around the nearby Queen's Park farmer's market. On the brunch menu, enjoy hearty dishes such as sweet potato fritters with smoked salmon and poached eggs, and their chicken ‘schnitty’ banh mi. To top off the visit, grab a custard-filled St. John doughnut from the counter on the way out.
