Evening Standard London Restaurant Awards: Capital’s ‘no-bookings’ revolution shakes things up

The Worth the Queue award reflects the shift towards casual dining in a city where it is no longer impossible to get a table at a hot new opening — as long as you are prepared to wait in line
Popular: Hoppers, in Frith Street, Soho, is up for the Worth the Queue award

London's “no-bookings” dining revolution is celebrated in a new category at the 2016 Evening Standard London Restaurant Awards in June.

The Worth the Queue award reflects the shift towards casual dining in a city where it is no longer impossible to get a table at a hot new opening — as long as you are prepared to wait in line.

Six venues are nominated: BAO and Hoppers, which are both in Soho; Berber & Q in Haggerston; Canonbury’s Black Axe Mangal; Kricket in Brixton and Padella in Borough Market.

Awards director and restaurant writer Joe Warwick said: “We wanted to reflect the growing trend for no-reservations, casual dining. There’s been a cultural shift in London in the last few years, with queuing now accepted as part of a night out when it comes to eating at a certain kind of young, fun and in-demand restaurant.”

Another new category, Good Drinking, reflects not just London’s more adventurous wine lists but also exciting selections of other drinks such as craft beers and cocktails.

The shortlist is made up of Andrew Edmunds and Duck & Rice in Soho; Noble Rot in Clerkenwell; Pitt Cue in Spitalfields, the Bethnal Green branch of Sager & Wilde and the Hawksmoor Group, which has five London outlets.

Mr Warwick said: “There are still some great wine lists on the shortlist for the category but there are also establishments that are also about championing craft beer and great cocktails.”

Breakfast is an underrated but increasingly popular dining opportunity and the new Best Breakfast category reflects this. The shortlist includes: Marylebone’s Chiltern Firehouse; Colony Grill in Mayfair; the three branches of Dishoom; Koya Bar in Soho; Stoke Newington’s The Good Egg and Parlour in Kensal Rise. Mr Warwick said: “The rise of all-day dining has undoubtedly helped London’s restaurant scene brush-up its breakfast standards, as has the realisation there’s a whole world of more exotic breakfasts out there bey-ond the still-wonderful full English.”

The awards in a total of six categories will be presented on the opening night of the five-day Taste of London festival in Regent’s Park on June 15.

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