The first rule of very-late-night dining in London: kebabs are not your only option. At the time of writing, places that stay open until 1am are reasonably common, especially with many bars and pubs offering food. Later venues are more scarce, so I’m limiting this section to restaurants and cafés where you can still order food at 2am. Only a handful of 24-hour food outlets currently exist, mostly near stations and nightclubs. All that is likely to change with the arrival of all-night tube services, so this section is more a record of ‘how things are’ rather than how they will be in the near future.
Bar Italia
22 Frith Street, W1D 4RF (Leicester Square)
The archetypal all-nighter, a place where you can grab an espresso at any hour, then negotiate your way down a frighteningly steep set of stairs to the toilet. The place was immortalised (if it wasn’t already immortal) in the closing song on Pulp’s 1995 album Different Class, ‘There’s only one place we can go, it’s round the corner in Soho, where other broken people go...let’s go.’ As a bonus reason for going, the upstairs room was the place where TV was first publicly demonstrated by John Logie Baird in 1926. The café is open until 5am every day, then reopens at 7am for breakfast.
Old Compton Street
(Leicester Square)
Soho is far and away the best bet for finding late-night snacks. Old Compton Street mainstay Café Boheme has a night-owl menu served until 3am that includes French nibbles such as Croque Monsieur and Steak frites. The neighbouring Soho Kitchen & Bar matches that opening time, but offers a wider menu of light bites and mains leaning towards US cuisine. If 3am is too early, then a few doors down will bring you to Balans Café, which has the full gamut of café classics and never seems to close. Meanwhile, nearby Chinatown offers a selection of nocturnal options, including Mr Kong (21 Lisle Street, WC2H 7BA, until 2.45am) The Royal Dragon (30 Gerard Street, W1D 6JS, until 3am) and HK Diner (22 Wardour Street, W1D 6QQ, until 4am).
Hippodrome Casino
Cranbourne Street, WC2H 7JH
(Leicester Square)
The Hippodrome never closes its doors and runs a 24-hour menu of sandwiches, burgers, salads and snacks. As casinos go, it’s a very laid-back place, where half the punters are there for the bars and restaurants rather than to gamble. Plenty of history to mop up, and plenty of space, too.
VQ
111a Great Russell Street, WC1B 3NQ
(Tottenham Court Road)
Bloomsbury’s VQ succinctly gives its opening times away in its name (at least if you’re good at cryptic crosswords). VQ stands for Vingt-Quatre, which of course means ‘24’ in French – perhaps they were going for something more sophisticated than the restaurant’s previous name of Up All Night. Either way, this café-diner never closes. Contrary to the Gallic name, however, this is more an English/US affair, with everything from hot dogs to a fry-up on its impressively extensive menu. One senses that this mini-chain is well geared up to expand, now that the tubes are matching its opening hours.
4 Vere Street, W1G 0DH (Bond Street)
For something east-Mediterranean that ranks above the typical kebab, check out the Maroush empire of eateries. The one on Vere Street serves up mezza and more until 5am (Thurs–Sat). Its parent branch on Edgware Road can only manage a paltry 2am, but the nearby Ranoush Juice, owned by the same group, keeps serving until 3am.
Tinseltown
44–46 St John Street, EC1M 4DF (Farringdon)
Farringdon clubbers are well catered for by US diner-style restaurant Tinseltown, which keeps on serving until 3am or 4am depending on the day. The subterranean den includes small tables and large banquette booths, to cater for any group size.
Beigel Bake
159 Brick Lane, E1 6SB (Shoreditch High Street)
This famous bakery can be considered the east London equivalent of Bar Italia. It serves very different food (obviously), but stands out as the ‘rite of passage’ all-nighter that every Londoner finds themselves in at some point. That’s not to deny the quality on offer. For less than £2, you can have yourself a prize beigel and some new friends, met in the inevitable queue. It’s worth splashing out a bit more for the salt beef beigel, for which this café is justly famous.
Voodoo Ray’s
95 Kingsland High Street, E8 2PB (Dalston Kingsland)
Sömine
131 Kingsland High Street, E8 2PB (Dalston Kingsland)
The Love Shake
5 Kingsland Road, E2 8AA (Hoxton)
Dalston has a few options for the nocturnally peckish. Pizza seekers can nibble on a doughy disc until 3am (Fri–Sat) at the much-vaunted Voodoo Ray’s, above Dance Tunnel. This New York-style pizzeria serves by slice, a simple but crowd-pleasing idea that means you don’t get stuck with just one recipe. Meanwhile, Sömine is a popular haunt with homeward-bound clubbers, offering all-night Turkish cuisine, including stews and soups that’ll help you rehydrate. Heading back towards the centre of town, The Love Shake offers hotdogs and oddball milkshakes until 2.30am (occasionally 4.30am on Saturdays).
176 Bishopsgate, EC2M 4NQ (Liverpool Street)
The relatively stylish (well, it’s got white tiles everywhere) Polo Bar will serve you a superior fry-up or burger at any hour of the day or night. It’s right opposite Liverpool Street Station and so sports a mixed clientele of Shoreditch clubbers and eighth-cup-of-the-nighters who missed their last train home.
110 Bishopsgate, EC2N 4AY (Liverpool Street)
If you’re looking for something a bit more sophisticated, the Heron Tower’s Duck and Waffle restaurant serves throughout the night, offering expensive but excellent repasts (including some duck with some waffle). You’re at the highest publicly accessible point in the Square Mile here (only The Shard across the river tops it), and the views are unsurprisingly magnificent. Plus, you get to ride the scariest lifts in London, which cling to the outside of the building and fly up with dizzying speed.
Maroush
38 Beauchamp Place, SW3 1NU (Knightsbridge)
Ranoush
86 High Street Kensington, W8 4SG (High Street Kensington)
VQ
325 Fulham Road, SW10 9QL (Fulham Broadway)
Yas
7 Hammersmith Road, W14 8XJ (Kensington Olympia)
Away from the bright lights of the West End and the nightclubs of the east, late night dining is something of a scarcity. A second branch of Lebanese restaurant Maroush in Knightsbridge stays open until 5am, and claims to pull in the celebrities. Sister restaurant Ranoush on High Street Kensington will serve you till 3am. Likewise, a second non-stop branch of VQ can be found on Fulham Road. As with its Bloomsbury twin, it never closes. Fans of Persian cuisine could try Yas on the Hammersmith Road. It gets mixed reviews – mainly concerning the service rather than the quality of the food – but keeps on cooking until 4am.
Green Lanes
(Manor House or Turnpike Lane)
Tinseltown
104 Heath Street, NW3 1DR (Hampstead)
Since Camden Town’s legendary Marathon Kebab lost its late licence, the north is somewhat lacking in iconic late-nighters. Your best bet might be a jaunt along Green Lanes, where the lengthy parade of Turkish restaurants includes several open into the early hours. And then Hampstead (of all places) has a branch of Tinseltown open until 3am at weekends (2am otherwise), serving up diner-style treats.
Bagel King
280 Walworth Road, SE17 2TE (Elephant and Castle)
Golden Grill
20 Camberwell Green, SE5 7AA (Denmark Hill)
Blackheath Tea Hut
Goffers Road, SE3 0UA (Lewisham)
South London is also spartanly furnished with late-night eating options. Bagel King on Walworth Road might not look particularly regal, but it’s a much appreciated 24-hour stop-off point for Jamaican food and, of course, bagels. For something a bit meatier, the Golden Grill in Camberwell lasts until 4am, with an endless menu of pizzas, kebabs, burgers and other fast food options. You probably don’t have any respectable business being out on Blackheath at four in the morning, but if you do, the legendary Blackheath Tea Hut should see you right with a cuppa and something warm to eat, like a burger or a bacon roll. It’s open 24 hours.