Local restaurants
BKB in Soho (+44 (0)20 7734 5656) for inexpensive bistro food in buzzy surrounds. Eat up at the bar at Le Caprice (+44 (0)20 7629 2239): fantastic for people-watching. Hakkasan (+44 (0)20 7927 7000) for the best Modern Asian. Celebrity favourite the Ivy (+44 (0)20 7836 4751). Locanda Locatelli (+44 (0)20 7935 9088) for Michelin-starred Italian. The Savoy Grill (+44 (0)20 7592 1600) for the best in Modern British. See www.gordonramsay.com for details of Gordon Ramsay’s outstanding London restaurants. Mon Plaisir on Monmouth Street, W1 (+44 (0)20 7836 7243) is the oldest French restaurant in London and a fun place for a pre-theatre meal.
Local bars
CVO Firevault on Great Titchfield Street is a cosy bar beneath a showroom. Salvador & Amanda is a DJ bar with tapas at 8 Great Newport Street. Windows on the 28th floor of the Hilton on Park Lane has fabulous views. For fantastic late-night espresso try Bar Italia on Frith Street in Soho. Lab bar on Great Compton Street is just around the corner and has mean mixologists. Also in Soho, The Endurance on Berwick Street is great for a pint or posh pub grub.
Nightlife
Chinawhite (020 7343 0040) is louche and decadent.
Worth getting out of bed for
All the West End theatres are on your doorstep (www.ticketmaster.co.uk), as is the Royal Opera House (www.royalopera.org). Major art spaces include the National Gallery (www.nationalgallery.org.uk) and Tate Modern (www.tate.org.uk). See the city from the London Eye (www.londoneye.com). Take a riverboat cruise from Embankment to Greenwich (www.londontown.com/sightseeing). Somerset House (www.somerset-house.org.uk) for ice-skating in the winter and concerts in the summer.
Diary
June Spitalfields Festival for classical music concerts (www.spitalfieldsfestival.org.uk). September London Open House weekend (www.londonopenhouse.org), when buildings of architectural and cultural interest open their doors to the public. November London Film Festival (www.lff.org.uk).
For a full list of bars and restaurants in London, click here
