The Elizabeth line in London was named after Queen Elizabeth II and was officially opened by The Queen on May 17, 2022, during her platinum jubilee year celebrations. The line was designed to connect more suburban areas of London with urban areas of London, making it easier for people to travel to and from London from the outer areas. As the Elizabeth line connects more people with more parts of London, there’s a world of food to be explored. London has some incredible, varied restaurants, and now that it’s so much easier for more people to get around the city, visitors can try more of them. Here are seven delicious restaurants to try near London’s Elizabeth line.
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1. Norma
Nearest Stop: Tottenham Court Road
Opened in September 2019, Norma is a stylish restaurant serving Sicilian-inspired dishes with a heavy lean towards the Moorish influences on the island of Sicily. As the flavors of southern Italy and northern Africa meet here in this sumptuous restaurant, you can feel the Sicilian and Moorish nods in the décor and in the very atmosphere of the place. It’s a lovely place to be, and the menu offers some exciting and unusual dishes to try. This is Italian food, but it’s not like the regular Italian food you might be used to.
What To Order At Norma
The menu changes seasonally and depends on the ingredients available in Italy and the UK at the time, but if it’s available when you go, pasta alla Norma and linguine with Cornish crab, chili, and lemon butter served theatrically in a crab shell, is an amazing work of art that tastes as good as it looks. To follow, a mainstay of the Norma menu is the Aubergine parmigiana, which sits alongside the likes of lamb rump, fresh peas, broad beans, asparagus, wild garlic, and salsa verde.
2. Jeru
Nearest Stop: Bond Street
As soon as you approach Jeru Restaurant, you get a sense of what you’ll be stepping into. The exterior of the restaurant is unmistakably Eastern Mediterranean, and when you step inside, the soft glow lighting and delicate alcoves leave you in no doubt about the vibe of this restaurant. The story of the Eastern Mediterranean continues in the meze menu and in the extensive wine list. Wines from Hungary and Lebanon feature alongside Italian and French wines. The décor and atmosphere inside Jeru are relaxing, while the menu and wine list throw up a few surprises.
What To Order At Jeru
Executive chef Roy Ner has a thing for lamb, and you’ll most likely find lamb on the menu no matter what time of year it is when you visit. For that reason alone you should try the lamb while you’re at Jeru. If a chef is this passionate about cooking lamb, it has to be good — and it is. The new menu includes whole dry-aged milk-fed Welsh lamb shoulder, slow-cooked in milk and served with truffle and milk jus.
3. DF Tacos
Nearest Stop: Tottenham Court Road
On the one hand, DF Tacos is a simple fast-food taco joint, but on the other hand, it’s so much more than that. Guests are encouraged to order using the app on their phones, while seated at their tables, but staff are around and are happy to help. The food is brought to your table, so you only need to get up to refill your drinks or to grab some sauce at the drinks station and the salsa station. I love the simplicity of it, and for what looks like a fast-food restaurant, the food is really good.
What To Order At DF Tacos
Obviously, you have to order the tacos! The burritos are also really good here too, but when you come to a taco restaurant for the first time, it has to be tacos. There’s such an impressive range of vegetarian and vegan options, but I’m recommending the roasted cauliflower cheese tacos. Order a side of the DF house slaw, made with red cabbage and lime juice; the two go really well together. You can order other tacos and other items from the menu and request them to be made vegetarian or vegan.
4. Emelia’s Crafted Pasta
Nearest Stop: Canary Wharf
The focus at Emilia’s Crafted Pasta is on food as comfort: comfort for your body, for your mind, and for your soul. If any food can do that for me it’s pasta! At Emilia’s, they aim to make pasta dishes that remind you of home, and the home cooking element of this is obvious when you taste the food. The restaurant is rustic and speaks of an old Italian trattoria, but with a modern feel to it and very modern ingredient choices. You can watch the chefs making fresh pasta through the hatch, and then revel in how good it tastes when the plates arrive.
What To Order At Emelia’s
The carbonara here is creamy and so well put together; it has a really interesting take to it as well. You can order it made with pancetta, as is often the case with a carbonara, or you can switch that out for smoked salmon. I recommend trying a carbonara with smoked salmon as an alternative — it goes so well you might always want it this way. There’s something about the cream with the salmon that tastes like it was meant to be. To finish, the homemade creamy vanilla panna cotta with fresh strawberries is a delight.
5. Polo Bar
Nearest Station: Liverpool Street
Proud to be a café bar serving English food, Polo Bar is open 24 hours a day and serves the most amazing all-day breakfasts. The café has been open since 1953, but this is no greasy spoon, this is a modern bight café with some incredible treats on the menu. The mains are traditional fish and chips and bangers and mash, but it’s the breakfast that really takes center stage here. The fact that you can pop in at any time of day or night for the incredible hearty food on offer makes it a legendary place to eat.
What To Order At Polo Bar
The Bottomless Boozy Brunch is really something. You can choose between the all-day breakfast or burger and chips, with pancakes to share and bottomless prosecco or mimosas. Be prepared and arrive hungry; this is a lot of food and drink! The pancakes alone are incredible and the portions are very generous. At £30 a person, it’s extremely good value and it’s a fantastic way to celebrate with friends or family.
6. Wahaca
Nearest Station: Stratford
The food at Wahaca is Mexican street food but in a laid-back restaurant setting. It’s perfect for dining with a group and sharing small bites and plates, but it’s also a lovely restaurant to stop at for lunch. The choice in nibbles, sides, street food, and larger plates means you can eat here at any time of day, with any number in your party, and it fits perfectly into your needs at the time. I found the staff to be exceptionally friendly and helpful, and eager to recommend dishes and sides.
What To Order At Wahaca
The black bean and three cheese quesadillas are unusual and very memorable! I don’t think I’ve ever eaten quesadillas quite like them. The cheese goes so perfectly with the black beans and it’s all wrapped in soft tortillas. I paired them with the crispy cauliflower bites, but the new organic squash and crumbled feta tostadas are a very tasty addition to the menu. If you love your drinks as hot as your food, try a picante margarita, a classic margarita with a touch of chili.
7. Eastway Brasserie
Nearest Station: Liverpool Street
Located within Andaz Hotel, a luxury hotel with bars, a pub, a café, and much more, Eastway Brasserie is a relaxed restaurant serving traditional British food and some dishes from further afield with an amazing grill section. The restaurant has a curious fictional story it stands upon. Samuel East was a street food trader who invented the “popular restaurant” we know and love today. It’s a nice story that keeps bringing inspiration to Eastway, even if it is only a story! There’s a lovely atmosphere inside Eastway, and it isn’t a pub by any means, even if it appears at first glance that they serve pub food. This is most definitely restaurant-level food, based on British pub favorites. Think steak and chips, but served in a very modern and more luxurious way.
What To Order At Eastway Brasserie
The grill is so good here, I recommend the Dedham Vale Ribeye Steak with the red wine jus. It’s served with grilled mushrooms and shallots, but you can order sides of mashed potato or sweet potato fries, plus sauteed vegetables. For dessert, the cheese board has a good selection of British cheeses, fig chutney, and cheese biscuits. There’s an amazing Hungarian dessert wine on the menu that’s a must-try while you’re here.
