Discover Some Of The Team’s Favourite Eats And Drinks Of 2025
There are dishes you expect to love, and then there are the ones that stop you in your tracks and linger long after the table is cleared. In a year defined by excess and spectacle, the moments that stayed with us most were often the simplest: a perfectly judged martini, a piece of bread cooked just right, tofu treated with more care than any lux protein.
These are The Handbook team’s favourite bites and sips of 2025 — not the most expensive or the most photographed, but the dishes and drinks that genuinely moved us. The ones we still talk about, still crave, and would happily return for again and again.
Smoked Cod’s Roe, Chilli, Fried Steamed Buns at Moi
This is one of the most unsuspecting but brilliant dishes I ordered this year. A level up on your classic taramasalata, the combination of umami and creamy flavours in the dip is quickly mopped up with the warm, fluffy buns. I’d go back to Moi for this starter alone.
Natasha, Digital Editor
Where: 84 Wardour St, Soho, London
Website: moirestaurant.com
Sourdough Potato Pita at PYRO
For me the sourdough potato pita cooked on open hearth with the various dips at PYRO. You know a simple dish like pita bread is epic when you can’t wait to go back and have it again. Plus it sets the scene for a level of cookery that is unequalled. My fave spot of 2025, hands down.
Robyn, Managing Director
where: 53b Southwark St, London SE1 1RU
Website: pyrorestaurant.co.uk
Eau De Martinez at the Donovan Bar
This was my fav sip of 2025 at the Donovan Bar at Browns Hotel in Mayfair which has the most beautiful glowing blue bar. It was the first rich cocktail I’ve had and has opened up my taste since then. The sherry is quite prominent in there which I also discovered is really nice after years of denying my nan offering it at Christmas.
Imogen, Graphic Designer
Where: 33 Albemarle St, London W1S 4BP
Website: www.roccofortehotels.com
Brixham Crab, Exmoor Caviar & Coconut Ash Cracker at AngloThai
One of my favourite restaurants in London has to be AngloThai – and a dish I can’t stop thinking about from the menu is the Brixham Crab, Exmoor Caviar & Coconut Ash Cracker. It’s the kind of dish that brings together the artistry of a chef and the mechanics of an engineer, with flavours that somehow feel home-cooked. Brilliant.
Andrea, Contributing Food, Culture & Lifestyle Editor
Where: 22-24 Seymour Place, London W1H 7NL
Website: anglothai.co.uk
Club Row Martini at One Club Row
Not only is this restaurant perfection — I’m talking New York speakeasy meets Parisian bistro — its cocktail selection is pure chic. As a martini virgin, I can promise you, the bar’s signature cocktail is divine and I’m now a total convert. Sipping said drink in a world above the streets of Shoreditch, I challenge you not to feel transported to another era.
Ashling, Contributing Style & Interiors Editor
Where: 1 Club Row, London E1 6JX
Website: oneclubrow.com
Tofu from Khao Bird
Some dishes you expect to be your favourite of the moment, but the tofu from Khao Bird totally caught me off guard, eclipsing meat, fire and fish. In a year full of excess and overdoing it, it was this moment of total precision and thoughtfulness, the sheer act of making tofu so outstanding through technique, that has impacted me most.
Mallory, Junior Food & Drink Editor
Where: 24 Brewer St, London W1F 0SN
Website: www.khaobird.com
