Eat The Tube: The Best Restaurants Near Ladbroke Grove Station

Ladbroke Grove is one of those pockets of London that reward wandering. Step off the tube, and you’re immediately spoilt for choice: pubs that pull you in for hours, cafés that become part of your daily route, restaurants you discover by accident and never quite shut up about afterwards. This stretch of West London moves at its own pace, and eating here is less about ticking boxes and more about settling in and finding your own. But this is a good place to start.

For coffee

Layla

Layla is the kind of café you end up returning to on purpose. You go in for a coffee, sit for a bit longer than planned, and suddenly it’s lunchtime. The room is calm but never sleepy, the counter is always busy, and the pastries are excellent. Well-made output that feels catered without being too precious. It’s a place that works just as well for a solo sit with a notebook as it does for a slow catch-up. It’s dependable in the best way, and once you’ve found it, it becomes part of your regular route. See our full list of the best bakeries in London.

Where: 332 Portobello Rd, London W10 5SA
Website: www.laylabakery.com

Flying Horse Coffee

Flying Horse Coffee is just a reliably good café – no fuss, no performance, just very good coffee and a steady stream of locals coming and going. I found it by just stopping on the way somewhere else and ended up returning again and again, coming and going. The coffee is taken seriously, the atmosphere is easy, and it’s exactly the sort of spot that keeps Ladbroke Grove ticking over in the mornings.

Where: 112 Golborne Rd, London W10 5PS
Website: www.flyinghorsecoffee.com

For dining

The Cow

Like any avid Cow goer, I won’t shut up about it. But this is for good reason. The Cow is like an amalgamation of vibes meshing all at once: pub meets a Sunday roast meets a roaring fire meets a jazz bar meets an oyster bar meets a smoking section. It’s everything all at once. You can never be quite certain of what you’ll get when you plan a visit. Perhaps there will be no tables, perhaps there will be ten. Perhaps it will be an early night, perhaps you won’t get home until 2 am. Something that I can say with absolute certainty, though, is that this pub has the best bangers and mash in London, and I will gladly die on that hill. Get some oysters, too.

Where: 89 Westbourne Park Rd, London W2 5QH
Website: www.thecowlondon.com

The Pelican

The Pelican has it all. It’s a great pub with perfect drinks, great for sunny days or rainy days, cold or hot. But The Pelican’s food is somewhat out of this world. Notoriously one of the best gastro pubs in London, The Pelican simultaneously has a huge ego while still managing to come off as unassuming. Not a bad thing, the gastro must have an ego, especially in the successful openings of The Fat Badger and, most recently, The Hart. Get literally anything on the menu, just make sure you get a side of chips and a rarebit. See a full list of the best gastropubs in London.

Where: 45 All Saints Rd, London W11 1HE
Website: www.thepelicanw11.com

Tavernaki

Tavernaki is the kind of place you stumble into from the street, naive to the fact that you’re about to discover one of your favourite Greek restaurants in London. That’s how I found it, and that’s how everyone I’ve talked to about Tavernaki found it, too. To me, it’s the ideal solo dine experience. One starter, one main, one side, one drink, one book, sat by the window for some ideal people-watching and good chats with the service. You really can’t go wrong with much. Gyros, Kolokithokeftedes, Kleftiko, Lahanodolmades; it’s proper Greek, and it’s proper good. Want more? See our full list of the best Greek restaurants in London.

Where: 222 Portobello Rd, London W11 1LJ
Website: www.tavernakiportobello.com

Dishoom Permit Room

No London hotspot is complete without a Dishoom, and Notting Hill is home to one of the newest fixtures, and a special one at that. The Permit Room is a more casual, all-day spin-off of the main restaurants, making for a casual dine but with an upbeat tempo with vinyls and DJs playing all night. The best part about it, though, is that they have the black daal; there is nothing better than Dishoom’s black daal.

See a full list of the best Indian restaurants in London here.

Where: 186 Portobello Rd, London W11 1LA
Website: www.permitroom.co.uk

For grabbing

Golborne Deli

One of the best delis in all of London, in my opinion, is Golborne Deli. It is quintessential London. Fun fact: if you like the movie About Time, this deli sits just below Rachel McAdams’ flat. Better than that fact, though, is any one of their takeaway sandwiches. If you’re on the go or powering through a long weekend walk through Notting Hill, it’s the perfect grab-and-go. What’s better, sit down for eggs Benedict or beans on toast, then trot down the street and pop into all the antique stores. Dream! See a list of the best delis in London.

Where: 100-102 Golborne Rd, London W10 5PS
Website: www.golbornefinewinedeli.com

For drinking

The Westbourne

If you can get a couple of feet of real estate at The Westbourne on a sunny day, consider yourself lucky. Everyone and their mothers (literally their mothers) is at The Westbourne. While it’s tough to sit down, once you do, consider yourself committed. Jugs of Aperol will be flying, plates of pasta, and pints of IPAs, probably. If you’re looking for men with moustaches and beanies and girls with trenches and mini skirts, in the best way, this is the place.

Where: 101 Westbourne Park Villas, London W2 5ED
Website: www.thewestbourne.com

Golborne Bistro

For something a bit more lowkey, pop next door to Golborne Deli for a glass of wine at Golborne Bistro. Here you’ll find oranges, reds, whites, and all the coolest people you’ve ever seen in London on one sidewalk patio. Perfect for an early afternoon vino and yap with old friends. It’s a secret little spot, so don’t tell. See a list of the best wine bars in London.

Where: 100-102 Golborne Rd, London W10 5PS
Website: www.golbornefinewinedeli.com