London's best riverside restaurants

What could say summer in London more than a table by the Thames? Whether you want your food to come with a side order of iconic views in the centre of town or you hunger for a more tranquil setting in a quieter corner of the capital, here are our favourite waterside restaurants in London.

The Bingham

Whether you call it a boutique hotel or a restaurant with rooms, there’s no denying that this pretty Georgian townhouse has a plum riverside spot in Richmond, with the Thames flowing serenely beyond the flowerbeds of an immaculately maintained English garden. Inside, the elegant dining room’s French windows open onto a balcony for alfresco eating.

The cooking is modern British in the best sense, with clever but complementary combinations of ingredients such as roasted hake with broccoli, couscous and a garlic buttermilk sauce.

Bonus points too for a grown-up kids’ menu, afternoon tea and the genius idea of an all-day Sunday lunch. Wine dinners (Spain, Bordeaux, Laurent-Perrier) are something to look forward to in the autumn, and because it’s a hotel, you can dine riverside on Christmas Day.

61-63 Petersham Road, Richmond-upon-Thames, TW10 6UT; thebingham.co.uk

Blueprint Café

It might no longer be the destination it was during its Jeremy Lee-helmed heyday, but the view remains as diverting as ever at this clattery, Conran-era classic down on Shad Thames. Its elevated position affords a vista of a broad sweep of river, from Tower Bridge and the City skyscrapers down to Docklands, through floor-to-ceiling windows that are often left open.

Colourful, characterful cooking comes simply plated and with an Anglo-European accent: spiced lamb croquettes with preserved apricot, or Cornish plaice with romanesco cauliflower, say. Saturday brunch, Sunday roasts and supper clubs showcasing the restaurant’s food and drink suppliers are further pulls to bring you downriver.  

28 Shad Thames, London, SE1 2YD; blueprintcafe.co.uk

Fiume

Arriving by Thames Clipper is by far the easiest way to reach Battersea Power Station until the Northern Line extension tunnels through, and the first thing you’ll see upon disembarking is the terrace at chef Francesco Mazzei’s riverside Italian. Olive trees and pots of lavender might not quite conjure up Mazzei’s native Calabria, but canvas awnings at least provide blissful shelter when the sun is beating down.

Pasta, such as excellent crab and lemon tagliolini, is a highlight, washed down with something crisp from the all-Italian wine list; elsewhere the likes of octopus with cannellini beans and lamb chop with agrodolce suit the easy, breezy vibe, and there’s gelato for pud.

Circus West, London, SW8 5BN; fiume-restaurant.co.uk

Le Pont de la Tour

This icon of 1990s Cool Britannia was re-imagined a couple of years ago in the art deco sheen of the SS Normandie, but it’s what’s outside that’s the most dazzling part of the set-up: a riverside terrace where the namesake Tower Bridge raises its gangplanks towards you as if saluting your good fortune for eating in such a quintessentially summery spot.

The menu’s French accent has been toned down to something more cross-Channel (Cornish skate wing, Aquitaine chicken, Lancashire pork collar) and the serious wine list – two pages of fizz, three of Burgundy – is tailor made to lubricate the sense of celebration at being reminded how pretty London can be. If it’s not nice enough to sit outside, Pont’s neighbouring Bar & Grill has a fun weekend brunch.       

36D Shad Thames, London, SE1 2YE; lepontdelatour.co.uk

London Shell Company

Cruising the canal might not sound like the most romantic proposal but diners in the mood for love will take to this converted barge like a duck to water. From its mooring by Paddington Station, the Prince Regent sets sail on a four-hour candlelit cruise, puttering from Little Venice to Camden Lock and back again, with Regent’s Park as a backdrop and birds on the wing for company.

Daily changing, five-course menus of accomplished, flavour-led cooking are miraculously knocked up in a tiny galley kitchen and might include smoked cod’s roe with nigella salt and sour dough, or fillet of hake with peas, girolles and lardo.

Co-owner Harry Lobek is a former sommelier at Pollen Street Social and his idiosyncratic wine list (including a brace of British sparkling magnums) will leave you feeling like you’re still walking on water when you’re back on dry land.

Sheldon Square, London, W2 6PY; londonshellco.com

The Narrow

There’s an almost seaside feel to this Gordon Ramsay restaurant perched on a bend of the river at Limehouse that feels more like the Thames Estuary than central London. The nautical theme is picked up inside the Grade II-listed dockmaster’s house with whitewashed walls and stripped woods.

Formerly Ramsay’s flagship boozer, these days The Narrow is a proper restaurant, but there’s still a touch of gastropub to a menu touting the likes of chicken Caesar salad, sea bream with cider cream sauce, and apple and pear crumble, served either in the light and bright dining room or on the riverside terrace. Kids eat free, so spend your saved pennies by pimping your drinking to a bottle of Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino.   

44 Narrow Street, London, E14 8DP; gordonramsayrestaurants.com

Oxo Tower Restaurant

The posher of the two halves at Oxo has the same stunning skyline views of St Paul’s Cathedral as the brasserie but with a more dressed-up gloss: properly-set tables with sparkling napery and fresh flowers sit on a grassed-over balcony terrace and inside there are shiny leather bucket chairs.

A tasting menu allows you to try more of the dishes, in miniature – Dorset crab with apple jelly and crab ketchup, lamb hot pot with lemon quinoa and buttermilk gel – while there’s good vegetarian and vegan choice and an elegant afternoon tea on a menu as fashion-conscious as you’d expect from a restaurant owned by Harvey Nichols.

Oxo Tower, Barge House Street, London, SE1 9PH; harveynichols.com

Restaurant at The Petersham

The view to the Thames from this hotel dining room on the edge of Petersham Meadows is as pretty – and pretty much the same – as when JMW Turner painted his watercolour Richmond Hill in the 1820s. This Italianate folly, complete with frescoes swooping over a Portland stone staircase, was built 40 years later and is now furnished in soft blues and greys to evoke the mists rising from the river.

Classily contemporary starters are followed by classic British mains: scallop and crab with cucumber and yoghurt espuma, then fillet of beef with braised shallot and port jus - while 1970s throwbacks such as prawn cocktail and peach Melba are a knowing wink to the hotel’s 40th anniversary under family ownership.

Nightingale Lane, Richmond-upon-Thames, TW10 6UZ; www.petershamhotel.co.uk

Rick Stein Barnes

What was The Depot has been re-born as the first London branch of Rick Stein’s seafood brasserie. But before you turn your nose up at eating in a chain, know that I bumped into Barnes resident Heston Blumenthal here, and if’s good enough for Heston to adopt as his lunchtime local, it merits attention even if you don’t live in SW14.

Globally inspired dishes include Singapore chilli crab, Indonesian seafood curry and whole Cornish lobster, served up against a leafy river view of the Thames lapping beneath huge picture windows. If eating outside is more important than being by the river, there’s a suntrap courtyard at the front – though you’ll miss the spectacular waterside sunsets.  

Tideway Yard, Mortlake High Street, London, SW14 8SN; rickstein.com

The River Café

You’ll need to be sitting outside to be aware of the Thames flowing beyond The River Café’s kitchen garden – but on a sunny day, there’s nowhere nicer to be in London than this legendary restaurant’s courtyard, as summery a slice of la dolce vita as the kitchen’s famous lemon tart.

Dine among containers of Italian salad leaves and homegrown veg that make it on to the menu in dishes such as sea bass carpaccio with marigold tomatoes, golden oregano and chilli, or poached veal shin with fresh horseradish, Swiss chard and peas. Walk it all off with a toddle along the neighbouring Thames path afterwards.

Thames Wharf, Rainville Road, London, W6 9HA; rivercafe.co.uk

Sea Containers

The Tom Dixon-designed interiors at the Mondrian London hotel might be pretty eye-catching but who wouldn’t rather be outside on the riverside terrace of its Sea Containers restaurant with its view over Blackfriars Bridge to the dome of St Paul’s beyond? This year’s terrace celebrates the 50th anniversary of Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé champagne: cue a pastel-pink colour scheme and a bower of summertime flowers.

A menu of ethically and sustainably sourced dishes matched to Laurent-Perrier rosé should leave you feeling in the pink: follow peach and goat’s cheese Melba and cured ham with a whole baked lobster with Parmesan, lemon and mustard sauce. Weekend brunch meanwhile includes bottomless Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée for ￡59 per person.

20 Upper Ground, London, SE1 9PD; seacontainersrestaurant.com

The Summerhouse

While Little Venice might not live up to its evocative name this floating terrace, a little upstream on the Grand Union Canal, does offer a unique taste of continental dining in London, with cyclists and dog walkers pootling along the towpath opposite and narrowboats chugging past a dining room open to the elements in good weather.

Menus play it safe for a crowd of well-heeled Maida Vale locals out for enjoyment rather than excitement – salmon and haddock fishcakes, fillet steak with chips – while there’s nothing hard to pronounce on the Euro/Aussie wine list. Weekend brunches when the sun shines are an absolute delight.   

60 Blomfield Road, London, W9 2PA; thesummerhouse.co.uk

The Waterside Inn

Ok, it’s not in London, but this legendary three-star restaurant on the banks of the Thames at Bray is, as the Michelin guide says, worth a special journey (and you can stay overnight, too). French windows open on to a terrace where drinks and coffee are served, the water laps beyond while the wind rustles in the willows, and a jetty serves as the most spectacular way to arrive at a restaurant if you can find someone to row you here.

Michel Roux’s son Alain heads the kitchen these days and his classical French cooking matches the exquisite ease of the setting, from turbot cooked à la meunière with croutons and grape emulsion to the signature dish of spit-roasted Challandais duck served tableside. Puddings are a highlight (Roux is a Master Patissier) and the wine list exclusively French; the size of the bill, alas, is the price one must pay for such a supreme taste of gracious living.    

Ferry Road, Bray, Berkshire, SL6 2AT; waterside-inn.co.uk

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