Ottolenghi

I came here for brunch twice during my trip to London. Food is fantastic. Make sure you try their cakes. Very attentive and prompt service with a lovely airconditioned dining room in the back.

best americano i had in london. food is reliably good. when you want something healthy and tasty.

Amazing spot for a variety of quick lunch options. The pastry window is beautiful and hard to walk past. Went for dinner it was good, but not remarkable in the same way the pastries are.

Very unique vegetarian dishes, beautiful cakes and desserts, overall healthy food.

Take home doesn't taste as good out of the box. I recommend sitting in and eating with a wine pairing. The decor goes well with the food. Modern and simple.

The wife and I have been doing quite the culinary tour during our Londin stay. One of our "have to" stops was Ottolenghi, especially since we have 2 of his cookbooks. Our visit was to the Islington location on Upper.

The restaurant is cute and intimate and so enticing to walk in with all the desserts on display in the front window. Per the reccomendation of the nice wait staff person, we shared 4 plates (which was plenty!) along with some lovely french white wine.

We started with the roasted aubergine (eggplant) which my wife loves. I'm not a huge fan of eggplant (the texture if you know what I mean) but I found it good enough with all the other elements to eat a decent size portion. Second up was the carmelized fennel with ricotta and that was excellent. Next the burrata with butternut squash, grapefruit and pumpkin seeds which was quite good. Lastly, the meat eater of the two (me) had the delicious pork belly with fermented vegetables. That was a great combination if tastes. The wine served was quite good and service was fine until we had to chase down the waiter to get our check. Definitely a good stop on our London food tour.

I stopped by for a late lunch one day and it was an ok meal. I ordered the beef with broccoli and aubergine. My boyfriend ordered beef with broccoli and potatoes.

To my surprise, our entire dish was prepared cold. Although this was not a problem, I realized cold meat did not taste too appealing. The potatoes were a bit bland and the aubergine's sauce was a bit too strong. My favorite part of the entire meal was the broccoli which was flavorful due to the garlic but would've probably tasted better if it were warm.

The interior of this place is quite aesthetic. Everything is white and clear which makes it a very modern looking and minimalistic restaurant. Service was friendly as well.

I'm bummed that I hadn't heard about Ottolenghi until now. My friends who were visiting from the US and avid fans of Yotam Ottolenghi insisted on coming here for dinner even though the only table we could reserve for 4 people on a weekend night was at 9:30PM.

Upon entering the restaurant, I saw a huge display of over-the-counter dishes including some cold meats, vegetarian plates and an extensive and beautifully displayed selection of desserts. I also noticed that the restaurant was still completely packed at this time of the night and more people were coming in for their late night reservations.

Shortly after we sat down, we were introduced to the menu by a very helpful and friendly staff and some complimentary bread. The menu changes from time to time and features no more than 20 items that come in tapas sized portions, half are served from the counter (aka cold plates), while hot dishes are made to serve from the kitchen. It was recommended that each person order 2-3 items.

The highlight of the night were the cold dishes we shared. In particular, the roasted aubergine with zhoug, amba, tahini, and pita croutons were the best I've ever tasted. The flavors were surprising, exotic and inventive. This was true for all of his other dishes. The mozzarella di bufala paired with peaches and grapefruit is also a must-try. A spoonful of the creamy cheese and grilled peaches had a well-balanced and unique medley of flavors.

For the hot dishes, the pork belly is a must. It was very well seasoned and the crackling pork skin was very crispy. The mango and pickled ginger that came with it helped to provide a balanced palette of flavors and cut the fattiness of the pork belly. We also got the goat which was delicious and not gamey at all. The medley of mushrooms was incredibly flavorful and exotic. I recommend getting more bread to dip in the mushroom sauce!

I was pretty full after the hot dishes but we knew we couldn't skip dessert. After going up to the display and inquiring about every dessert they had, we settled on an apple and raisin slice, lemon and poppy cheesecake and a plum meringue. My favorite was the apple and raisin slice. It's sweet, delicate and flavorful. I recommend adding the complimentary vanilla custard to this!

Overall, Ottolenghi's dishes were yummy, inventive and exceeded my expectations. It's definitely a must-try in London and I'll be looking into NOPI (Ottolenghi's higher end restaurant) after this!

This restaurant is beautiful but the setup is kind of odd. All of the food is set up buffet style near the front door. Wait staff runs back and forth, scooping cold salads (of which 70% of the menu is comprised) onto plates that then sit on a counter until they are picked up. This would be okay except that the customers standing in line spend time wandering over and hovering over all the food, dishes that are waiting, etc., and that doesn't seem so sanitary to me.

The seating is a mix of communal tables and smaller tables for 4-6 people. There is NO room for a stroller and people seem insistent on bringing them in, taking up tons of space. If you have kids and are reading this please just be conscious of your stroller, literally it's the worst thing in London, strollers everywhere.

The food is good but most of it is cold salads. Flavor is excellent. I had a mashed butter bean salad, roasted chicken and fennel with what I think was a goat cheese crema? It was all excellent in flavor but as you get to the tail end it's just... cold food. I would eat here again but next time I'll get a hot entree with two sides, because cold dishes that really feel meant to be hot just fall a bit short for me.

Wow! The food was so good. Went here for my birthday dinner and they treated me to delicious desserts! The food overall was amazing. Our favorite was the leeks. The dish was so tasty. We also had the artichokes and Hake. The artichokes were bursting with flavor. Great restaurant!

One of my main reasons for traveling to London was to try an Ottolenghi restaurant. Maybe I hyped it up too much, but my experience at the Islington location was subpar for the caliber of this place.

The restaurant itself was tastefully decorated and modern.

The staff were cold, impersonal, and seemed always rushed for the low number of patrons.

The food, although beautiful as ever, tasted bland and left a lot to be desired. Maybe it was a one-off but it steered me away from trying it for breakfast the next day.