Local favourite: the Pelican in Notting Hill
(Picture: Handout)Ikoyi, Rochelle Canteen, Trattoria Brutto and Manteca are presently among the most in-demand restaurants in London, at least according to booking platform Resy.
The platform assigns a “Notify List” to each restaurant, which users can sign up to: the notification then alerts diners if a table becomes free.
As such, the list – which only takes into account the previous 30 days of user activity – represents the restaurants with the most people on its notify list. The 10, which have been shared in no particular order, are:
- Bubala Soho
- Cafe Cecilia (read our review)
- Ikoyi
- Manteca (read our review)
- Rita’s (read our review)
- Rochelle Canteen (read our review)
- The Pelican (read our review)
- The Tamil Prince (read our review)
- Trattoria Brutto (read our review)
- Trullo
Given the list only account for the past month, it’s perhaps little surprise that the run down is dominated by a number of reasonably recent openings: middle eastern Bubala opened on Poland Street in April, while the Pelican and the Tamil Prince both are part of the recent wave of new gastropubs. Modern Italian Manteca moved to Shoreditch at the tail end of last year, when around the same time, American diner Rita’s opened in Soho. Max Rocha’s Cafe Cecilia, meanwhile, was the hit of late summer last year with its simple British cooking, alongside Russell Norman’s Florentine-style trattoria Brutto, which marked his return to restaurants after the collapse of Polpo.
Still, the set of 10 also says something about the enduring appeal of Islington Italian Trullo, which opened in 2010, as well as Margot Henderson and Melanie Arnold’s Rochelle Canteen, which this year celebrated its 18th birthday. Although two-Michelin starred Ikoyi is soon to move to 180 Strand, the West African-inspired was launched in 2017, when it was given a laudatory review from Fay Maschler.
