Where to eat in Paddington
13 places
Planning a whole day here? Read the Paddington area guide.
Al Waha
£££The most-cited Lebanese room in London across these sources - white walls, hanging foliage and mezze taken seriously rather than served as filler.
Ayllu
£££Jade-green walls with a water-lily motif, cushioned booths and low light, in the canalside office estate behind Paddington station — an unlikely address for a kitchen doing this much with raw fish.
Beany Green Little Venice
££Australian brunch on the towpath with a big canal-side terrace, and the easiest good breakfast within walking distance of Paddington station.
Halepi
££A family-owned Greek-Cypriot taverna north of Hyde Park, where the owner tends a custom-built charcoal grill by the door, much as it has been since the 1960s.
Hobson's Fish & Chips
££Double-fried chips and a light batter across three sites - Porchester Road, St Anne's Court in Soho and Villiers Street off the Strand. The family ran Oliver's in Belsize Park before taking on the Bayswater shop.
Kateh
££A Michelin Bib Gourmand Persian kitchen in a small townhouse off Warwick Avenue, hung with Persian art and run more like a home than a restaurant.
Market Halls Paddington
££The newest of the four, inside Paddington station - which makes it the one genuinely good option for a meal before a train to the west or the Heathrow Express.
Nipa Thai
£££One of the first Thai restaurants in London to charge what the French and Italian rooms charged - plush, polished, and still doing it.
Pearl Liang
£££An unexpectedly large basement dining room behind Paddington station, routinely rated above the Chinatown equivalents by people who eat a lot of Cantonese food.
Five set menus, built for a table that wants to share rather than order individually.
Santa Maria
££A small Ealing pizzeria that built its reputation on strict Neapolitan method before the current wave arrived.
The Cheese Barge
££A 96-foot double-decker barge moored on the canal at Paddington Basin, serving British cheese in small plates and a set menu - genuinely eating on the water rather than beside it.
Named in a YouTube travel-guide review of Paddington's hidden spots. Book ahead - a moored barge has fixed, limited covers.
The Summerhouse
£££A New England-looking clapboard room right at the water's edge, doing seafood and fish and chips with the canal a metre from the table.
The Waterway
£££One of the largest canal-side terraces in London, right on the water at Little Venice, and the first thing in the area to fill up on a warm weekend.