Eat your way around Covent Garden

The quickest way to a Londoner’s heart? Definitely cocktails for breakfast. The capital soon embraced this polished New York import when it arrived on our shores in 2013.

You’ll feel virtuous just looking at the menu at this small, open-fronted breakfast spot, tucked away in hip Neal’s Yard. There are a few savoury lunch options on offer, but the mainstay is breakfast; bircher muesli or perfect porridge, topped with banana and cacao nibs.

This intimate Neal’s Yard kitchen has pedigree, as little sister to Soho’s feted Palomar. Its culinary influences stretch from Israel into North Africa and the Med, and the pay-off is truly delicious.

Culinary wunderkind Ollie Dabbous’s new venture pulls out the stops with an accomplished seasonal menu, spot-on service and atmosphere galore. If you think you hate hotel restaurants, that’s because you haven’t spent an evening here devouring slow-cooked Saddleback pork and confit Jersey royals.

Gregory Marchand’s Parisian bistro was an instant hit when it opened in 2009, and his first London outpost has matched that success. It’s all in the chic but inviting interior, daily changing menu and imaginative flavour combinations; for the ultimate indulgence, go for the tasting menu.