Mob's Favourite Late-Night London Restaurants

We’ve all been there before: desperately Googling search terms like “late-night food near me?” or “where to eat after midnight nice??” or “how heavy is a pelican???” OK, maybe that last one is just me, but finding somewhere to eat when it’s late at night and you’ve had a few pints isn’t easy. It can actually be quite hard if you find yourself stuck in a no man's land that’s bereft of kebab shops and takeaways. And seeing as June July 19th has meant that everyone is finally allowed back into clubs again, letting university freshers loose on each other with all the sexual frustration of soldiers returning home from the war, that’s likely a predicament you’re going to find yourself in a lot more often.

If you do want to find somewhere to eat post-Fabric and pre-house party, though, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve rounded up some of our favourite late-night restaurants in London here at MOB Kitchen that will line your stomach and hopefully satisfy your midnight munchies. Because I’m brilliant.

Our only prerequisite for this guide was that the spot has to be open past midnight to classify as a “late-night” eatery. If you have to leave the party early to make sure you can get your döner, that’s no good. No, siree. These are the restaurants where you might find yourself bleary-eyed, stumbling, and parched when you enter but when you leave them you’ll be feeling right as rain. Or – at the very least – bleary-eyed, stumbling, and full.

Each of these restaurants are open past midnight on the weekend (some of them even during the week) and should be on your hit list if you’re looking to pre-empt the next day’s hangover by filling yourself with some hot and hearty plates of food. These are the best late-night restaurants in London, Mob. Enjoy.

There’s a strong spate of Maroush restaurants scattered across the city but your best bet for a late-night shawarma or manakeesh is their spot on Beauchamp Place. Head down here after you've had a big night catching up over several (read: too many) pints of lager and you should be able to successfully soak up all that excess alcohol by working your way through a selection of freshly baked Lebanese breads and pastries. Combine a mixed shawarma plate with a round of piping hot cheese sambouseks to prevent any feelings of grogginess the next day.

Open until: 4:30am Thu-Sat; 3am Sun-Wed

38 Beauchamp Place, SW3 1NU

Umut 2000 is a no-frills Turkish restaurant that specialises in charcoal-grilled kebabs and mezze. It’s a Dalston legend and a place you’ll rarely find empty no matter what time of the day (or night) it is. My personal late-night order when I’m late for my bus back home is the lamb liver wrap with a side of tarama. If I’m sitting in, though, my go-to is as many kebabs as I can get away with ordering before the waiting staff starts to raise their eyebrows at me. Umut 2000 is a wonderful place where the grill is the obvious star but the excellent salads play a vital supporting role.

Open until: 1am Wed-Fri; 2am Sat; 1am Sun; and 24 hours Tues

6 Crossway, N16 8HX

This Italian café is so notoriously well-known that it’s actually got its own Wikipedia page. The place has been running in some way, shape, or form since 1949 and it’s a prime spot for watching the madness of Soho unfold in front of you. Especially seeing as it doesn’t shut until 5am on most days. Order a strong coffee to sober yourself up (or a stiff amaro to... not) and feel smug that you’re no longer hanging out with the sort of people whose idea of a good night is getting someone to do a chunder dragon.

Open until: 5am Mon-Fri; 12am Sat-Sun

22 Frith Street, W1D 4RF

As the third site from the team behind Le Bab, this Old Street restaurant is an ode to the great British kebab shop that’s open pretty much all night. Kind of like a normal kebab shop, to be honest. Late-night specials like the pepperoni pork shawarma – that’s spicy soppressata, tomato pork jus, mozzarella fondue, basil, and parsley to you and me – are, however, anything but normal. The food at Le Bab is exactly what you’ll be wanting to line your stomach with after spending a few hours getting harrassed by skinny-jeaned city boys in Shoreditch. Top ingredients and top flavours prevail here.

Open until: 5am

231 Old Street, EC1V 9HE

Chinatown is full of excellent late-night eateries but my fave is Café TPT. It’s open until 1am every day and that consistency is replicated in the quality of the food on offer. Combining a fatty protein with a simple carbohydrate is often a surefire way to bring yourself back to life after one too many drinks and there’s no better union of those two macronutrients, in my opinion, than a plate of Café TPT’s crispy pork on rice. It’s just what the doctor ordered after a silly session on the tiles and goes down especially well with a sweet, life-giving slurp of bubble tea.

Open until: 1am

21 Wardour Street, W1D 6PN

Late-night eats aren’t all about greasy kebabs and vinegar-soaked chips. Sometimes the late-night restaurant you’re after is somewhere that’s classy and sophisticated. That somewhere is Decimo. Open until 1am on Friday and Saturday night, this sky-high restaurant serves superlative plates of Mexican-inflected cooking. Dishes include ruby red gambas rojo and one of the most decadent tortillas in the entire city. Take a lift up to the tenth floor of The Standard if you’ve got a taste for luxury and want to see your night off in suave fashion. Be warned though: this haunt is for high rollers. Don’t show up in your tatty rave shirt unless you’re super confident it’s on the right side of shabby chic.

Open until: 1am Fri-Sat; 12am Wed-Thur

10th Floor, 10 Argyle Street, WC1H 8EG

Best by name, best by nature; The Best Turkish Kebab lives up to its title and remains one of the best places to pick up a fat, charred, and adroitly garlicky kebab in an area that’s not exactly lacking for options. The team here have been supplying the local area with beautifully soft lamb kofte and perfectly charred chicken shish since the ‘80s. Even if you tend to get anxious about all your life decisions after you drink, take comfort in the fact that you certainly won’t be the first person to order a kebab here while you’re ten sheets to the wind, and you certainly won’t be the last.

Open until: 3am Fri-Sat; 2am Sun-Thur

125 Stoke Newington Road, N16 8BT

Pizza and pasta are two of my favourite things to eat when I’m sober. Which, coincidentally, means they’re also two of my favourite things to eat when I’m drunk as well. Stumble into Martello Hall after hours and you can find an ample selection of both of those Italian classics. The ‘Rock Star Rigatoni’ is a belter of a dish packed out with burrata, balsamic roast tomatoes, spinach, pine nuts, rocket pesto, lemon zest, and parmesan crisps that’ll add some pep back in your step. So, too, will a ‘London Field’ pizza topped with meatballs, coppa, taleggio, gremolata, and oregano. Eat well and maybe – just maybe – grab a Negroni if you’re feeling up for it.

Open until: 3am Thur-Fri; 11pm Sat-Sun; 12am Mon-Tues; 2am Wed

Martello Hall, 137 Mare Street, E8 3RH

If you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can’t stop you, then you become something else entirely: a legend. Beigel Bake has been committed to being open all hours since the family-run bakery was first established back in 1974, and it’s a dedication to baking traditional beigels (filled with everything from salt beef with nose-singeing mustard to chopped herring) that has made it such an enduring icon. The salt beef is probably the most well-known order but the move to make – for my money, at least – is getting a cream cheese and smoked salmon beigel. It’s the cheaper option, for one, and when it’s dark out and you’re looking for something comforting and filling to join you on the night bus, there’s nothing better in my mind than the duet of smooth creamy cheese with the subtle smoke and fishiness of salmon.

Open until: Open 24 hours

159 Brick Lane, E1 6SB

MEATliquor is known for its loud music and loud burgers and the Margaret Street outlet of this fast-casual franchise is a spot you should definitely hit up if you’re looking for somewhere to continue the party and grab a tasty bite to eat. The beers arrive cold and the burgers and fries arrive hot. Order an ice-cold IPA along with Meatliquor’s trademarked Dead Hippie™ burger for a how-to lesson in late-night eating. The mustard-fried patties are really something else.

Open until: 3am

37-38 Margaret Street, W1G 0JF

Green Lanes is a wonderful place to find yourself hungry at night. Many of the area’s excellent Turkish restaurants and kebab shops are open till late but the one that we here at MOB Kitchen really think you should be patronising is Gökyüzü. The lamahcun are crisp and perfect; the kleftiko and mashed potatoes will resuscitate even the most horizontal customer; and the kuşbaşılı pide is a picture-perfect boat of bread filled with diced lamb, molten mozzarella cheese, tomato, and peppers. It’s hard to go wrong with most of the menu but order any of those classics and you’ll realise why we rate Gökyüzü as one of the best late-night restaurants in London.

Open until: 2am

26-28 Grand Parade, Green Lanes, Harringay Ladder, N4 1LG

OK, yes, I’ll admit that this humble caff by Billingsgate Fish Market isn’t designed to be visited by people who have been up all night (it’s more of an early morning breakfast spot aimed at the local market vendors) but it’s open from 3am till 10am. Which means it’s more than fair game for a bit of post-club munch. The hero dish is the scallop and bacon roll and, honestly, that’s exactly what you should be ordering. It’s a classic for a reason – the smooth taste of the scallop and the greasy salt of the bacon working in tandem to help soothe your head and lull you gently into a good night’s kip.

Open until: 10am Mon-Sat

Billingsgate Market, Trafalgar Way, E14 5ST