Easter is around the corner, which means London is once again in full seasonal meltdown: hot cross buns everywhere, lamb on every menu, chocolate eggs dressed up like Fabergé, and all of us pretending a bank holiday lunch is not just an extremely elegant way to lose the rest of the day. It is shaping up to be an egg-cellent Easter weekend. Horrendous. I’m sorry. I hated typing it almost as much as you hated reading it.
Still, this is not the weekend for restraint. This is the weekend for booking the roast, ordering dessert you do not need, saying yes to the second cocktail and pretending a bunny-shaped bun counts as cultural enrichment. The good news is London has made it very easy to spiral beautifully. From polished afternoon tea and riverside lunches to absurdly good bakes, a gloriously unhinged hot cross bun and one very seductive Latin American detour, here is where to spend Easter eating like the long weekend depends on it.
The Twenty Two
The Twenty Two is doing Easter the Mayfair way, which means a signature Sunday Roast in very handsome surroundings and the sort of menu that encourages over-ordering with confidence. Expect Mount Grace farm lamb, roast sirloin of beef, Cornish Red Chicken and Beef Wellington, plus all the proper trimmings. Deeply civilised on paper, though I would still advise elasticated waistbands where possible.
thetwentytwo.com
MR PORTER
If Easter lunch in Mayfair sounds better with a bit more gloss and a lot more drama, MR PORTER is leaning into the long weekend with its Sunday Roast Feast, elevated for the occasion with Lamb Tomahawk or Roasted Lamb Loin, finished with mint salsa verde and a rich, velvety gravy. The trimmings are all present and correct, but the real show-off is dessert: Chocolate Explosion, a sculpted creation that opens up in a cloud of nitrogen to reveal dark chocolate mousse, poppy seed cake, lemon ganache macarons and almond white chocolate rocks. Completely excessive. Completely correct.
mrportersteakhouse.com
Langan’s
For those who want Easter Sunday to look classic but still feel fun, Langan’s has the polish and the playfulness. The much-loved Mayfair institution is putting its celebrated Sunday roast front and centre, including a 12-hour braised shoulder of lamb for sharing, while upstairs, children can decorate chocolate eggs and meet an assortment of animals from rabbits to tortoises. Which is either charming or completely surreal, depending on how many Bloody Marys you have had.
langansbrasserie.com
Novikov
If Easter with children in tow sounds less relaxing than people claim, Novikov has at least thought of a distraction. On Sunday 5 April, families visiting for lunch can take advantage of a complimentary egg-painting session for younger guests, while the grown-ups focus on the more pressing matter of lunch in Mayfair. There is also a seasonal dessert, The Rocher’s Treat, a milk chocolate mousse egg with toasted hazelnut crunch inside an almond chocolate shell, available across Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 April. Sweet, polished and mercifully capable of keeping everyone occupied.
novikovrestaurant.co.uk
Brasserie Angelica
For those who would rather swerve tradition entirely, Brasserie Angelica is offering lobster flambéed with schnapps and dill butter in the Josper, served over chips and paired with Charles Heidsieck Champagne. Which is not remotely what the Easter Bunny died for, but I support it fully. If your approach to the bank holiday is less lamb and more luxury with butter involved, this is your moment.
brasserieangelica.com
Amazónico
If a classic roast feels a little too predictable, Amazónico is doing a limited-edition Easter Asado across the long weekend, with theatrical tableside carving, slow-roasted meats, live Latin bands and the sort of lounge atmosphere that suggests your Easter plans may end later than expected. Dishes include Costilla Huacatay, Chilean seabass anticucho and Brazilian-inspired espetada, with an Easter-only Cumbaru dessert for good measure. A full sensory detour, and a very good one.
amazonicorestaurant.com
Mercer Roof Terrace
For those who like their Easter plans with a skyline and a slight sense of superiority, Mercer Roof Terrace is a very good shout. Perched above the City at Vintry & Mercer, it is leaning into spring with a refreshed menu built around the season’s better ideas, including roasted chalk stream trout with English asparagus and wild garlic, Salt Marsh spring lamb rump, and rhubarb-led desserts. Easter lunch, but with fresh air, rooftops and far better views than your own dining table.
vintryandmercer.com
The Trafalgar, King’s Road
If your ideal Easter still involves a proper roast, just with better interiors and no family member asking when you’re getting engaged, The Trafalgar is a very strong shout. The line-up includes Blixes Farm slow-cooked pressed lamb, Irish Wagyu beef, Suffolk Red pork belly, garlic, sage and lemon chicken, plus sharing plates like chateaubriand for two and the magnificently overcommitted Ale Braised Thor’s Hammer. There is also live piano, which somehow makes gluttony feel tasteful.
thetrafalgarchelsea.com
Pivot
Likewise, if your Easter ideal involves a roast that is doing THE absolute most, Pivot Bar & Bistro has understood the brief. Tucked above Covent Garden with gorgeous piazza views, it is serving a Sharing Roast across the bank holiday weekend featuring half roast chicken, beef strip-loin and lamb shank, plus unlimited potatoes, hispi cabbage, cauliflower cheese, glazed carrots, gravy and Yorkshire puddings. Subtle it is not. Admirable, though? Very.
pivotbarandbistro.com
Milk Beach
For a more relaxed Easter lunch that still has good taste levels, Milk Beach brings a laid-back, Australian-leaning energy to the proceedings. This is the one for people who want to eat well without looking like they booked three weeks in advance and built a spreadsheet around it. Casual, cool, and exactly the kind of place that makes low effort look suspiciously well executed.
milkbeach.com
Lilibet’s
Lilibet’s adds a more playful note to the Easter dining line-up, which is frankly welcome after a certain volume of lamb and table linen. Stylish, current and a bit lighter on its feet, it works for anyone who wants the long weekend to feel fun rather than reverent. Not every Easter meal needs to be a solemn ceremony involving a carving board. Some can simply be a very good time.
lilibetsrestaurant.com
The Franklin
Tempted for something more refined than inhaling chocolate in bed? The Franklin is doing a botanical-inspired afternoon tea tied to Ruth Davis’ floral sculpture, Eden, in an Eggshell, with a charity dessert and cocktail supporting Elephant Family. It sounds chic, looks chic, and is exactly the sort of thing that makes you feel like a far more composed person than you actually are.
collezione.starhotels.com
Boxcar London
Now for the Easter item that really spoke to me on a personal level: Boxcar’s nduja hot cross bun. This chaos agent is layered with black garlic, Dolcelatte and nduja butter, and available from 23 March to 6 April at the Hyde Park and Marylebone bakeries. It sounds like someone looked at a traditional hot cross bun and thought, no, not enough drama. Correct.
boxcar.co.uk
La Maritxu
If your Easter priorities begin and end with pudding, La Maritxu has understood the assignment. Its limited-edition Basque Chocolate Cheesecake is landing across Connaught Street, Kingly Court and Greenwich from 23 March, and sounds rich enough to reset your entire personality. This is one of those desserts you buy to “share” and then suddenly become strangely territorial over.
lamaritxucheesecake.co.uk
Xi Home Dumplings Bay
Xi Home Dumplings Bay is doing a handmade Bunny Bao Bun filled with pork and fresh bamboo shoots, which is objectively adorable but, crucially, not in a way that makes me want to leave the room. It is available from 1 April to 31 May across Spitalfields, Covent Garden and Edgware Road and is exactly the sort of seasonal special that earns its keep by being both cute and actually worth eating. Rare.
wjxfoodculture.co.uk
Cocotte
If any meat belongs to spring, it is chicken. Cocotte does rotisserie birds, comfort and casual all-day dining very well, making it the more relaxed, family-friendly one in the mix. Less grand gesture, more deeply satisfying lunch that disappears faster than anyone expected because everyone kept picking.
mycocotte.uk
Sam’s Riverside and Sam’s Waterside
For an Easter lunch with a little more calm and a much better view than your own kitchen, Sam’s Riverside and Sam’s Waterside are both solid picks. Modern British cooking, waterside settings, weekend roast energy, all of it very easy to like. This is the one for people who want the long weekend to feel gently glamorous rather than aggressively festive.
samsriverside.co.uk | samswaterside
Floozie Cookies
If you are not here for restraint and would prefer your Easter in cookie form, Floozie Cookies has you covered with an Easter Cookie Box featuring Raspberry Hot Cross Bun cookies, Creme Egg cookies and Speckled Egg cookies. The Speckled Egg version is also available in Covent Garden until 6 April. It is a lot. Naturally, I want all of it.
flooziecookies.com
BAM Karaoke Box
And finally, for those who prefer their bank holiday with less table service and more public humiliation, BAM Karaoke Box is hosting a BAM Bingo Brunch on Sunday 4 April with brunch dishes, bottomless potato tots, free-flowing drinks, DJs, games and karaoke. This is less serene Easter elegance, more beautiful descent into chaos, which, depending on your friendship group, may be exactly right.
uk.bam-karaokebox.com
