Plekken in London

London's first authentic Antep baklavacı since 1993 — Murat Üstünsürmeli's Grand Parade pastry house

The Cut's no-bookings gastropub — what Waterloo eats before the National Theatre

Dean Street's no-music, no-mobiles holdout — the Soho the audience first read about in the 80s

Erchen Chang and the Chung siblings' original Lexington Street bun counter — Bib Gourmand Taiwanese, queue-only on the corner

Boundary Street's Bombay Irani café — the bacon naan roll Londoners queue for at breakfast

Green Lanes' top-edged Southeastern Anatolian ocakbaşı — kuzu pirzola the Anatolian standard

Coal Drops Yard sit-down taqueria — al pastor on a vertical spit, the rebranded Casa Pastor

The Yavuz family's Green Lanes flagship since 1999 — the polished mainstream of London Turkish

Bermondsey Street's standing-room Spanish bar since 2011 — José Pizarro's pintxos counter

Ben Chapman's Brewer Street counter — Thai grill cooking over wood and clay, no reservations, the Bib Gourmand argument

Pistachio-green Soho deli since 1944 — pasta as Italian commute

Greek Street's 1871 patisserie — London's oldest French pastry shop, still hand-laminated upstairs

The original Ali Dirik ocakbaşı on Arcola Street since 1990 — BYOB, walk-in only, untouched

Sam and Sam Clark's tapas-bar sister to Moro — eight metres along the same row, the small-plate version of the same kitchen.

The fresh-pasta queue London actually accepts — Shoreditch sister of the Borough original

Michael and Charlotte Sager-Wildeve's Hackney Road wine bar — the East London natural-wine reference since 2013