Frieze Guide 2026: London Edition
Go And See
09 October 2026
Our Frieze Week guide returns with new restaurants, exhibitions and welcome escapes from the week’s crowds — featuring recommendations from Silka Rittson Thomas, Alison Ross Green, Leonie Mir and Métier creative director Melissa Morris. Discover the places on their radar — and pick up the complete pocket guide at our Mayfair flagship.
WEST
Food & Drink
Nakimushi
A new Notting Hill restaurant from the team behind Dorian and Eel Sushi. Chefs Robin Kosuge and Yuji Shimokawa Kelly bring together their respective specialties of ramen and Japanese home-style cooking, with a menu that moves from hamachi and red prawn gyoza to deeply satisfying noodles.
7 Kensington Mall, London W8 4EB
The Park
With its warm wood panelling, butterscotch leather booths and sweeping views over Kensington Gardens, The Park channels the grand dining rooms of mid-century Manhattan. Jeremy King’s Queensway restaurant serves Italian-American classics from breakfast through dinner — with lobster rolls, chicken Milanese and extravagant ice cream sundaes among the highlights.
2 Queensway, London W2 3RX
The Talli Queen
For his first restaurant, former River Cafe chef Avinash Shashidhara has taken over a 120-year-old Shepherd’s Bush pub. Inspired by the drinking spots of his native Bangalore,The Talli Queen serves bold, spice-forward dishes that go well with a pint — like Coorgi pork, crab sukka, seekh kebabs and spicy egg puffs.
412 Uxbridge Rd, London W12 0NR
Culture
Incubator
A small but influential fixture on Chiltern Street, Angelica Jopling’s Incubator is one to watch for emerging talent. Opening just ahead of Frieze Week is a solo exhibition by Ethiopian artist Kirubel Mandefro, on view through November 1.
2 Chiltern St, London W1U 7PR
No.9 Cork Street
Frieze’s year-round Mayfair gallery space celebrates its fifth anniversary with two exhibitions opening just ahead of Frieze Week. Act Natural marks New York painter Robin F. Williams’s first UK solo presentation, while No History of Shapes brings together new embroidery and mosaic works by Palestinian-American artist Jordan Nassar
9 Cork St, London W1S 3LL
Wellness
Love Supreme
When Frieze fatigue sets in, head west to Love Supreme Projects. The joyful, community-minded studio offers a restorative change of pace with yoga, meditation, breathwork, chanting and sound sessions — and a couple hours away from the art-world crowds.
92 Golborne Road, London, W10 5PS
NORTH
Food & Drink
Cloudstreet
Cloudstreet just opened at the end of summer in a tiny former Victorian stable in Stoke Newington. It’s a charmingly casual spot with a daily-changing menu that’s produce-led and Italian-leaning, with most of the seating spilling out onto the cobbled courtyard.
1 Bouverie Rd, London N16 0AH
Bar Blondie
Southern European wine bar culture meets spaghetti Western cool at Bar Blondie, a new spot from restaurateur Elliot Milne. Located in a converted stable on Lonsdale Road, the menu moves from oysters and small plates to house-made pasta, backed by a serious wine list and a rotating programme of DJs and live music.
19-21 Lonsdale Rd, London NW6 6RA
Jin Kichie
Just below Hampstead Heath, Jin Kichi has been drawing loyal regulars for decades. Settle in at the counter overlooking the charcoal grill for sizzling yakitori, sushi and sashimi, noodles and sake — all served in a warm, intimate dining room that feels pleasantly removed from the rest of London.
73 Heath St, London NW3 6UG
Culture
Kenwood House
Escape the bustle of Frieze with a walk across Hampstead Heath to Kenwood House. The grand Georgian villa houses an exceptional collection of Old Masters — including works by Vermeer, Gainsborough and Rembrandt’s celebrated Self-Portrait with Two Circles — all surrounded by 112 acres of landscaped parkland.
3 Hampstead Ln, London NW3 7JR
Regent’s Park Gallery
A stone’s throw from Regent’s Park, this independent Primrose Hill gallery champions contemporary artists with a particular affinity for the natural world. Its intimate exhibitions often take inspiration from the surrounding landscape.
17 Princess Rd, London NW1 8JR
CENTRAL WEST
Food & Drink
Café Clement
Located inside Nick Jones’s St. Clement hotel, Café Clement is one of London’s buzziest new restaurants. Helmed by former River Café chef Danny Bohan, the menu leans into French and Italian classics — best enjoyed over a long lunch on the south-facing terrace, preferably with a Clementini in hand.
180, The Thames, St. Clement, 12 Temple Pl, London WC2R 2NF
Bar Finch
This new Mayfair fixture from Charles Finch takes its cues from the classic bars of Rome and Venice, with a dose of old-school transatlantic glamour. The menu is equally timeless — steak frites, roast chicken, croque monsieur and a particularly good hamburger.
31 Cork St, London W1S 3NQ
Cometa
From the team behind Carousel, Cometa brings a Mexican perspective to the best of British seafood. The Fitzrovia restaurant leans into bright, bold flavours across dishes like prawn ceviche with burnt mandarin and ginger, crab chilpachole rice and grilled monkfish with chintextle and smoked butter.
21 Charlotte Street, London W1T 1RW
Culture
National Portrait Gallery
The National Portrait Gallery welcomes two new exhibitions just ahead of Frieze Week. Tim Walker’s Fairyland: Love and Legends explores queer identity, community and love through the British photographer’s fantastical portraits, while a new Artist Focus presents intimate self-portraits by British-American painter Issy Wood.
St. Martin's Pl, London WC2H 0HE
The Courtauld Gallery
The Courtauld is home to an exceptional collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art — alongside an increasingly ambitious contemporary programme. For Frieze Week, don’t miss Salman Toor: Someone Like You, the New York-based painter’s first solo exhibition in Europe, bringing together intimate scenes of friendship, love, solitude and belonging alongside a selection of his drawings.
Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN
CENTRAL EAST
Food & Drink
The Horses
The latest opening from the team behind The Pelican, The Hero and The Hart, The Horses a new-school British pub with an old-school soul. Stop in for a pint downstairs or head upstairs to the oyster bar and dining rooms, where the menu puts British seafood front and centre — from oysters and monkfish to simply grilled Dover sole.
26-28 Ray St, London EC1R 3DJ
Wild Izakaya
Wild Izakaya brings the lively, convivial spirit of Japanese dining to central London, with an open kitchen and counter seats offering a front-row view of the action. The expansive menu runs from pristine sushi and sashimi to karaage, wagyu skewers and crispy rice, backed by a serious sake list.
33 Old Jewry, London EC2V 8EY
Culture
The Barbican
A Brutalist landmark and one of London’s essential cultural institutions, the Barbican opens Robert Ryman: The Real Thing just in time for Frieze Week. The major survey looks beyond the American artist’s radical exploration of white paint to reveal his lifelong experimentation with material, surface and light.
Silk St, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DS
SOUTH
Food & Drink
Wildflowers
Wildflowers serves generous, Mediterranean-inspired cooking from chef Aaron Potter. Pull up a seat by the open kitchen for seasonal sharing plates — excellent crudos, house-made focaccia, seafood and grilled meats — then head upstairs to Bar Flor for a final glass of wine.
Newsons Yard, 57 Pimlico Road SW1W 8NE
Daquise
A South Kensington institution since 1947, Daquise feels wonderfully untouched by time. Settle into its chandelier-hung dining room for old-school Polish cooking — borscht ladled tableside, pierogi, schnitzel and plenty of vodka — served with a side of Cold War history (the restaurant’s storied past involves spies, exiled politicians and more than a few famous regulars).
20 Thurloe St, South Kensington, London SW7 2LT
Oudh 1722
For his first London restaurant, two-Michelin-starred chef Aktar Islam looks to the royal kitchens of 18th-century Lucknow. Oudh 1722 brings the slow-cooked traditions of Awadhi cuisine to a Victorian townhouse in Borough, with melting kebabs, aromatic curries and an oxtail dum biryani worth ordering for the table.
66 Union St, London SE1 1TD
Culture
Tate Modern
No Frieze Week itinerary is complete without a stop at the Tate Modern. This autumn brings Frida: The Making of an Icon, exploring how Frida Kahlo became one of the most recognisable artists of the 20th century, alongside a major exhibition devoted to the radical, deeply personal work of Cuban-American artist Ana Mendieta. Also opening on the first day of Frieze – Light and Magic: The Birth of Art Photography traces the rise of Pictorialism and photography’s emergence as an art form.
Bankside, London SE1 9TG
The Garden Museum
Set inside a medieval church, the Garden Museum looks at gardens as places of creativity, culture and imagination. Just ahead of Frieze Week, the museum opens Sabine Moritz: Lie Down in Green Pastures, the German artist’s first UK museum exhibition, alongside Threads of Ascent, three monumental tapestries by Clare Woods inspired by climbing plants.
5 Lambeth Palace Rd, London SE1 7LB
EAST
Culture
Ornella
The team behind Lupa heads north for Ornella, a new Milanese restaurant on a sunny corner in Hackney –– serving vitello tonnato, saffron risotto, handmade pasta and cotoletta in a warm, wood-panelled dining room.
51 Wilton Way, London E8 1BG
Cycene
Hidden inside Shoreditch’s Blue Mountain School, this Michelin-starred restaurant offers one of London’s most transportive tasting menus. The evening unfolds across multiple rooms — from broth and house-made sourdough at the bar to candlelit courses in the dining room, built around impeccably sourced British produce, fermentation, and quietly inventive cooking.
9 Chance St, London E2 7JB
Tiella
Chef Dara Klein brings the warmth of an Italian trattoria to a former Victorian pub with Tiella, her first permanent restaurant. Drawing on her Pugliese heritage and upbringing in Emilia-Romagna, the menu celebrates regional Italian cooking with handmade pasta, slow braises and family recipes — including her mother Maria Pia’s polpette.
109 Columbia Rd, London E2 7RL
Vesper
Bright and airy by day, candlelit by night, chef Jackson Boxer’s latest opening serves playful takes on modern European cooking — from salt-and-vinegar crisps with smoked onion and trout roe to chicken-liver agnolotti and a much-coveted off-menu burger.
8-10 Exmouth Market, London EC1R 4QA
Culture
V&A East Storehouse
Part museum, part working archive, V&A East Storehouse offers an unprecedented look behind the scenes of one of the world’s great collections. Wander among more than half a million objects in open storage, or book ahead to see a specific piece up close through its “Order an Object” service. For Frieze Week, don’t miss the newly opened David Bowie Centre, the permanent home of the artist’s extraordinary archive.
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, East Storehouse, V&A, Parkes St, London E20 3AX
Photo Credits: The Nudge - Rebecca Dickson | Nakimushi.co.uk | theparkrestaurant.com | thetalliqueen.co.uk | incubatorart.com | frieze.com | lovesupremeprojects.com | cloudstreet.london | barblondie.co.uk | jinkichi.com | engligh-heritage.org.uk | regentsparkgallery.com | stclement.co.uk | barfinch.com | cometa.restaurant | npg.org.uk | courtauld.ac.uk | thehorses_ec1 | wildizakaya.co.uk | barbican.org.uk | daquise.co.uk | oudh1722.com | tate.org.uk | gardenmuseum.org.uk | ornella.restaurant | bluemountain.school | tiella.co.uk | vesper.restaurant | vam.ac.uk