Like checking the bed linen in your favourite hotel, if you’re looking for a good kitchen knife, a decent piece of pottery or a textile that will actually last, it’s worth looking at what the best restaurants are using. The smartest have spent years figuring out what works, and have access to a pool of designers and makers that most of us don’t. Thankfully, many of these restaurants now sell their own crockery, candles and cookware – from the foodie equivalent of a Daunt Books tote bag to a statement brass pepper mill – that we’d happily bring home.
Wild by Tart, Belgravia
Owners of Belgravia restaurant Wild by Tart, Lucy Carr-Ellison and Jemima Jones, have great taste. The duo, with a background in events catering, had already published a cookbook by the time they opened Wild by Tart in 2019. Their taste extends to a beautifully curated shop in the converted former power station space, where enamel splatterware and linen aprons sit side by side with striped candles and clover-covered matchboxes. Their essentials range is particularly good, with well-priced ladles, colanders and white enamel butter dishes. For something smarter, the tableware collection Under the Sun is made in a family-run Mallorcan workshop discovered by the pair on holiday, with a bird-in-flight motif drawn by Lucy and Jemima themselves.
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Pophams Home, Islington and Hackney
Artisan bakery Pophams is always worth a pit stop for a honey-and-smoked-salt bun. But head to the Islington or London Fields sites and it’s the neighbouring home stores you’ll want to stick around in. The considered collection extends to chequered hot-water cosies and gorgeous block-printed baby quilts, but the kitchen corner curates a particularly strong gang of British makers (as well as international heroes, including Sabre’s tomato knives). There are gas-fired berry bowls by Ben Sutton, a North-East London-based ceramicist, that come with a handy tray to catch drips. Delicate porcelain egg cups by Sussex-based Maya Hughes have been thrown in a way that reflects the swirling movement of her potter’s wheel, and small-batch, hand-carved walnut coffee scoops by Selwyn House ensure every part of the tree is used.
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River Café, Hammersmith
One of London’s best-known restaurants, and for good reason. There are few lovelier places to be on a sunny day than one of the outdoor tables here, feasting on piles of crispy courgette fritti and Roman-style artichoke. These days it’s easier (and significantly cheaper) to book a table at the neighbouring River Café Café. But either way, don’t skip the shop at the latter, filled with colour-pop linen napkins in a variety of shades, with names such as ‘cloud’ and ‘cornflower’, and design pieces including a David Chipperfield × Alessi coffee maker. Each year, the restaurant’s chefs travel to Tuscany to source, test and taste the new season’s olive oil, and a bottle with a signature bright River Café illustration will always make a winning present.
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Ottolenghi, various locations
Yotam Ottolenghi’s delis are good places to pick up jars of some of the harder-to-find spices listed in the Israeli-British chef’s recipe books. But at his central London restaurants – Nopi and Rovi – there is also an edit of the playful tableware designed by his friend Ivo Bisignano. The sunny-yellow salad bowl with red stripe detail is hard to resist, while the 100% linen napkins embroidered with Georgie Morley’s lemon and pomegranate illustrations make a sweet set. Also available to buy online, in collaboration with knife-makers Allday, who use empty containers (in this case, old tahini, gochujang and yoghurt tubs) to make their handles, is a satisfying red-and-white marbled handle reminiscent of Ottolenghi’s famous raspberry-dusted meringues.
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Poon’s, Somerset House
Amy Poon’s parents were responsible for the first Michelin star awarded to a Chinese restaurant in the UK with their iconic Poon’s in Covent Garden. After the restaurant closed, Amy’s pop-ups became a hot ticket for in-the-know Londoners, and in 2022 she launched a cult range of sauces. Now, she has a restaurant inside Somerset House and the prettily illustrated jars (WO Sauce, Soy Bean Doubanjiang, Everything Everywhere Sauce) line the shelves alongside limited-edition dipping dishes, using themes from the sauce labels in collaboration with Hong Kong-based porcelain factory Yuet Tung. The online shop also sells fun illustrated tea towels and a traditional Chinese claypot.
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St. JOHN, various locations
Opened in 1994 by Fergus Henderson in a former smokehouse in Clerkenwell, this restaurant is an institution of the British nose-to-tail movement. Today, it continues to serve unpretentious plates of Welsh rarebit, roasted bone marrow, and pheasant pie, as well as inspiring a new generation of chefs. Hence the popularity of its signature pig – spotted on tote bags and sweatshirts all over East London. Better still, though, go online and nab one of their cotton bread bags designed to keep loaves fresher for significantly longer – even when kept in a bread bin, or half a dozen St. JOHN signature wine glasses that act as a quiet status symbol on any dinner-party table.
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Dishoom, various locations
Despite its fast-paced expansion, Dishoom maintains a deserved spot as one of the most delicious Indian restaurants in the UK. The dark wood interiors, hung with faded family pictures and ceiling fans, create an immediate vibe, and the breakfast naan rolls are so beloved they have a dedicated gift card. Other gift ideas include the cotton tea towels in designs that mirror the restaurant crockery. The house chai blend (often served to the line of people queuing outside) comes in a tin so smart – with frequent artist collaboration updates – that it deserves a spot on an open shelf. Meanwhile, the £6 bundle of incense sticks scent spaces with sandalwood, vanilla and chamomile.
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Granger & Co., various locations
Bill Granger’s first London restaurant (he now has four) opened in Notting Hill in 2011, bringing with it the sunny-style Australian craze for brunching on cloud-like scrambled eggs and ricotta hotcakes. The satisfyingly solid brass pepper mills that adorn each of the restaurant tables were inspired by the design of an old-fashioned post box (pour peppercorns into the grinder through the front flap) and are available to buy in each of the London sites. Also created by Sydney-based Dinosaur Designs is the restaurants’ resin salt pot in a pretty peachy-pink.
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