The world's best cuisine in 5 London restaurants, as picked by Netflix top chef Ivan Orkin

New Yorker-turned-Tokyo ramen legend and star of the Netflix series Chef's Table, Ivan Orkin, has finally set his sights on London.

Best known for building a cult following in Japan before conquering New York, the world-famous “ramen junkie” has finally opened Ivan Ramen in London - his first permanent restaurant in the UK, with a 26-seat, pared-back “cosy noodle shop” in Farringdon. He tells us, “I'm a big fan of London. I come from one of the great cities, and this is one of the great cities.”

The new restaurant serves soupy specialities featuring fresh noodles, a tight menu, and big flavours. (There’s even a Salt Beef Bao as a wink to the East End.) The chef’s personal recommendation? “For someone who loves chicken, the Tori Paitan ramen we do is lovely and delicious - it’s a milky, thick chicken broth with ground chicken on top and chicken skin and an egg yolk.”

Ivan Ramen joins a city packed with world-class global restaurants - where, as Ivan says, Turkish, Indian and Sri Lankan dishes feel as comforting as a bowl of noodles. With London’s international palate in mind, he sits down with Shortlist to give us a proper master chef’s food tour of his picks for the top five restaurants across the city, each representing a different world cuisine.

Here are his expert picks, what to order, and his pick for the definitive best restaurant in London. Bring your appetite, and get ready to book a table or five…

Turkish: Mangal II, Dalston 

4 Stoke Newington Rd, London N16 7XN

The Turkish restaurant Mangal II is an institution at this point. It’s not just some restaurant - it’s legendary. It’s a very unassuming restaurant, too. It’s so delicious - but you don’t expect it to be because it’s just a simple dining room. It has a great wood-fired oven, and they’re doing really cool breads and dishes. The food is super solid, and the service is warm and friendly.

I still think about the last meal I had there. It was really delicious. I had an eggplant dish that was really lovely - that’s aubergine for you guys. It may be my favourite vegetable. It was really delicious and smoky.

Thai: Kiln, Soho

58 Brewer St, London W1F 9TL

Boy, is Kiln good. If you’re lucky enough to score a seat at the bar, you feel like you’re standing in front of the open flames the guys are cooking over. I’ve spent a bunch of time in Southeast Asia, and the flavours are real; they really pop. Some dishes are quite spicy. You can have plenty of delicious vegetables, and also really nice fish and meat. It covers all the bases.

One meal, I was lucky enough to get a seat next to the executive chef, Meedu Saad, and we had a really nice conversation. He’s so passionate. I started following him since then - he travels quite a bit and has all these interesting adventures - it’s interesting to see what all these chefs are up to.

I had a whole slow-grilled mackerel in a banana leaf there that was really good. Mackerel is my favourite fish. You have to order it right away because it sits on that open fire - the cooking line is these giant clay pots with charcoal and flames flying out of it. You can really taste the smokiness in the food cooked on it.

It’s lovely. You get all those wonderful sour, spicy notes that are very popular in Southeast Asia - super fun. And the clay-pot baked glass noodles, which I always get - that’s really good. It’s crowded, but if you wait for a bit, there always seems to be a seat they can squeeze you into.

Greek: OMA, Borough Market 

3 Bedale St, London SE1 9AL

OMA is in Borough Market, and it’s a Greek, open-flame restaurant. We just walked in and sat at the bar, and they grill these fresh breads. They pull the dough out and throw it on the fire. They have a bunch of fresh yoghurt dishes that are really delicious, and hot potato crisps that are really good. It’s a super tasty restaurant. Very active, a lot going on. I love open-fire restaurants. It’s a very simple way to cook, but you get a little extra flavour, a little extra crunch. It adds a lot.

Start with the breads and spreads, and then they have a salt cod spread with labneh, which is insane, and a torched mackerel with green baby mandarin and chillis - really delicious stuff. And they have an oxtail clay pot - and there’s nothing wrong with oxtail! The staff are super knowledgeable and nice too, and guide you on the menu - they know what they’re doing.

I have a sort of love-hate relationship with Borough Market. It’s a really fun place to go. I have specific stores I always go to - I always get honey, or coffee, or I go to Neal’s Yard Dairy and get cheese. But never, ever on a weekend - you can’t pay me enough money to go to Borough Market on a Saturday or Sunday after 11am. It’s soul-crushing. There are touristy places that are overrated, but then there’s a ton of fun and real places, too.

Indian: Brigadiers, Bank

1-5 Bloomberg Arcade, London EC4N 8AR

Brigadiers is a bit like Disneyland - in a good way. It’s very conceptual: the design of the dining room, they have whiskeys from India, they have all kinds of deep dives on Indian cuisine and culture.

Last time I ate, we just said to our waitress, “We’re hungry. Bring us stuff!” and she brought us all kinds of really nice dishes. Then the waiter brought us several Indian whiskeys to compare, so we tasted a bunch that were made in India, which were delicious. I’m not embarrassed to admit that I didn’t realise India had so many delicious whiskeys. I walked away learning something new, which was nice.

They also have party rooms - different rooms you can go in and drink beers and bring your pals and have a good time. You wander around, and there is all kinds of stuff going on. It’s a real party place! In London, Indian cuisine is as important as fish and chips. It’s part of the culture here.

British: St. John, Barbican

26 St John St, Barbican, London EC1M 4AY

The greatest restaurant in London - and maybe in the world - is St. John’s. It’s my favourite restaurant. I always eat there at least twice when I’m in town. I’m a huge fan.

I like everything there. Yesterday, I had lamb’s tongue with chickpeas and mint, and I had a cold pork salad with dandelion greens, and cod roe on toast. It’s crazy delicious stuff. Oh, and you’ve got to try their brown bread ice cream, which is ridiculously delicious. I’ve probably eaten there thirty times. If for some weird reason, you haven’t been there, you should go immediately.

It’s a really well-run restaurant. It’s very simple - nothing fancy, a giant white room - but the servers are friendly and knowledgeable. It serves a sort of French food with a British twist: Meat cooked, vegetables simply prepared, perfect salads, and delicious bread. They also have a wide variety of wines from around the world that are very tasty. It’s not a pretentious restaurant. It’s just everything done well, and no distractions. Their concept is really good food made simply and deliciously, and it shows every time. It’s always a delight.

One time, I had lunch with the owners, Fergus and Margot Henderson - drinking wine all afternoon and eating - it was really fun, and it was special to get to spend time with them and eat their delicious food. It’s a very comfortable place to be. You can have a little plate of fish and a salad and a glass of wine and go home, or you can order everything on the menu. Their desserts are all really fun too - yesterday, there was an apple cobbler on the menu. All their dishes are so fun to eat.

Ivan Ramen is open in London now. More details and menus here: https://www.ivanramen.co.uk/

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