{"id":195228,"date":"2026-04-13T11:31:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T11:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/195228\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T11:31:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T11:31:23","slug":"where-to-eat-in-queens-park-according-to-a-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/195228\/","title":{"rendered":"Where To Eat In Queen\u2019s Park, According To A Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

For many years, boroughs like Islington<\/a>, Hampstead and St John\u2019s Wood have dominated the north London culinary scene. But the buzzy neighbourhood of Queen\u2019s Park is emerging as a new hotspot for foodies, with a spate of exciting new openings launching amid long-standing favourites. With its leafy park and pretty cobbled streets, the area has long been known for its village-like, community feel, but it\u2019s fast becoming a culinary corner worth travelling for.<\/p>\n

The change is something local Daniel Land, who recently opened bakery and restaurant Don\u2019t Tell Dad on Lonsdale Road, has witnessed first-hand. \u2018Historically, NW London hasn\u2019t been a great place for eating out,\u2019 he tells C&TH. \u2018Despite having plenty of residential neighbourhoods full of people who love to eat out, for reasons that were never that clear to me, great restaurants never arrived. Change in local neighbourhoods, to me at least, always feels gradual, then sudden. And that is exactly what\u2019s happened here.\u00a0 Some early trailblazers like Carmel paved the way, and now it\u2019s in full swing. We\u2019re doing our bit, others are doing theirs, and QP is well on its way to being one of London\u2019s best food neighbourhoods.\u2019<\/p>\n

So which spots are worth checking out? Daniel gives us his insider guide to the restaurants and bakeries<\/a> of Queen\u2019s Park below.<\/p>\n

Best Places To Eat In Queen\u2019s Park<\/p>\n

\"Exterior\"Exterior<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Tell Dad<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019ll begin with Don\u2019t Tell Dad because that\u2019s where my day always starts and ends. First thing in the morning, we\u2019re the neighbourhood bakery that the locals swear by \u2013 there\u2019s lots of familiar greetings, friendly faces and regular routines. Current highlights on the menu include our evergreen cinnamon bun, the tahini and chocolate chip cookie and a seasonal special: a rhubarb and coconut meringue danish. By night, we become a restaurant, where locals and visitors can enjoy dishes like our oxtail crumpets with beef dripping crumb, or some piping hot madeleines fresh out of the oven. Just like the bakery, the menu is always changing, but you can never make a mistake with one of our sharing dishes \u2013 at the moment, a longhorn sirloin with a porcini and bone marrow sauce.\u2019 <\/p>\n

10-14 Lonsdale Rd, London NW6 6RD, donttelldad.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

Carmel<\/p>\n

\u2018Carmel upped the ante for Queen\u2019s Park when it opened a few years ago. It\u2019s grown up without being stuffy and elevates the excellent Middle Eastern<\/a> food it serves to the perfect level. Its mixed mezze is the stuff of dreams and I always order it the moment I sit down so I can make relaxed menu decisions whilst snacking. The flatbreads are famous, particularly the za\u2019atar one, and you can\u2019t go wrong with any of the big stuff on the grill \u2013 the whole bream or the urfa chilli chicken. It\u2019s a proper neighbourhood restaurant that is incredibly popular with the locals.\u2019<\/p>\n

Ground Floor, 23-25 Lonsdale Rd, London NW6 6RA, carmelrestaurant.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

Michiko Sushino<\/p>\n

\u2018You wouldn\u2019t know if you walked past but Michiko Sushino is that rarest of things: a great value sushi restaurant in London. It\u2019s an extremely low-key setting, and not the most comfortable, but it works, whether you\u2019re a sushi purist or not. It serves a ridiculously good value lunch set for \u00a314 \u2013 the dressing on the veggie donburi is dreamy \u2013 and I always double up on the seaweed salad.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

74 Salusbury Rd, London NW6 6NU, michikosushino.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Ida<\/p>\n

\u2018A lot gets written about Ida but it really is a gem. As high streets get taken over by bland chains, I think it\u2019s so important to celebrate (and frequent) places like Ida, a genuinely family-run neighbourhood Italian restaurant<\/a>. The service is warm and friendly, the room is delightful and homely, and the food is generous and tasty. It\u2019s impossible to order badly there, particularly if you go for pasta (nearly all of it is fresh pasta made there every day). I love it so much that I had my 40th there last year.\u2019<\/p>\n

167 Fifth Ave, London W10 4DT, idarestaurant.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

The Salusbury Pub<\/p>\n

\u2018The Salusbury Pub has been recently given a full makeover by locals Gareth and Alex. They\u2019ve brought in a serious chef in Taryn Bingle and they are serving properly elevated pub food in a relaxed environment.\u2019<\/p>\n

50 \u2013 52 Salusbury Road, London, United Kingdom NW6 6NN, thesalusburypub.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Lots\"Lots<\/p>\n

Casa Felicia<\/p>\n

\u2018The new kid on the block is Casa Felicia.\u00a0 There\u2019s a young talented chef called Francesco Sarvonio at the helm in the kitchen, fresh from London\u2019s best pasta spot, Manteca<\/a>. They serve classic Italian dishes with plenty of flair, and they\u2019re already popular in the neighbourhood.\u2019<\/p>\n

79 Salusbury Rd, London NW6 6NH, casa-felicia.com<\/a><\/p>\n

The Park Cafe<\/p>\n

\u2018The Park Cafe in the middle of Queen\u2019s Park is a fixture of local life. In the depths of midwinter, or at the height of a heatwave, the guys in the park are upbeat and smiling, serving an eclectic, if a little random, selection of things from tagines to toasties. They are local heroes, fixing up the entire community every weekend. During the week, they offer surprisingly good falafel and chuck them into wraps and salad boxes along with loads of delicious treats. I then bag myself a quiet spot in the flower garden and pretend like I\u2019m not in the middle of London.\u2019<\/p>\n

25 Kingswood Ave, London NW6 6LL<\/p>\n

The Wolfpack<\/p>\n

\u2018The Wolfpack is another great Queen\u2019s Park stalwart, started by two great local guys Al and Chris. It perfectly serves the people who live here who are looking for great beer, delivered in an incredibly casual way. It\u2019s a great place to watch sport, have a quiet pint in the afternoon, an occasionally free Bloody Mary after the Farmer\u2019s Market on a Sunday, and definitely some rowdy drinks and shots on a Friday night. The best compliment I can pay it is that I can\u2019t imagine Queen\u2019s Park without the Wolfpack. I hope that people will say that about Don\u2019t Tell Dad soon too.\u2019<\/p>\n

53 Lonsdale Rd, London NW6 6RA, wolfpackbars.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For many years, boroughs like Islington, Hampstead and St John\u2019s Wood have dominated the north London culinary scene.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123,1304],"class_list":{"0":"post-195228","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queens","12":"tag-queens-headlines","13":"tag-queens-news","14":"tag-what"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}