The Anchor & Hope

You're walking down The Cut in Southwark, past the theatres and the usual tourist drag, when you spot the queue snaking out of this place. That's The Anchor & Hope — a proper neighbourhood local that's somehow become one of London's most coveted tables despite refusing to take bookings. The dining room's deliberately unfussy: bare brick, wooden tables, the kind of place where someone's always laughing loudly at the next table. The kitchen takes British ingredients seriously, doing things like roast bone marrow and parsley salad or whatever's landed that day with a craftsman's attention. Prices are refreshingly honest for what you're getting — mains hover around £15-20 — which explains why locals keep coming back.