Food
Victoria has always had plenty of places to eat and drink, but many are tucked away off the beaten track. These are just some of the more unusual, independent restaurants, coffee shops and sandwich bars.

Carrara at The Other Palace - Palace Street
With an amazing marble stairway as its centrepiece, this new addition to the area provides stylish English food in a contemporary setting. The bar, theatre and comedy club provide a full nights entertainment in one brand new venue.

Cinnamon Club - 32 Great Smith Street
Great Franco-Indian fusion haute cuisine based in the Old Westminster Library. The massive tiger prawns are particularly good. The service is always impeccable too.

Dining Room at the Goring - Beeston Place
Reportedly this was the Queen Mothers favourite restaurant and is seen as an unofficial annex to Buckingham Palace. The full english breakfasts are particularly good. They also have a very impressive private room and an amazing terrace and garden for coffee and a cigar. It now also has a Michelin star.

Footstool - Smith Square
Under St John's church in the beautiful Smith Square, this canteen-style restaurant provides a discrete and inexpensive venue amongst the basement vaults, for politicians and locals alike.

Gustoso - Willow Place
A traditional Italian which you really have to search for. Great wine and very fresh food from the owners of Osteria on Marsham Street and Al Duca in St James's. Very unfussy and better for it than some of the more pretentious competition.

Ichi-Ricki - 17b Strutton Ground
A great basement traditional sushi restaurant. Small and tricky to find, as it's just a doorway. Best to book as it's very popular (and tiny).

Inn The Park - St James's Park
A very unusual timber restaurant blending into the park environment with an excellent menu and delicious Peyton and Byrne food. It also has a decked terrace area overlooking the park and the lake.

Kouzu - Grosvenor Gardens
Kouzu is an award winning sushi restaurant with ex-Nobu chefs serving top quality Japanese cuisine. The Black Cod certainly rivals the Nobu competition and the serene atmosphere is a million miles away from the busy street outside. It has been voted the best in the UK in 2015.

La Poule au Pot - Ebury Street
The most romantic restaurant in London according to many (and a favourite for MPs and their .. ahem.. researchers). More importantly, it offers great authentic French atmosphere and food.

M Restaurant - Victoria Street
Tucked away below a wine shop on Victoria Street, M offers sushi and steak of the highest quality. Its a basement, but with huge ceilings and very stylish finishes it feels very spacious and atmospheric. Excellent service and a stunning wine list too!

Mango Tree - 40 Grosvenor Place
Wonderful Thai cuisine in a feng-shui setting. A busy road outside, but the service and quality of the food wins you over.

Olivomare - Lower Belgrave Street
A superb seafood restaurant from the same illustrious stable as the family run Olivo, Olivocarne and Oliveto in Belgravia. 

Phoenix - Palace Street
Excellent recently expanded and refurbished gastro-pub with a great terrace. Excellent food - especially the gourmet-style burgers.

The Royal Quarter Cafe - Buckingham Gate
A great deli and fresh sandwich place. Ideal for breakfast. Pricey, but you really do get what you pay for!

Quilon - Buckingham Gate
A superb Michelin starred Indian restaurant, with South-West coastal food (thats Goa not Bristol). The Q Bar is also a great place for themed cocktails, pre-dinner or just for a drink.

Quirinale - Great Peter Street
Italian cuisine, close to Parliament. Expensive and a lower ground floor but the food is spectacular and well worth it. Always a famous parliamentarian or two in there, if that's up your street.

Regency Cafe - Regency Street
This famous 1920s 'caff', has been used in many films due to its period-style exterior, and retains its own atmosphere and great quality of food. No sliced bread either...

Roux on Parliament Square - Great George Street
This newish restaurant is based within the RICS Headquarters and offers top end cuisine with a very smart private room and first floor bar.

Santini - Lower Belgrave Street
A family run and traditional italian between Victoria Station and Belgravia, Santini has been a favourite of the Belgravia area since the 1970's. There's a lovely outside area too surrounded by lavender bushes (and patio heaters).

Shepherd's - Marsham Street
A favourite of the Politico, this Westminster institution has now made a welcome return to the area. You will be sure to see some familiar faces enjoying this discrete but very upmarket restaurant. The T-Bone steak is Flintstone-style huge.

Thomas Cubitt - Elizabeth Street
A great Belgravia gastro-pub with outside seating and a really good first floor private room with it's own bar. Somewhere for the ladies that lunch, but also for the office workers looking for somewhere outside the mainstream.

Tom Tom - Elizabeth Street
A cigar and coffee shop in the heart of Belgravia. 'The best expresso' is a bold claim, but in this case justified we feel, at least for this part of London.

Uni - 18a Ebury St
Uni brings vibrant colours, flavours and textures of the very best in Peruvian and Japanese fusion cuisine, to the Belgravia area. This local cozy and stylish boutique restaurant is a hidden treasure that you shouldn’t miss. Have a Pisco Sour cocktail with their signature dishes: “Salmon tartare tacos” or “Black cod with anticucho sauce” and leave some space for their mochi moriawase, the sweet end to a wonderful night. Voted one of London's coolest Restaurants by Miss Travel Tips.

Westminster Kingsway College - Vincent Rooms
This catering college overlooking Vincent Square offers top end cuisine in a dramatic location at a fraction of the usual price, served by the students of the college. Alumni from this award winning College include Jamie Oliver, Antony Worrall Thomson and Ainsley Harriott.