Top 10 restaurant cook books

It’s not easy to recreate the experience and quality of a restaurant at home, but these cook books, inspired by some of London’s best restaurants, are a good place to start.

When a restaurant gains some recognition, it’s an easy leap for its proprietors to launch a cook book off the back of its success, with foodies ever-hungry to recreate their favourite restaurant dishes at home.

Here, we have rounded up some of our favourite restaurant-based cook books, released in the last couple of years. While covering various cuisines and pitched at different levels of kitchen expertise, all highlight the talents of each restaurant’s kitchen team, offering a many a tome of inspiration for the adventurous home cook.

Click through for our pick of some of the best restaurant-based cook books out there…

Bocca

Based on the recipes of Bocca di Luppo in Soho, Bocca takes the restaurant’s Italian small plate concept into your home.

The restaurant itself was opened in 2008 by chef Jacob Kenedy and Victor Hugo.

Dishes include simple yet sophisticated Italian dishes such as linguine with clams and meatballs in wine and lemon.

A must for when you’re hungry, “like the wolf”.

Bocca di Lupo, 2 Archer St, London W1D 7BB

Ceviche

During the hot summer months nothing is more welcome than a platter of sea bass ceviche, drizzled with lime juice and bursting with flavour. You really can’t beat it with a glass of chilled white.

Some of the best ceviche in London can be found at Martin Morales’ Peruvian kitchen, Ceviche, in Soho, which has expanded to include a site in Old Street and a second sister restaurant called Andina.

His 2013 cookbook Ceviche helps to bring some of Peru’s colourful cuisine closer to home, with dishes including coriander potato cakes with beetroot and avocado and a classic sea bass ceviche, marinated with red onion, coriander, lime and chilli.

Ceviche, 17 Frith St, London W1D 4RG

Rosa’s Thai Cafe

Rosa’s Thai Café was founded in 2006 by husband and wife Alex and Saiphin Moore, with Saiphin having grown up in Thailand. The chain has since expanded with restaurants now open in Angel, Chelsea and Soho, the latest opening in Victoria this year.

Bringing authentic Thai cuisine to the capital, with the aim of fusing “modern London with modern Bangkok”, the chain released its first cook book in 2015.

Recipes are inventive and innovative, while easy to follow and approachable, but will require a trip or two to an Asian supermarket to stock up on Thai store cupboard essentials. Dishes include Thai calamari, spicy fried minced pork patties and roti with minced beef and basil leaves.

Rosa’s Thai Café, various locations

Spuntino

For the more indulgent home chef, Spuntino is a winner, crammed with New York-style comfort dishes. Think glooping, melted cheese, hunks of beef, truffle oils and prohibition-era cocktails.

The restaurant itself, founded by Russell Norman, who is also the mastermind behind Polpo, is located on Rupert Street and you would barely know it was there unless you were looking for it. Deliberately minimalists and industrial in its appearance, the only clue to its existence is a tiny piece of text which quietly reads ‘Spuntino’.

Inside you will find just 27 stools at which to sit and a popcorn machine. They don’t own a telephone and don’t take reservations, so arrive early or expect to wait to be seated on busy evenings.

Alternatively, get its cookbook and whip up a replica of some of its big hitters at home. We’re thinking truffled egg toast with a side of steak tartare and lobster mac and cheese. Heaven.

Spuntino, 61 Rupert St, London W1D 7PW 

Duck and Waffle

Duck and Waffle is one of the London’s most prolific restaurants, not only because of its eclectic menu, overseen by head chef Dan Doherty, but because of its imposing location, located 40 floors up the Heron Tower.

Its open all hours policy means you can stop by for a plate of its signature duck and waffles at 6am, watch the sun go down with a cocktail crafted by mixology maestro Rich Woods, or be seated in the dead of night for a spicy ox cheek doughnut with apricot jam.

While the location really is part of the Duck and Waffle experience, Doherty’s first cook book attempts to brings a little bit of its magic home.

Expect duck egg in a brioche basket, salt beef hash with poached egg and hollandaise, and the Leo Sayer burger…

Duck and Waffle, 110 Bishopsgate, Heron Tower, 110 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AY

Barrafina

Recently voted Time Out’s number one restaurant, Barrafina is a slice of Spain within the madness of Soho.

Sam and Eddie Hart have been steadily building a stellar reputation for producing a plethora of punchy Spanish small plates boasting bold, authentic flavours – from petite pintxos to daily seafood specials.

Its cook book reflects the quality of the food being produced. Aimed at home cooks up to a challenge, its recipes leave plenty of room for experimentation. Highlights include quails eggs with morcilla and red peppers to a classic tortilla.

Barrafina, 54 Frith St, London W1D 4SL

Polpo

Based on the restaurant founded by Norman Cook, Polpo is perhaps one of the most prolific cookbooks to have emerged from London’s restaurant scene in recent years.

Specialising in Venetian-Italian specialities, it is a culinary gateway into the world of arancini Venetian Cicchetti – Italy’s version of tapas, served from tiny bars tucked away down the side streets of Venice.

Highlights include fennel meatballs, handmade pizzas and arancini balls. Pleasingly, the book also contains a section on Italian drinks, making a spectacle of the humble Bellini, Americano and Aperol Spritz.

Its maiden outlet was in London’s Beak Street. Now there are now numerous establishments throughout London, as well as Bristol and Brighton.

Polpo, 41 Beak Street, London, W1F 9SB

Nopi

Be warned, Nopi’s cook book is not for the average home chef. It’s recipes are not only complex and time-consuming but made up of so many ingredients that concerted effort and sufficient preparation must be given to pull them off. That said, time invested will be worth your while.

Nopi is based on Yottam Ottolenghi’s restaurant of the same name in Soho. Championing cuisine from the Middle East with a preoccupation on vegetables (turning even the most humble pieces of greenery into a culinary masterpiece), Nopi’s menu changes with the seasons and is overseen by Ottolenghi and head chef Ramael Scully.

Cookbook highlights include courgette and manouri fritters, butternut squash with ginger tomatoes and lime yoghurt, and smoked lamb cutlets with aubergine purée, jalapeño sauce and Kohlrabi pickle.

Nopi, 21-22 Warwick St, London W1B 5NE

The Palomar

Hot off the press, The Palomar is the first cook book released by the Covent Garden-based restaurant that has attracted no end of praise since it opened in 2014.

Taking modern fare from Jerusalem and twisting it with a variety of international influences, its laid back vibe and stunning flavours has earned it a place among the hearts of London foodies. Now you can get your hands on its recipes, with the book hitting the shelves today.

Having eagerly awaited its release, db is yet to test out the recipes but has had a sneak preview.

Dishes tantalising our tastebuds include the pulled lamb shoulder kubaneh burger, Shakshukit (deconstructed kebab) and rib eye stead with harissa and middle eastern chimichurri. There’s also a section on drinks detailing its signature cocktails including the bisbash posh wash – a blend of kümmel liqueur, vermouth and arak, and Lion’s Milk – made from almond milk, arak and orange bitters.

The Palomar, 34 Rupert St, London W1D 6DN