Smoked by AI · London · people

Leonie Cooper

Critic · Journalist — London eating and drinking across the board; bars, openings, neighbourhood venues.

Food & Drink Editor, Time Out London, the desk that sets the city's most-read best-of lists; reviews under her own byline.

Their own reviews and picks.

Their own judgment, in their own words, by the piece it appeared in.

• Time Out London (4 out of 5) ↗their review · 2026-07
  • WarehausDalston

    “Fun, but functional.”

• Time Out London, 'London's best gastropubs' (ranked 1) ↗their review · 2026-06-24
  • The Camberwell ArmsCamberwell

    “Sustainably sourced meat comes from a man called Farmer Tom, and you'll have the likes of pork loin chop served with semi-hearted red cabbage to get stuck into alongside beer onions on toast with aged gruyere, or crispy fried pigs head with piccalilli. Truly wonderful stuff.”

• Time Out London Food & Drink Editor, on the record in Eloise Feilden's award follow-up ↗their review · 2026-06-10
  • Bouchon RacineFarringdon

    “I'd eat there weekly, were it not such a palaver to get a table.”

• Time Out London, 5 out of 5 stars ↗their review · 2026-02-02
  • Tiella Trattoria & BarBethnal Green

    “Tiella at the Compton was good, but here it is exceptional. A more in-depth menu sees Dara dipping into rarer regional cracks of Italian cuisine... The most surprising dish of the evening is passatelli in brodo, a chunky, dumpling-like pasta of eggs and cheese bobbing around in a meat broth. A silent assassin, it looks like something you'd use to clean the oven, but tastes like a turbo mixed grill. The dark, glistening broth, made from chicken wings and beef bones, has been tended to and cared for as if it were an elderly and much-loved family pet... Tiella is what eating out is all about: the warmest of welcomes, a subtle dose of glamour, incredible food, and the vague sense that nothing much else matters beyond the restaurant's front door. A triumph.”

• Time Out London, 5 out of 5 stars ↗their review · 2026-01-15
  • Ikoyi Restaurant St. James'sStrand

    “Usually in a multi-course tasting menu there are a couple of duff dishes. Not at Ikoyi, where every mouthful has been meticulously developed, as if it were silicon valley's latest big ticket app. This is finesse at the highest level.”

• Time Out London ↗their review · 2025-11-17
  • SlowBurnWalthamstow

    “There's a lot to love about the ever-so-slightly unhinged Slowburn, book in for your very own factory reset.”

• Time Out London, review of Cycene, 5 of 5 ↗their review · 2025-11-03
  • CyceneShoreditch

    “A veritable Berghain of enigmatic meats and victuals”

• Time Out London ↗their review · 2025-08-13
  • Napoli on the Road (Soho)Soho

    “London pizza parlour Napoli on the Road does pizza very, very well”

• Time Out London ↗their review · 2025-07-20
  • Seed LibraryShoreditch

    “this basement adjunct to One Hundred Shoreditch is a relaxed, impressively low-lit and supremely welcoming space with terrazzo tables, cool pine panelling and soft 1960s stylings.”

• Time Out London, Angelina review, four stars, Recommended ↗their review · 2025-05-12
  • AngelinaDalston

    “A nori-dusted focaccia is a revelation, served with a marmalade and uni butter that tastes like breakfast in the best possible way.”

• Time Out London ↗their review · 2025-02-19
  • Toklas Cafe and BakeryStrand

    “Score a seat in the back room (past that lovely marble counter) which is covered in Frieze-adjacent exhibition posters and set up with classy, mid-century canteen seating and feast on elegant breakfast viennoiserie, with flaky croissants, pain au chocolat, and cardomom buns.”

• Time Out London, 5 out of 5 stars, on Rake ↗their review · 2025-02-06
  • The Compton ArmsIslington

    “It's a winning dish in a line-up of endless hits.”

• Time Out London, 4 out of 5 stars ↗their review · 2025-01-16
  • Roketsu RestaurantMarylebone

    “At Roketsu the chef's table is the only table, and if the bleached, hinoki wood walls and sliding screens make you feel as if you've been transported to Japan, that makes sense - the room was built in Kyoto before being shipped and reassembled in London.”

• Time Out London, 'The Black Heart, Camden' ↗their review · 2024-11-07
  • The Black HeartCamden

    “As rock pubs go, the Black Heart is pretty much perfect. This Camden pub classic opened back in 2009 and always has heavy, never less than ear-splittingly sonorous metal on the sound system as well as the goth-adjacent quasi-religious tat on the walls.”

• Time Out London (5 out of 5) ↗their review · 2024-11
  • AngloThaiMarylebone

    “In reimagining some of Thailand's most celebrated dishes via the lens of fastidious fine dining, he uses mystical-sounding, Tolkien-adjacent UK ingredients to mimic Thai food's puckering sour notes.”

• Time Out London, 4 out of 5 stars ↗their review · 2023-10-12
  • Counter 71Shoreditch

    “A nifty cheese and onion gougere came on like a glammed-up Greggs bake (which, if there was any doubt, is a serious compliment).”

• Time Out London ↗their review · 2023-09-28
  • FarangHighbury

    “What it is, however, is a passionate and masterful display of technique, skill and sheer ingenuity, without being nearly as wanky as that sounds.”

• Time Out London, 4 out of 5 stars ↗their review · 2023-07-20
  • Sonora TaqueríaStoke Newington

    “My hands might be a mess, but my heart is full. Viva the little guy.”

• Time Out London, 4 out of 5 stars ↗their review · 2023-06-21
  • ZapoteShoreditch

    “A beef tartare taco with roasted bone marrow was smoky, fresh and impossibly butch; like St John on a vacay to Tulum.”

• Time Out London ↗their review · 2023-01-18
  • Chet'sShepherd's Bush

    “The fried chicken khao soi was another majestic mash-up, with perfect katsu-style chicken plonked on a bed of creamy Chiang Mai curried noodles with bean sprouts and roasted chilli oil.”

Pieces they wrote about these places.

Reporting, openings and roundups. Kept for the trail, and not read as their endorsement — a writer relaying someone else's award is not recommending it.

• Time Out London ↗opening coverage · 2026-04-07
  • Dough Hands EastHackney

    “Dough Hands make, hands-down, some of the best pizzas in London.”

• Time Out London, 'Heston Blumenthal is closing his two Michelin starred London restaurant' ↗opening coverage · 2026-03-09
  • Dinner by Heston BlumenthalKnightsbridge

    “Dinner by Heston Blumenthal opened in 2011, receiving its first Michelin star in 2012 and its second in 2014.”

• Time Out London, 'Iconic London caff The Regency Café has reopened' ↗opening coverage · 2025-07-23
  • Regency CafePimlico

    “Famous Pimlico diner The Regency Café has reopened its doors after being shuttered since the end of last year.”

• Time Out London ↗opening coverage · 2024-11-14
  • Beigel BakeBrick Lane

    “Established in 1974, the legendary bakery is releasing a retro-styled football shirt bearing the shop's name for its 50th anniversary.”

• Time Out London, London's best greasy spoon cafes (her pick, 4th of 8) ↗roundup · 2024-01-25
  • Terry's CafeBorough

    “wall-to-wall nostalgia with black-and-white photos galore, old sugar shakers on the check-clothed tables and wartime music coming out of crackly speakers”

• Time Out London, on the Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs 2024 ↗reporting · 2024-01-23
  • The Parakeet PubKentish Town

    “a new entry for Kentish Town's The Parakeet, which only opened last year, at number 36”