Straker's

Two independent sources pick out the same plate: Jake Missing wrote that the flatbreads here are "easily better than any other small plates flatbread in London", and Harden's survey diners call them "the best ever" (The Infatuation).

Why go

Thomas Straker built an audience of over three million on Instagram and TikTok during lockdown and opened this 40-seater in November 2022, on Golborne Road rather than the Queen's Park site he had first planned (Harden's). His stated aim was an "epic neighbourhood restaurant" with "east London wine bar vibes".

The room is small, candlelit and packed, with an open kitchen behind a marble bar. Missing scored it 8.0 for the Infatuation and was clear-eyed about the trade: "Straker's charms you in the most intimate of spaces before it thwacks you in the face with flavour," in a space that is "contentiously cosy (see: cramped)" (ref). His practical advice is the useful part. Take the counter if you can, or a booth at the back.

Beyond the flatbreads, he singles out "grilled langoustines with claw sauce" as good enough to be "sold separately", and sugared doughnuts with jam, crème fraîche and thyme. Harden's diners keep naming a duck gnocchi. The kitchen writes its menu around what is wild and in season: "game and wild ingredients taking centre stage when nature offers them at their best" (venue site).

A fire in the kitchen extraction system on the night of 3 May 2025 damaged the rear of the restaurant. Nobody was hurt. Straker kept every full-time member of staff, reopened as a cold bar of salads, crudo and carpaccio, and kept the wine list running under his head of wine Callum Mash (Restaurant). The room now runs seven days, lunch and dinner.

Two more Straker addresses have appeared on the same street since. Acre is across the road at number 60, and a separately registered Straker's Dining Room sits next door at 89.

Order this / avoid

• Order: the flatbreads, with stracciatella and blitzed cavolo nero or with mussels in chilli butter. Grilled langoustines with claw sauce. The duck gnocchi. The doughnuts. Whatever game is on.
• Avoid: planning a quiet dinner here, because the tables are close and the room is loud. Taking the flatbreads on faith every time, since diners report them arriving over-burnt. A middle table when the counter or a back booth is available.

What locals & experts say

• Jake Missing, The Infatuation, 31 January 2023, scored 8.0 out of 10: "Straker's flatbreads are easily better than any other small plates flatbread in London." And the criticism, in the same review: "The candlelit, green-accented space is contentiously cosy (see: cramped)... A date night or a birthday dinner could feasibly capsize given the erratic chaos." On the bill: "starter plates are all £20-plus and mains easily exceed £30." ref
• Harden's, rebuilt each year from its diner survey: "Viral chef Thomas Straker (3M+ followers on Inst) successfully delivers on the promise of his social fame at his 'Notting Hill hotspot' off Portobello Road, a 'warm, convivial hug of a place' with 'excellent food from great grilled fish to knockout duck gnocchi'." One diner's aside: "I know I'm getting old because I'm starting to hate music in restaurants: that aside, Straker's cooking is exquisite." And the minority verdict it prints alongside: "oh so trendy (so I'm told) but frothy, superficial and ultimately boring and expensive." ref
• A Harden's diner on service, carried in full on their page: starters took forty minutes, a sirloin for three took an hour and a half, "no apologies or explanation", and the bench is "the most uncomfortable in London." One voice among thousands, and it is the sharpest complaint on record.
• No chef pick. Searched all 622 records in the London vote graph on 1 August 2026. Nothing, which is unusual for a chef this visible.

Good to know

• Where: 91 Golborne Road, W10 5NL, at the north end of Portobello. Westbourne Park and Ladbroke Grove are the tubes.
• Timing: Monday to Sunday, noon to 5pm and 6pm to 11pm, by the venue's own listing.
• Booking: essential, through the venue's own system. The same booking search covers Acre, so check which room you are being offered.
• Where to sit: the counter, or a booth at the back. The middle of the room is where the crowding is.
• Money: starters above 20 pounds, mains above 30, banded $$$$ by the Infatuation.
• The fire: 3 May 2025, in the kitchen extraction system, damage to the rear, nobody injured. The restaurant traded as a cold bar afterwards and is back to full service.
• Sites: three on this street, all separately registered. This row is Straker's at 91. Straker's Dining Room is at 89, first inspected in February 2026. Acre is at 60, across the road. Nothing written about one describes another.
• Hygiene: FSA rating 5 at 91 Golborne Road, Kensington and Chelsea, inspected 9 December 2024, FHRSID 1495576. ref
• Michelin: left unrecorded rather than guessed. The cached 2026 London list this project works from carries starred and Bib venues only, and a plain guide listing cannot be confirmed from it.

Jeff's take (his words)

• Note: none. His saved-places export lists this row as "STRAKER'S" with an empty note. The master list's line "Thomas Straker's Golborne Road flagship" came from an earlier enrichment pass, not from him.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

should-visit — Go for the flatbread and sit at the counter. Two independent sources single the same thing out, which is rare enough to be worth acting on: Jake Missing scored the room 8.0 for the Infatuation and wrote that the flatbreads are easily better than any other small-plates flatbread in London, and Harden's survey diners call them the best ever. Grilled langoustines with claw sauce and a duck gnocchi come next, and the kitchen builds around game and wild ingredients when they are in. Thomas Straker opened this 40-seater in November 2022 after building an audience of three million on Instagram, which is the fact to hold in mind: the fame came first and the room came second, and the room has to keep proving it. It largely does. What holds it at should-visit is everything around the plate. The Infatuation found the space cramped enough that a birthday dinner could capsize in it, starters all start above twenty pounds, Harden's carries a minority line calling it frothy, superficial and expensive, and one survey diner waited ninety minutes for a steak with no apology. A kitchen extraction fire on 3 May 2025 shut the kitchen and the room ran as a cold bar for a while; it is open seven days now, with a separately registered dining room next door and a sibling, Acre, across the street. The newest scored assessment of the cooking is from January 2023 and predates all of that.