Best European Restaurants in the UK and Ireland

In total, there are 84 award winning European restaurants in the UK and Ireland, based on the combined awards from the leading UK restaurant guides.

Were you expecting to see more European restaurants listed? Remember, at Leading Restaurants we only list restaurants holding awards from major food guides in the UK and Ireland; that's less than 3% of all restaurants here.

The best European restaurant in the UK and Ireland is Caractere in London (based on our unique combination of the leading UK restaurant guides) where head chef Diego Ferrari serves up award winning European Contemporary Cuisine. Caractere currently holds 1 Michelin Star and a ranking of 44th in UK in the Hardens Top 100.

There is currently a single listed European Michelin Star restaurant in the UK and Ireland which holds 1 Michelin star. There are also 2 restaurants holding a Michelin Bib Gourmand and 12 restaurants holding a standard Michelin Guide listing.

There are currently 71 listed AA Rosette European restaurants in the UK and Ireland consisting of 1 restaurant holding 3 AA Rosettes, 33 restaurants holding 2 AA Rosettes and 37 restaurants holding 1 AA Rosette.

In recent years, the UKs restaurant scene for European cuisine has evolved into a dazzling mosaic of regional flavours, elevated by both meticulous craftsmanship and unapologetic indulgence. London remains the unrivalled epicentre, where temples of gastronomy such as The Ledbury, with Brett Grahams elegant Franco-European sensibilities, and Marcus Wareings Marcus, with its refined continental influences, continue to command reverence. Even establishments like Heston Blumenthals Dinner, though often associated with historical British cooking, draw heavily on European techniques, showing just how intertwined the continents culinary traditions have become with the British fine dining landscape. Beyond the capital, European cuisine flourishes with admirable poise. At Sat Bains in Nottingham, bold modern European tasting menus transform local produce into something close to theatre, while Raymond Blancs Le Manoir aux QuatSaisons in Oxfordshire remains a benchmark for French haute cuisine delivered with impeccable restraint. These restaurants and their celebrated chefs have helped shape a dining culture that shows deep respect for European heritage, yet is unafraid to reinterpret it with British wit and precision.