‘Founded by a TV chef on the outskirts of London, this is destined to be a destination restaurant’
On the edge of London sits a chic little restaurant that might soon become a magnet to foodies from across the capital – after it was named London’s top restaurant in this year’s Good Food Guide.
Gina restaurant in Chingford is a chophouse-style eatery serving “comforting, thoughtfully-prepared” European meat and fish dishes, run by TV chef Ravneet Gill and her husband Mattie Taiano.
The venue opened its doors in Station Road, Chingford, on June 11 last year and has enjoyed a rapid rise to success, being awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2026.
The Best Local Restaurant awards celebrate the community driven restaurants that offer brilliant value for money. To find them, they send inspectors and reviewers around the country, parsing through thousands of restaurants nominated by the public.
So off I went to see if it’s a deserving winner. For me, it’s a long tube ride to Walthamstow Central at the end of the Victoria Line, before boarding the Overground and arriving at Chingford station. An ancient rural parish on the edges of beautiful Epping Forest, Chingford feels more a quaint village in the Home Counties than London, but the area around the station is vibrant and bustling with cafes, shops and restaurant – only a short walk to Gina.
An honourable tradition among chefs, Gina is named after founder Mattie Taiano’s mother. There’s something faintly akin to the 1970s in Gina’s décor, with blotched peachy walls, a salmon-coloured banquette and counter, abstract artwork on the walls and rows of lamps with subdued lighting. The biggest quirk is one picture with the slightly tongue-in-cheek slogan, “I’m straight”.
My server couldn’t be more agreeable as I’m escorted to the conservatory dining area at on the front terrace, and I’m served with a half of Baybrooke Helles Lager (£4.50). The menu is short, simple and tends to change each month.
Of five starter courses, I am torn between the options of Piedmontese Peppers & Buffalo Mozarella (£16), Prosciutto Di Parma & Honeymoon Melon (£14.50) and a Monkfish, Bacon & Oakleaf Salad (£17).
However, my server Navi’s poetic account of tomatoes grown near volcanic rock at the base of Mount Vesuvius sparks my imagination, and so I choose Cuore Del Vesuvio Tomato Tonnato (£13), essentially tomatoes with shallots and breadcrumbs served with a tuna sauce and olive oil.
For me, finding the right tomatoes are like finding the perfectly cooked steak – firm and succulent on the outside but not too gooey on the inside. These really are the best, while the shallots in balsamic vinegar add a pleasing touch of sweetness. The tuna base has a rich salty under taste that’s makes scooping it up with slices of tomato great fun.
I also choose a scallop (£9) from the special menu, the softest fish I ever tasted in a dreamy garlic sauce, that again makes a pastime out of dunking with bread.
On to main courses, and again the menu is not too overwhelming, with five courses to choose from. There is Roast Tomato, Cream & Mint Vol-Au-Vent (£24) a sort of puff-pastry pie with a decadent filling. There is also Aged Highland Onglet (hanging steak) & Chimichurri (£29.50), Shetland Cod, Grilled Piatonne Beans & Almond Beurre Blanc (£34), Salt Marsh Leg of Lamb & Green Chilli Yoghurt (£36) and Yellow Chicken, Scottish Girolles, Sweetcorn & Persillade (£36).
There is nothing predictable about the menu, all five options have a twist and I’d be pleased with any of them. I turn once more to Navi for guidance and we discuss options for my main course with what feels all like the care and attention of securing a mortgage with my lender. This is high praise; his knowledge of the menu, and food in general, seems vast.
In the end, I opt for the Yellow Chicken, Scottish Girolles, Sweetcorn & Persillade. It could be too simple but the chicken leg is crisped gold and served centrepiece in a rich creamy chowder of vin-jaune (yellow wine) sauce and sweetcorn, with roasted chanterelle mushrooms. The sauce has a delicious dark base, like a mushroom or blue cheese pungence, that makes for devouring.
I’m not normally a fan of dessert but hey ho, this is a review and needs must. I opt for Ravi’s Chocolate Cake (£11), a scrumptiously stodgy chocolate sponge, served with a scoop of milk ice cream – much lighter than the regular ice cream – with a salted toffee sauce that seems to send my taste buds into overdrive with a clash of complementary flavours.
Eventually, I feel I’ve eaten all there is to eat, and so it comes to my bill. Prices are not as expensive as a la carte London dining, but still more in line with the capital than residential Chingford, a sure sign of how the owners perceive it..
There’s nothing derivative about Gina. It eschews any rigid national cuisine with the same ephemeral approach as the abstract art on its walls. The owners are said to be inspired by Fergus Henderson’s alternative approach to classic British cooking with St John Smithfield restaurant in the 1990s. But even then, they’ve evolved quite far from their inspiration.
A shifting perspective can be a curse or a blessing in the cutthroat world of cuisine, where diners don’t always have the patience to suss out what’s not instantly obvious. But there’s an air of confidence in Gina’s, from the everchanging menu to a premises on the edges of London that demands diners come to make a visit. No two ways about it, they’ll draw you in. It’s a destination restaurant in the making.
Gina is located at Station Road, Chingford. For bookings, see here.
London’s best local restaurants – Good Food Guide
These London restaurants also featured on the top 100 list:
- Gina, Chingford (#4)
- Tiella Trattoria, Bethnal Green (#6)
- Les 2 Garçons, Crouch End (#14)
- Ida, Queen’s Park (#20)
- Mambow, Clapton (#26)
- Janda Diner, Peckham (#37)
- Home SW15, Putney (#49)
- Logma, Hackney (#51)
- Teal by Sally Abé, Hackney (#52)
- Calong, Stoke Newington (#81)
- Lupa, Highbury (#99)
The best local restaurants in Britain – Good Food Guide
- La Locanda, Gisburn, Lancashire
- Cantina Caruso, Margate, Kent
- Ar Bòrd, Isle of Mull, Highlands & Islands
- Gina, Chingford, London
- The Black Bear Inn, Bettws Newydd, Monmouthshire
- Tiella Trattoria, Bethnal Green, London
- Wangs, Bristol
- Wild, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire
- Almanac, Glossop, Derbyshire
- Black Wheat Club, York, North Yorkshire
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