Best London neighbourhoods for food lovers

London's food scene is extraordinary and uneven. The best eating is concentrated in a handful of central and inner areas — Shoreditch, Fitzrovia, Soho, Covent Garden and Borough top this ranking — but some of the city's most distinctive food is found in neighbourhoods known for the communities who live there: Turkish grills in Dalston and Green Lanes, South Asian cooking in Tooting, Southall and Ilford, Vietnamese restaurants on Kingsland Road, Caribbean food in Brixton.

The ranking measures food scene and café density most heavily, with walkability and liveliness as supporting factors. That favours areas where you can walk to many good places, which is not quite the same as the areas with the best single restaurants. It also leans towards central areas where restaurants serve office workers and visitors, and where prices reflect that. For everyday eating — the bakery, the grocer, the café on the corner — a high street such as Lordship Lane, Church Street in Stoke Newington or Chiswick High Road can be more satisfying than a central district.

If food is your priority, think about which kind of eating you do most. People who cook at home tend to value markets and specialist grocers: Borough Market, Ridley Road, Walthamstow's long street market and the stalls in Brixton and Deptford. People who eat out several times a week value density and variety within walking distance. People who care about one cuisine in particular should look at where that community lives rather than at the top of any ranking, including this one.