The Secret London video team works hard to find the newest and best places in and around London. They’re constantly running across London to try out a mouthwatering burger, head to a new cocktail bar, or scarf down a sweet treat (or seven). And along the way they’ve found some gorgeous locations, tried out some seriously weird food, and made some ridiculous videos! We asked them to look back on 2023 and tell us about some of their top picks from the past year.
And don’t come at us with your cries of ‘you missed this spot‘ or ‘that’s not my favourite cocktail bar‘. Remember, this is a roundup that only includes the videos that the Secret London video team shot this year. Read on – maybe you’ll find a top new spot to try or some new things to add to your 2024 bucket list!
Table Of Contents
The Best Burgers
If there’s one thing that always seems to dominate the London food scene, and in turn our video team’s stomachs, it’s the humble burger. Or not-so-humble burger, as is often the case in London. We checked out some seriously impressive burger spots this year, and these were our favourites:
Need even more drool-worthy burgers to chow down on? Here’s our list of the best burgers in London.
The Best Bars
Yup, that’s right – as part of their job sometimes the video team just… goes to bars and drinks some cocktails. Like… that’s the job! (Oh, and they also have to make sure to collect enough content, be aware of lighting, frame the shots, collate the footage later, edit it all together into a final product, add a voiceover, and so on…). Here are our favourite boozy bars this year:
Oh, and while you’re here, there’s also our round-up of Secret London’s prettiest bars…
The Best Sweet Treats
It goes without saying that London has all manner of bakeries, eateries, street food stalls, and more with a plethora of sweet treats to try. These were our ‘can’t-miss’ sweet treats in 2023:
🥐 Giant croissant from Philippe Conticini
🍦 3D printed ice creams from Ayce Creams
🍩 Creme brulee doughnut from Bread Ahead
🧀 ‘Charcuterie’ board from Fazenda
🍩 Mochi doughnuts from The Mochi Doughnut Bar
🍰 Chocolate dunked cheesecake from Whipped
🍩 Luxury doughnuts from The Donutelier
🍫 Chocolate steak from La Petit Beef Bar
🍰 Boujie crumble from Humble Crumble
🍦 Gelato from Anita Gelato
But before you leave, have a look at our roundup of the best bakeries in London.
The Best Activities
The Secret London video team doesn’t just sit around all day and film themselves eating and drinking! (Well, at least, most days they don’t…) They also get up to all sorts of fun and weird activities. Here are their favourite activities that they tried out in 2023.
🎪 Fairgame
For even more activity inspiration, here’s our pick of London’s best immersive experiences.
The Best Steaks
Oh yeah, we’re really raising the steaks with this section. (I’m sorry, I had to…) London is nothing if not a carnivorous city to the max, so naturally we also ate a LOT of steak in 2023. Here are the ones which ones took the top spots in the eyes of our Secret London video team:
🥩 Mayha
We’ve also put together a handy little guide to the best steak restaurants in London.
The Best Pizza
If we didn’t talk about pizza, we’d be missing one of London’s most beloved foods. It’s essentially its own food group at this point – you can’t have a balanced diet without pizza! Here are the spots where we had our favourite pizzas in 2023:
🍕 Japes
You could also grab a slice from one (or all) of these top pizza spots in London.
The Weirdest Eats
Now, amongst all the pizzas and burgers and even the occasional salad, the Secret London video team also ate some pretty out-there stuff. Here’s where we ate the weirdest dishes in London:
🐛 Bugs from Yum Bug
🧀 Cheese tea from Heytea
🐔 Chicken head pie from FOWL
🥩 3D printed vegan steak from Le Petit Beefbar
🥒 Pickle afternoon tea at Oh La La! Macarons
The Best Views
Regardless of whether you view London as a concrete jungle or a gorgeous historic city, it’s undeniable that some very impressive vistas can be seen from around the city. And given the visual focus of our videos, we of course had to seek out some of the best views in London. Here’s where you can spot unforgettable views:
Or you can read our guide to the best places to see panoramic views of the city.
The Most Aesthetic Locations
It’s undeniable that there are some truly stunning places in London. With London’s incredible diversity, how could there not be? Here are the most aesthetic locations we explored in 2023:
✨ Jacuzzi
✨ The Midland Grand Dining Room
You could also check out our guide to the prettiest restaurants in London.
The Quirkiest Locations
And for every stunning, gorgeous location, there are the left-of-field ones, of which there are just as many. Here are the Secret London video team’s picks of the quirkiest locations they visited in 2023:
🍸 The Last Tuesday Society & The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities
👖 SlowBurn
🏰 Beefeaters house at the Tower of London
We’ve also got guides for those wanting to explore London’s quirkiest restaurants and cocktail bars.
The Best Restaurants
As if the many above roundups of the best ‘insert food item here’ weren’t clues enough – our video team went to LOADS of restaurants this year. These were the top places they visited this year:
😋 Kolae
While you’re here, why not also check out our Secret London guide to the 50 best restaurants in London?
The Best Markets
We Londoners have got a bit of a soft spot for markets. Where better to spend a day browsing the goods, chowing down on LOADS of food, and generally having a wonderful old time? These were the Secret London video teams’ favourite markets that they visited this year:
📍 Old Spitalfields Market
📍 New Covent Garden Market
📍 Portobello Market
📍 Hackney Flea Market
📍 Columbia Road Flower Market
The Best Cheap Eats
If there’s one thing we love at Secret London it’s great food at an even better price. Naturally, we found some incredible deals at some of London’s eateries. These were our top spots for some of the best cheap eats in London:
🍣 Tsukiji
Heck, this was so important to us that we even made it a series: London Under 20 Quid. But we also have a guide to some of the best cheap eats in London.
Our Most Viral Videos
Naturally, due to the sheer amount of content that the Secret London video team puts out, across all manner of social media platforms, some videos just take off into the stratosphere. Our most viral video even attracted over 8 million views! Since they’re videos, just have a look above for a rundown of our most popular videos online. After all, if a picture is worth a thousand words – how could we possibly encapsulate the breadth of words represented by all the frames in the video?!