My favourite restaurants: Aaron Potter

One of 2024’s most exciting openings, Wildflowers has quickly cemented its place among London’s finest, holding strong in our Top 100 London Restaurants list. Hidden away in Newsoms Yard, Pimlico, it’s the kind of restaurant that’s becoming increasingly rare - light-filled, elegant, and deeply committed to flavour and craft.

Potter cooks with soul - his food doesn’t shout, it sings. Service is warm and intuitive, the food seasonal and rooted in classical technique, yet never stuck in the past. It’s a place that gets the fundamentals right, and then elevates them.

At the helm is chef-patron Aaron Potter, whose pedigree reads like a who’s who of British gastronomy. A Royal Academy of Culinary Arts alumnus, Potter cut his teeth at Trinity under Adam Byatt, rising from teenage trainee to head chef. He later joined Phil Howard at Elystan Street, before launching Wildflowers with partner Laura Hart as a supper club - a passion project that bloomed into something bigger.

You can taste that lineage in every dish. Potter’s cooking carries the precision of Trinity and the finesse of Elystan Street, but it’s unmistakably his own. Take the moules farcies: mussels gently steamed, nestled back into their shells with garlic and parsley butter. It’s simple, indulgent, and quietly brilliant - the kind of dish that reminds you why you love restaurants in the first place.

Naturally, given the chance to talk to Aaron, the first thing we wanted to know was where he loves to go and eat. Scroll down for his top five picks in London and beyond.

Perilla, Stoke Newington

Aaron says: 'Perilla is our go to special occasion restaurant. The room is beautiful, the staff are always fun, incredibly knowledgeable and relaxed. Ben's food is so unique, delicious and always incredibly striking. It strikes a perfect balance between neighbourhood and treat night restaurant. I'd go every day if I could.'
Where: 1-3 Green Lanes, N16 9BS
Book now: Perilla

Updown Farmhouse, Kent

Aaron says: 'We had one of our most memorable meals at Updown Farmhouse celebrating a birthday a couple years back. Oli's food is perfectly simplistic. An Italian leaning menu full of incredible ingredients cooked beautifully, which fits in the enviable, slightly rustic open kitchen restaurant at the bottom of the garden.'
Where: Updown Road, Deal, CT14 OEF
Book now: Updown Farmhouse

Anglothai, Marylebone

Aaron says: 'We love Anglothai, it feels sophisticated whilst still being warm and relaxed. The tasting menu starts off incredibly refined and light of touch, and as it progresses the dishes become more convivial with a sense of generosity that comes from home style cooking. John and Desiree have perfected and refined the concept for years before opening their first bricks and mortar site, so it is already a fully recognised restaurant that immediately found its footing.'
Where: 22-24 Seymour Place, W1H 7NL
Book now: Anglothai

North Street Kitchen, Cornwall

Aaron says: 'North Street Kitchen is a brilliant, small, open fronted restaurant overlooking the Fowey river. The food is simple, well-cooked seafood, exactly what you want to eat after a morning meandering through Fowey. It's the restaurant every seaside town should have.'
Where: 46 Fore Street, TR18 5JR
Book now: North Street Kitchen

Bouchon Rachine, Farringdon

Aaron says: 'We recently had an excellent meal at Bouchon Racine, and it’s now firmly on our favourite restaurants list. It’s a perfect combination of classic, beautifully cooked dishes and warm hospitality that makes the restaurant feel like it’s been around forever. I don’t think you can put a foot wrong with the menu (and you will most likely over-order), but we particularly loved the veal cutlet with roquefort, and a beautiful dish of asparagus and morels with Coombeshead ventreche and comté - they were stupidly delicious!'
Where: 66 Cowcross Street, EC1M 6BP
Book now: Bouchon Rachine

Want to read more about the best female chefs in the UK? Browse interviews with the likes of Helene Darroze, Abby Lee and Ruth Hansom.