🇬🇧 London

From the Tower to Shoreditch — narrated walks of the world's most layered capital.

What you can do in London

CityCompanion has audio walking tours, scavenger hunts, 4 curated local food signatures, multi-day itineraries, and a daily morning briefing for London. All free, no app store needed.

🎙️ AI-curated walking tours — coherent district-based routes (3h to 5 days)
🎭 Cultural scavenger hunts — narrative quests with questions, hints, rewards
🍽️ Local food signatures — 4 dishes with history and best places to try
☀️ Daily morning briefing — 1–5 min audio: weather, today's plan, a fresh story
♿ Accessibility routing — wheelchair-accessible, step-free, stroller-friendly
🗺️ Offline maps — cache for travel without data

Must-try local food in London

3 signature dishes every visitor should try. Each has its own history and the best places to find it authentically.

🐟 Fish & Chips Must try

lunch / dinner · ££

Battered cod or haddock with thick-cut chips, the patron saint of British comfort food.

Born in working-class East London in the 1860s when Jewish immigrants brought fried fish and Irish migrants brought the chip. By WWII it was so culturally vital, Churchill called it one of "the good companions" — never rationed. Today the best spots batter to order, salt with Maldon, and serve mushy peas alongside.

📍 Where to try (3)

The Mayfair Chippy — 14 N Audley St, London W1K 6WE
Modern, batter-perfect, chef-led
Poppies Fish & Chips — 6-8 Hanbury St, London E1 6QR
Spitalfields legend, classic recipe
The Golden Hind — 73 Marylebone Ln, London W1U 2PN
Marylebone classic since 1914

🍖 Sunday Roast Must try

Sunday lunch · ££-£££

Roast meat (usually beef), Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, and gravy — the weekly British ritual.

Tradition dates to medieval times when servants would set meat to roast slowly during church and return to a hot lunch. The Yorkshire pudding came later as a way to use the dripping pan fat. Best from 12-3pm in a proper pub on a slow Sunday.

📍 Where to try (3)

Hawksmoor — 157A Commercial St, London E1 6BJ
Steakhouse-quality beef, Yorkshire pudding for two
The Camberwell Arms — 65 Camberwell Church St, London SE5 8TR
Gastro-pub revolution, book ahead
Blacklock — Multiple — Soho, City, Shoreditch
All-Roasts platter — comically large

🫖 Afternoon Tea Must try

3-5pm · £££

Finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, tiny cakes, and a pot of tea — usually 3-5pm.

Invented in 1840 by Anna, Duchess of Bedford, who wanted something to bridge the long gap before late dinners. Became a Victorian society ritual. The scone debate — cream first or jam first — divides Devon (cream first) from Cornwall (jam first).

📍 Where to try (3)

Fortnum & Mason — 181 Piccadilly, London W1A 1ER
The benchmark — since 1707
The Ritz — 150 Piccadilly, London W1J 9BR
Most theatrical, dress code applies
Brown's Hotel — 33 Albemarle St, London W1S 4BP
Charming, clubby, less photo-tourist

Also worth trying

🥧 Pie & Mash

lunch · £

Minced beef pie, mashed potato, parsley liquor sauce, sometimes jellied eels on the side.

A 19th-century East End working-class staple invented around the docks where eels were cheap and abundant. Only a handful of original pie & mash shops survive — F. Cooke, Manze's, Goddard's — with their original tile interiors.

📍 Where to try (2)

F. Cooke — 9 Broadway Market, London E8 4PH
Original tile interior, since 1900
Manze's — 87 Tower Bridge Rd, London SE1 4TW
Oldest in London (1902), still family-run