Late night food in London: what is open after midnight, and how late

London closes earlier than its reputation suggests. Most kitchens stop serving between eleven and midnight, including in Soho, and the gap between the last order and the last train is where most evenings go wrong. Two places genuinely do not close.

Duck and Waffle

The 40th floor of 110 Bishopsgate, in the City, and open 24 hours. It is a full restaurant with a view rather than a stopgap, which makes it the only place in London where you can eat properly at four in the morning and see the whole city while you do it. Book if you want a window.

Beigel Bake

Brick Lane, open around the clock, and the opposite proposition in every way: a counter, a queue, salt beef, and no seat. It is the thing people mean when they talk about eating late in London, and it costs a few pounds rather than a few tens of pounds.

Before the kitchens shut

If it is not yet midnight the field is much wider, and the useful move is to look at what is flagged as late in our listings rather than to walk Soho hoping. Anything running past eleven is marked, because getting home is the other half of the decision.

Getting home

The Victoria, Central, Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines run all night on Friday and Saturday. On a weeknight they do not, and a night bus from the City or Shoreditch is a longer journey than it looks at two in the morning. Check the last train before you order another round, not after.