New openings in London this week include a much-anticipated Caribbean restaurant in South London, a Thames-adjacent winter market, thought-provoking exhibitions, and an ice-skating rink with a view. These are the best things to do in London this weekend (7 – 9 November 2025).
As winter rolls in, there’s two ways to spend a weekend in London: hunkered down with loved ones in cosy restaurants, bars and galleries, or soaking up winter wonderland-like scenes across the city. In the UK’s capital, there’s plenty of options for both. This is where to find it all this weekend.
1. Book a table at London’s newest Caribbean restaurant
Image credit: Harriet-Langford
Raised in Peckham and with Guyanese, Bajan and German heritage, chef Nathaniel Mortley – aka NattyCanCook – was inspired to experiment with flavours and dishes by his grandmother, and his much-anticipated restaurant, 2210 By NattyCanCook, opens this week. “This ain’t Grannies kitchen but she would be proud,” reads the opening line of the restaurant’s website, its name – 2210 – commemorating the date of Mortley’s grandmother’s passing. Bringing pan-Caribbean flavours to dishes like the jackfruit skewers with a cassava crumb, jerk chicken with a mango and pineapple salsa, and a plantain sponge cake, Nathaniel’s menu offers a fresh take on both fine dining and London’s Caribbean restaurant scene. Natty’s journey hasn’t all been smooth sailing, though. He worked at some of the capital’s top restaurants including The Arts Club and Jason Atheron’s City Social before spending time in HMP Brixton, where he worked as sous chef at the prison’s The Clink restaurant. At 2210 NattyCanCook, he’s vowed to continue his collaboration with The Clink and to help ex-offenders find careers in hospitality.
Address: 75 Norwood Road, London, SE24 9AA
Book a table here
2. Drink hot chocolate and mulled wine at a Festive Market
Image credit: Adam Luszniak
Halloween and Bonfire Night are over. Enter Christmas. You know it’s the start of the festive season when winter markets begin to open their wooden-shuttered chalet windows, and the Southbank Centre’s annual winter wonderland has returned this week. Stroll among the Alpine-style huts (all decorated in twinkly lights) on the banks of the River Thames, stopping for mugs of hot chocolate and mulled wine, plates of Himalayan dumplings, Yorkshire Pudding wraps, and hotdogs – and browse for early Christmas-present inspiration; independent vendors with stalls include Old Maps Library, Linnet Jewellery and Handmade Stories, a female-owned slow fashion brand and social enterprise that supports women in rural Andean communities.
Open now until Sun 4 Jan 2026. 11am – 11pm
Closed on 25 December, 31 December and 1 January
Address: The Queen’s Walk, South Bank, London
3. Hunker down in a Soho Listening Bar
Image Credit: Eleonora Boscarelli
Inspired by the Tokyo-style underground bars of the 1960s, listening bars have become all the rage across the world – including right here in London. One of the city’s newest is The Listening Room, which opened in October inside Wardour Street’s MOI restaurant, a Japanese-inspired grill and omakase bar (that itself only opened earlier this year). An intimate, lounge-bar on the lower ground floor of the restaurant, this new space serves small plates, sushi and low-intervention wine, sake and cocktails – and all with music at its centre. Live DJ nights at weekends are a mix of digital and vinyl sets, and the sound system is sharp – boosted by the expertise of London-founded audio specialist Friendly Pressure.
Walk-ins welcome, or book a table here
Address: The Listening Bar, MOI , 84 Wardour St, Soho, London, W1F 0TQ
4. Visit These Two Exhibitions At The Royal Academy Of Arts
Kerry James Marshall, Untitled (Porch Deck), 2014. Acrylic on PVC panel, 180.3 x 149.9 cm. Kravis Collection. © Kerry James Marshall. Image courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner, London
Head to The Royal Academy of Arts to see two of London’s standout exhibitions this autumn. Start with the incredible contemporary American painter Kerry James Marshall, whose large-scale canvases paint colourful vignettes of life. Marshall draws influence from classical painting techniques, positioning Black subjects as the focal point in scenes and styles through art history, from which they have been previously excluded. After soaking these in (leave a good hour, they are worth every minute) head upstairs to the newly opened A Story of South Asian Art: Mrinalini Mukherjee and Her Circle for a multi-disciplinary exhibition spanning a century of South Asian art. Indian Modernist art movements are presented in their many forms through approximately one hundred artworks, spanning collage, sculpture, painting, prints, textiles, and more. Look out for the curator talks happening later this month for a chance to learn more about the artists and their incredible works. Ella Mansell
Address: 6 Burlington Gardens, W1S 3ET
Book tickets here
5. Go ice skating
‘Tis the (start of the) season: Canary Wharf’s ice rink opened on 25 October. It was the first of London’s festive ice rinks to open this year and, while it does feel a little early to think about Christmas, we’re not going to let that put us off donning our skates and having a whizz around the rink, which is bigger than ever this year. Find it (and us) at Canada Square Park for a 45-minute skate session, starting at 10am every day until 23 February 2026. Afterwards, head to the ring-side bar or take advantage of the many bars and restaurants nearby – we’ve got our sights set on a Badiani hot chocolate to refuel and warm up post-skate. But as we move through the weeks running up to Christmas, more and more rinks are opening their gates. Last weekend was Skate Leicester Square and this weekend’s new ice rink is Glide at Battersea Power Station, with a view across the Thames and London’s skyline.
6. Browse the UK’s largest ever retrospective of Lee Miller, fashion and war photographer
Fashion-model-turned-war-photographer (one of very few female war photographers, too), Lee Miller lived an extraordinary life. Her work has previously been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery (2005), the Victoria and Albert Museum (2007) and Imperial War Museum (2015), but the largest retrospective of her photographic work in the UK is taking place this month. More than 250 of her prints – including many never-showcased-before – are on display at Tate Britain, and take us on a chronological journey through her remarkable life and contributions to French surrealism and fashion and war photography, displayed alongside her still life and landscape shots from Egypt, where she lived between 1934 and 1939. Eye-opening, daring and emotional – this is an exhibition well worth carving out time for. You might even find you need to visit more than once.
Address: Tate Britain, Millbank, London, SW1P 4RG
Tickets cost £20 / free for members
Book tickets here
7. Dine on Aji Akokomi’s menu at the Tate Modern, inspired by the gallery’s Nigerian Modernism exhibition
Aji Akokomi, founder of London’s Akoko and Akara restaurants, has collaborated with the Tate Modern to create a very special three-course lunch menu in celebration of the gallery’s stand-out Nigerian Modernism exhibition. Paying homage to Nigeria’s modern art through his menu, Akokomi says, “I have long been inspired by the artistry of Ladi Kwali, whose ceramics embody both tradition and modernity,” continuing that he wants his dishes to “tell a story that bridges heritage and creativity.” The result? Dishes like the BBQ Prawn Akara, served with sosu kaani as a modern take on the traditional akara; a Lagos street-style poussin plated with a chilli-mop sauce; and a Nigerian take on the Bloody Mary, served with a jollof twist.
Menu available daily between midday and 3pm and priced at £36, or £56 with an exhibition ticket included. Nigerian Modernism runs at Tate Modern until 10 May 2026.
Address: Tate Modern, Bankside, London, SE1 9TG
8. Visit the Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion exhibition at the Barbican
Dirty Looks, Paolo Carzana, Spring/Summer 2025, How to Attract Mosquitoes. Headwear and creative consulting by Nasir Mazhar. Styling and creative consulting by Patricia Villirillo. Photograph by Joseph Rigby. Courtesy of Paolo Carzana.
Does high-gloss equal high-end fashion? That’s one of the questions being explored at the Barbican’s first fashion exhibition in seven years – and the answer comes courtesy of a curated selection of dirty, sweaty, decaying clothes. Among the 120 objects on display are Helmet Newton’s paint-splattered jeans; Hussein Chalayan’s 1993 garden-buried graduate collection; plus “torn, worn and artificially aged fashion”, like Vivienne Westwood’s distressed denims and Balenciaga’s 2022 “destroyed” sneakers. The exhibition opened in late September and will run until 25 January 2026.
Until 25 January 2026
Address: Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS
Book tickets here
9. Eat at Il Bambini Club – bringing Italian-trattoria flair to Shoreditch
Image credit: Emma Pharaoh
In early October, Shoreditch welcomed a new, lively space with Italian-trattoria flair: Il Bambini Club at The Hoxton. Already a favourite with discerning diners in Paris and Megève, this is the restaurant’s London debut and has been brought to life by French hospitality group, Paris Society (who also curate 20 other chic restaurants including Gigi, Maison Revka and Maxims). Expect a colourful and playful setting that blends joyful Italian dining with the creative energy of London. Dishes include fresh pizza, pasta, antipasti and salads, served alongside flavourful spritzes. Not quite ready to say goodbye to summer just yet? This vibrant Mediterranean-inspired space will make you forget that winter even exists.
Address: 81 Great Eastern St, London, EC2A 3HU
Book here
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