Late-Night Food in London After a Date: Beigels, Diners and Chinatown After Dark

Why a late bite is worth planning

A gig or a night out often ends at the point where most kitchens have already closed. Many London restaurants stop taking food orders well before the doors shut, so a place that is technically open at midnight may only be serving drinks. That gap is where a date can drift into a hungry walk to the station.

Planning one late stop solves two things at once. It gives you somewhere warm and lit to keep talking after the music stops, and it gives the night a natural end point before you each head home. It also takes the pressure off a second bar if one of you would rather not drink more.

Every closing time in this guide comes from the venue's own website, or is clearly marked where we could only find it on a third-party page. Late hours change more often than daytime ones, especially around bank holidays and in winter, so check on the day. Where a venue does not publish its hours, this guide says so rather than guessing.

This guide is about eating late. For sit-down dinners on a budget earlier in the evening, see our guide to cheap dinner dates under £20, and for whole food districts by day, see our neighbourhood food guide.

Brick Lane beigels: the round-the-clock classic

Beigel Bake at 159 Brick Lane is the standard answer to where to eat at 3am in east London. Wikipedia describes it as a 24-hour bakery and shop that opened on Brick Lane in 1974, and gives the salt beef beigel, its best-known item, at roughly £7. We could not reach an official website for the shop, so treat that price as a guide and expect it to have moved.

A few doors along is the Beigel Shop, known as the yellow one for its sign, against Beigel Bake as the white one. A Country & Town House feature on its reopening says a bagel shop has traded on the site since 1855, that brothers David and Aron took it over in 1987, and that it was renamed Beigel Shop in 2002. The same piece describes it as open 24 hours. It is a press article rather than the shop's own page, and the shop's hours after its reopening are not confirmed on an official site, so look before you walk over.

Brick Lane works best after a gig in Shoreditch, Hoxton or Dalston, or after a night in the East End. It is a counter-and-queue experience rather than a sit-down meal, which suits a date that wants to keep walking. Have a card ready, and pick where you will eat it before the queue moves you along.

• Beigel Bake24 hour bakery

  159 Brick Lane, Spitalfields, E1

  Described by Wikipedia as a 24-hour bakery and shop opened in 1974; salt beef beigel roughly £7 per that page.

• Beigel Shopbagel shop

  Brick Lane, Spitalfields, E1

  The 'yellow one'; renamed Beigel Shop in 2002 according to a Country & Town House feature, which describes it as open 24 hours.

The City after dark: Duck & Waffle and the Polo Bar

Duck & Waffle is the 24-hour option with a view. Its own page says it sits on the 40th floor of 110 Bishopsgate, in Heron Tower, and is open 24/7. It takes bookings up to two months in advance through its reservations page, by phone or by WhatsApp. The dress code is smart casual: smart trainers are fine, but tracksuits, denim shorts, flip-flops, sliders and beachwear are not, and entry is at the restaurant's discretion. The page says it no longer accepts cash and takes Visa, Mastercard and Amex. It does not publish menu prices on that page, so check the menu before you commit.

For a late-night date, Duck & Waffle is the one to book rather than drop in on, especially at weekends. It suits a night that wants a sense of occasion after a gig in the City or the East End, and the lift ride up does some of the conversational work for you.

The Polo Bar is the plainer, cheaper-feeling alternative nearby. Its website describes it as a 24-hour venue and links to an About page marked 'Est. 1953'. The menu on the site covers all-day breakfast, breakfast sandwiches, pancakes, toasties, burgers and sides, and it advertises a 24-hour bottomless brunch. The site does not show a street address or prices on its homepage; its delivery links point to the City, Moorgate and Liverpool Street, so check the address on the site or a map before you set off.

• Duck & Waffle24 hour restaurant

  40th floor, 110 Bishopsgate, EC2N 4AY

  Open 24/7 per its own page; bookings up to two months ahead; smart casual dress code; card only.

• Polo Bar24 hour café

  near Liverpool Street, City of London

  Describes itself as 24-hour and established in 1953; all-day breakfast, pancakes, burgers and sandwiches.

Soho late: Balans, Bar Italia and Speedboat Bar

Balans has been part of Soho since the 1980s, according to its own site, and runs two Soho sites: No.34, the smaller, and No.60, the larger. Balans Soho No.60 at 60-62 Old Compton Street lists its hours as 9am to 10.30pm Monday to Wednesday, 9am to 4.30am Thursday to Saturday, and 9am to 12.30am on Sunday. Its homepage also says 'open until 6AM' and the venue page says food is served until 5am, which does not match the listed hours, so plan around the listed times and treat anything later as a bonus. You can book online, by phone on 020 3740 0560 or by email. Old Compton Street is the centre of Soho's queer nightlife, which makes No.60 an easy place to land after a night on the street.

Bar Italia at 22 Frith Street is the Soho café that people mention first when they think of late coffee. Wikipedia says it opened in its present form in 1949, founded by the Polledri family, who still own it, and that John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration of television in the same building in January 1926; a blue plaque marks it. We could not reach an official website, and third-party listings disagree on its closing time, so this guide does not give one. Go for an espresso and a pastry, and check its current hours on the day.

Speedboat Bar at 30 Rupert Street is a Thai restaurant and bar on the edge of Chinatown. Its own page lists Monday to Thursday 12pm to midnight with last food orders at 10.45pm, Friday and Saturday 12pm to 1am with last food orders at 12.15am, and Sunday 12pm to 11pm with last food orders at 9.45pm. Those last-order times are the ones that matter after a show: on a weekday you need to be seated before 10.45pm. Booking for Soho is through SevenRooms, linked from its site.

• Balans Soho No.60late diner

  60-62 Old Compton Street, Soho, W1D 4UG

  Open until 4.30am Thursday to Saturday and 12.30am on Sunday per its listed hours; bookable.

• Bar Italiacafé

  22 Frith Street, Soho, W1D 4RF

  Opened in 1949 by the Polledri family, per Wikipedia; closing time not confirmed on an official page.

• Speedboat BarThai restaurant and bar

  30 Rupert Street, Soho, W1D 6DL

  Until 1am Friday and Saturday, last food orders 12.15am; midnight Monday to Thursday.

Chinatown's late openings

Chinatown London, the estate's own site, publishes a guide to late-night dining. It lists Noodle & Beer, a Sichuan-inspired noodle house, serving hot food until 3.30am Thursday to Saturday, which makes it the latest kitchen in this guide outside the 24-hour places. Time Out's listing gives the address as 27 Wardour Street and the Thursday to Saturday closing as 4am, with noon to 11pm from Sunday to Wednesday. Plan on the earlier 3.30am time and treat the extra half hour as luck.

The same Chinatown London guide lists earlier closers that still work after a theatre show or an early gig. Lotus Garden, serving Cantonese and Pekinese food, and Four Seasons, known for roast duck with branches on Gerrard Street and Wardour Street, are both listed as open until 11.30pm. Viet Food and C&R Cafe Restaurant, the Malaysian place on Rupert Court, are listed until 11pm, and Dumplings' Legend until 10pm. The guide does not give full addresses or say which days these hours apply, so check each restaurant before you go.

Chinatown is a short walk from Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus stations, both on the Piccadilly line, which runs on the Night Tube on Friday and Saturday nights. That makes it one of the easier places to finish a date and still have a straightforward route home.

• Noodle & BeerSichuan noodle restaurant

  27 Wardour Street, Chinatown, W1D 6PR

  Hot food until 3.30am Thursday to Saturday per Chinatown London; Time Out lists 4am.

• Chinatown Londonfood district

  Gerrard Street and surrounds, W1

  The estate's own late-night dining guide, listing closing times for Lotus Garden, Four Seasons, Viet Food and others.

Getting home after you eat

Decide how you are getting home before you order. TfL's Night Tube runs on Friday and Saturday nights only, on the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria and Windrush lines. Night Tube fares are charged at off-peak rates, daily capping applies to Oyster and contactless, and a Day Travelcard bought that day is valid for journeys starting before 4.30am the next morning. On other nights, plan on a bus or a booked cab.

Buses take contactless or Oyster. TfL's fares page lists the pay-as-you-go adult bus fare at £1.75 with a daily cap of £5.25, rising to £1.85 and £5.55 from 1 November 2026. The Hopper fare gives unlimited bus and tram journeys within an hour of first touching in for that one fare, as long as you use the same card or device each time.

Our separate guide to getting home safely in London covers the rest in detail: booking licensed minicabs only, what to do if something goes wrong on the network, and support lines for LGBTQ+ people. Read it before the date, not on the pavement at 3am.

Before you go

• Check the closing time and the last food order time on the day; they are often an hour or more apart.
• Carry a card or phone that pays contactless. Duck & Waffle says it no longer takes cash, and TfL buses take contactless or Oyster.
• Book Duck & Waffle or Balans at weekends rather than hoping for a table.
• Check whether it is a Night Tube night before you choose a place across town.
• Agree where the night ends before you set off, so the late bite is a choice rather than an accident.

Questions people ask

Where can I eat 24 hours a day in London?

Duck & Waffle at 110 Bishopsgate says it is open 24/7, the Polo Bar's website describes it as a 24-hour venue, and Wikipedia describes Beigel Bake on Brick Lane as a 24-hour bakery. Check each on the day, as hours can change around holidays.

What is open late in Soho after a show?

Balans Soho No.60 on Old Compton Street lists 4.30am closing Thursday to Saturday and 12.30am on Sunday. Speedboat Bar on Rupert Street serves food until 12.15am on Fridays and Saturdays. In Chinatown, Noodle & Beer serves hot food until 3.30am Thursday to Saturday, per Chinatown London.

Do Chinatown restaurants stay open all night?

Mostly not. Chinatown London's late-night guide lists most restaurants closing between 10pm and 11.30pm. Noodle & Beer is the late exception, serving hot food until 3.30am Thursday to Saturday. Bars such as Experimental Cocktail Club and Opium are listed until 3am, but they are cocktail bars rather than restaurants.

Does the Night Tube run every night?

No. TfL says the Night Tube runs on Friday and Saturday nights only, on the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria and Windrush lines. On other nights, plan on a night bus or a booked, licensed minicab.