Brilliant things to do in London in August 2025
From delectable new restaurants to music festivals, here’s how we recommend you see out the summer in style this month
August in the city is usually a time of quiet and calm. The bulk of the London season has passed, many have fled for glamorous holidays on European shores and those left behind are free to enjoy a diary devoid of work events, and their pick of the best restaurant tables in town. From exciting new cultural experiences at the capital’s landmarks to delectable foodie pop-ups, here’s our guide to the best things to do in London in August 2025.
The must-try menu: Straits Kitchen at Pan Pacific London
Overseen by executive chef Adam Bateman, Straits Kitchen – the flagship restaurant at Pan Pacific London renowned for its bold Southeast Asian flavours – has undergone a summer spruce-up with a new seasonal menu bound to entice the biggest foodies in town. Having recently been awarded two AA Rosettes, the reimagined a la carte offering puts provenance front and centre, with Bateman putting special emphasis on fresh, locally sourced ingredients from trusted suppliers. Case in point is Aubrey Allen, the renowned British butcher that Bateman has worked with for more than 35 years and whose produce now features in many of the restaurant’s meat-based dishes.
Menu highlights include hand-dived Scottish scallops with a soy, sesame and chilli dressing, gorgeous crab pappardelle showcasing Devon’s finest seafood – and served with a creamy coconut and chilli laksa for an East-West fusion – and, for those with a sweet tooth, chocolate sponge with kumquat compôte and a zingy lime sorbet. Summer dining doesn’t get better than this.
Visit panpacific.com
The theatre: Every Brilliant Thing at Soho Place
Ambika Mod. Images: Oliver Rosser
Lenny Henry
The West End premiere of Every Brilliant Thing – written by Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe – is running at Soho Place theatre across four dates in August and September. First performed in 2014, this wildly popular one-person play has delighted audiences in more than 80 countries worldwide and now debuts in Soho Place, performed by four exceptional actors. The season opens with Lenny Henry on 7 August 2025 followed by Jonny Donahoe (21 August), Ambika Mod (10 September), Sue Perkins (11 September) and then Minnie Driver for a four-week run in October. The plot follows a child’s attempt to ease their mother’s depression by creating a list of all the best things in the world, as the list grows with them, they learn the deep significance it has on their own life. Every Brilliant Thing is a comedy about the lengths we will go to for those we love.
Every Brilliant Thing is at Soho Place, 4 Soho Place, W1D 3BG, until 8 November 2025. Visit sohoplace.org
The festival: Greenwich+Docklands International Festival and Battersea Park in Concert
Image: Lina Johnansson
Image: Kristina Makeeva
Now in its 30th year, Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF) 2025 will offer a jam-packed programme of world-class free outdoor theatre, circus and dance across 16 days from 22 August 2025. This year’s theme, Above and Beyond, is embodied by French parkour artists Lézards Bleus, who will open GDIF with a roof-hopping performance across landmark buildings in Woolwich soundtracked by Roma Yagnik and the Greenwich-based Citizens of the World Choir.
There’s plenty to sink your teeth into during the two week festival. Greenwich Fair returns for the first time since 2023 with a Bank Holiday weekend programme of free outdoor performances headlined by Epiphytes: an all-female high-wire aerial troupe. Another festival highlight will see leading Black British theatre company Talawa collaborate with acclaimed Black British dance company Fubunation on the world premiere of Fragments of Us. The popular ‘festival within festival’, Dancing City, also returns this year with an exciting new partnership with New York’s iconic Fire Island Dance Festival, which will see a stellar line-up of international LGBTQIA+ dance artists.
Battersea Park in Concert returns for another unmissable summer weekend of live music over the Bank Holiday weekend this month. Celebrate good times on 23 August as the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, led by Pete Harrison, is joined by a full disco band and special guest singers to reimagine a plethora of disco classics. Featuring music from the halcyon days of Studio 54, through to disco’s chart-topping era, this unique take on the clubland genre is guaranteed to have Battersea Park up on its feet.
On 24 August, the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra will host A Night at the Movies, a journey through the most exhilarating movie music of all time, culminating in a magnificent fireworks finale. Finally on 25 August, the master of boogie woogie Jools Holland and his exceptional orchestra will be accompanied by special guest and fellow Squeeze member Chris Difford, plus long-standing collaborators Louise Marshall and Sumudu Jayatilaka on vocals and blues guitar prodigy Toby Lee. Plus, with a ‘bring your own’ policy so you can enjoy your own homemade feast, or alternatively order pre-booked gourmet picnic hampers, Battersea Park in Concert is a brilliant way to spend the August Bank Holiday in the city.
Greenwich+Docklands International Festival runs from 22 August - 6 September 2025, visit festival.org; Battersea Park in Concert runs from 23-25 August 2025, visit batterseaparkinconcert.com
The restaurants: Café Royal Grill and Legado
Café Royal Grill
To mark its 160th anniversary, Hotel Café Royal is ushering in a new dining era as it brings back the historic Café Royal Grill. Previously known as the Oscar Wilde Bar, the restaurant will now welcome guests for lunch and dinner. Established in 1865, Café Royal Grill was inspired by the grand brasseries of Paris. Frequented by luminaries such as Winston Churchill, Brigitte Bardot, and Princess Diana, the room is once again making its mark on the London restaurant scene, with chef Kevin Gratton at the helm.
The new menu champions exceptional British producers, utilising salt-aged beef from Glenarm Estate, Scottish shellfish delivered daily on the night train to Euston by Keltic Seafare, and Paxton and Whitfield, London's oldest cheesemonger and supplier to Winston Churchill. Signature dishes include steak tartare, lobster bisque with cider brandy and chive chantilly, and the time-honoured chicken and bacon pie à la Café Royal with black truffle sauce and mashed potato. The wine cellar – originally conceived by Hotel Café Royal’s founder, Daniel Nicols, and once regarded as the finest in the world – has an exceptional wine list, featuring rare vintages and standout bottles from renowned estates such as Krug Clos du Mesnil 2008 and Pétrus 1982.
Legado
The second act from celebrated Spanish chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho, Legado opens in Shoreditch on 28 August to focus on the lesser-known regional dishes she grew up with, and going beyond the classics she's celebrated for at Sabor. Barragán Mohacho's first opening since Sabor launched in 2018, the new restaurant, whose names translates to ‘legacy’, is set across two floors and will also feature La Taberna: a dedicated all-day bar and outdoor terrace serving tapas and pintxos throughout the day.
Ingredients – including their provenance, producers, and the legacy behind them – are central to Legado’s vision. The kitchen will undertake whole animal butchery in-house, while the wine list is entirely Spanish, with a particular focus on sherry and cava. Meals will begin with a three-sip serve: a choice of five seasonal vegetable- and fruit-based cocktails, served chilled (but without ice) in bespoke ceramics that pay homage to different regions of Spain. Stand-out dishes include Mediterranean prawns finished with smoked paprika and Moscatel vinegar, and confit lobster with chilli and garlic on a base of thinly sliced potatoes – each topped by an egg allowing the warm runny yolk to form the sauce.
Café Royal Grill is now open at 68 Regent Street, W1B 4DY, visit hotelcaferoyal.com; Legado opens on 28 August 2025 at 185-186 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6HU, visit legadorestaurants.com
The pop-ups: The Wigmore Toastie Takeover, Friday night jazz at Cinnamon Kitchen, and A Roaring Summer at Brasserie of Light
Bradley Cacela, head chef at Tom Kerridge’s The Coach in Marlow
The Wigmore, the modern British gastropub inside The Langham and overseen by Michel Roux Jr, has launched its third Toastie Takeover series. A staple since The Wigmore opened in 2017, the series invites acclaimed chefs to reinvent the toastie in true gastropub style, kicking things off on 1 August 2025 with Bradley Cacela, the new head chef at Tom Kerridge’s The Coach in Marlow. Cacela’s indulgent toastie combines slow-cooked beef shin, fennel and chilli sausage, gorgonzola and mozzarella, promising a rich fusion of British and Italian flavours. He will be followed by chefs James Mackenzie and Nigel Haworth in September and October; each guest chef toastie will be available for one month, and £1 from each toastie sold will be donated to the hospitality mental health charity, The Burnt Chef Project.
Need Friday night plans? Kick the weekend off in style with Cinnamon Kitchen City’s weekly live jazz nights, accompanied by an exclusive five-course tasting menu for just £45. Begin your evening with a glass of champagne before enjoying a curated selection of dishes, including tandoori venison rump in a Rajasthani corn sauce, chargrilled king prawns in Alleppey curry sauce, and passionfruit brûlée with blueberry compote. Book online and quote ‘FRIDAY45’.
This summer, Brasserie of Light transforms into a world of 1920s glamour with A Roaring Summer, a dazzling seasonal celebration inspired by The Great Gatsby. Running until 3 September 2025, guests can dine like Gatsby with the Roaring Set Menu, featuring elevated dishes including bang bang chicken salad with cashew nuts and chilli sauce, a vibrant rosmary goat’s cheese mousse with smoked aubergine and edible flowers, and succulent cumin and oregano chicken with hummus, pomegranate and fennel. Throughout the month, Fridays at Brasserie of Light will come alive with Roaring Nights – a weekly celebration of live saxophonists, vocalists and DJs – and on 27 August, the restaurant will host an exclusive one-night-only soirée, featuring a live jazz band, spectacular dancers, a DJ, and immersive Gatsby-era décor. See you there, Old Sport.
The Wigmore Toastie Takeover runs from 1 August 2025 at The Langham, 15 Langham Place, W1B 3DE, visit the-wigmore.co.uk; Friday night jazz and tasting menus at Cinnamon Kitchen City are available every Friday throughout August 2025 at 9 Devonshire Square, EC2M 4YL, visit cinnamon-kitchen.com; A Roaring Summer at Brasserie of Light runs until 3 September 2025 at 400 Oxford Street, W1A 1AB, visit brasserie-of-light.co.uk
The exhibition: Marwan: A Soul in Exile at Christie’s
Christie’s has launched its third annual Arab Art Exhibition, Marwan: A Soul in Exile, to celebrate one of the most critically acclaimed and influential artists in the Middle East. Free to the public until 22 August 2025, Marwan Kassab Bachi – known as Marwan – is renowned for his explorations of figuration, particularly his facial landscapes, which go beyond traditional portraiture and act as metaphysical gateways to the universal facets of the human condition. Christie’s is currently showcasing more than 150 works on loan from leading museums, institutions, and prestigious private collections in Europe and the Middle East, presenting a comprehensive survey of the artist’s six-decade career.
As the official hospitality partner of the exhibition, Jumeirah Carlton Tower will host a pop-up coffee bar within the elegant exhibition space, offering two limited edition cakes: Arabica, featuring 100 per cent arabica coffee pastry cream, and a pistachio and cardamom crémeux, olive oil sponge topped with vanilla whipped crème.
Marwan: A Soul in Exile is open until 22 August 2025 at 8 King Street, SW1Y 6QT, visit christies.com
The brunch: Infinite Yum Cha at Yauatcha
Yauatcha’s beloved Infinite Yum Cha brunch has gone daily for August, in response to overwhelming demand. Traditionally a weekend-only indulgence, the experience is now available every day at both the Soho and City restaurants, offering unlimited dim sum, mains and a cocktail from £45 per person.
Menus are rooted in the teahouse traditions of Cantonese dining but elevated with Yauatcha’s signature flair. Highlights include steamed Scallop Shui Mai, Har Gau and Wild Mushroom dumplings; baked Venison Puffs and fried Mushroom Spring Rolls; plus a choice of mains such as Stir-Fried Rib Eye Beef, Sweet and Spicy Cod Curry or Crispy Prawn with wasabi mayo. To finish, Soufflé Honeycomb Pancakes bring a light, playful touch.
At Yauatcha City, brunch begins with a Strawberry Spiced Margarita, while both locations offer the option to upgrade with wines or sparkling pairings chosen to complement the feast. Running Monday to Sunday, it’s one of the most indulgent — and best-value — ways to spend an afternoon this summer.
Infinite Yum Cha brunch is available daily until 31 August 2025 at Yauatcha Soho, 15-17 Broadwick Street, W1F 0DL, and Yauatcha City, Broadgate Circle, EC2M 2QS. Visit taogroup.com
Read more: Everything the Luxury London team has been loving this month
