Sporting Clube De Londres

Of all Notting Hill’s slick and stylised restaurants, it’s the one belting out Frankie Valli and grilling sardines that’s the most compelling. One part social club and one part raucous sing-a-long, Sporting Clube De Londres is a fun-loving escape from London tedium fuelled by food rather than existing for it.

This Portuguese canteen combines a banquet hall setup with Sporting Lisbon memorabilia on the walls, but the atmosphere feels more like the peak hours of a wedding you’ve just crashed. Groups 20-deep double fist chourico assado and vinho verde, while at any given point a diner may stand up, piri-piri chicken mic in hand, and murder Respect as it plays over the speakers. There’s a perma-crooner up on the mic, disco lights orbit the room, and groups of all ages (and sobriety) can’t help but lean (or fall) into the refreshingly carefree atmosphere. 

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

The food is excellent-value and you’ll see plates of freshly grilled chouriço and hearty bowls of cataplana bobbing with squid, fish, prawns, and mussels plonked onto many a table. Hand-cut chips soak up lagers, while piri-piri chicken that leans dry is rescued with a dousing of hot sauce. A plate of chargrilled fish showered in lemon never sees anyone wrong. Be it couples on a night out lit by the rainbow lights of the room, or burly fellas grouped around the fruit machines as Portuguese Who Wants To Be A Millionaire plays on the TV above them. Whether you’re sinking pints, singing classics, or shovelling calamari there’s a good time to be had at Sporting Clube De Londres.

Food Rundown

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Sardinhas

Squeezes of lemon, messy fingers, tender white fish. This is what holiday eating is all about. Of course, you’re still in W10. But keep these perfect sardines coming and you may well be able to suspend your disbelief.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Queijos Frescos

A tower of fresh goats’ cheese smothered in oil and black pepper alongside a bread basket— combinations better than this are few and far between.

Whitebait

Let a shower of lemon fall down upon these little crispy whitebait. Then pop one in your mouth. Then two. Then maybe even three at once. Moreish, deep-fried, and delicious.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Frango De Churrasco

With chargrilled skin and chunks you can gnaw at, there’s lots to love about this piri-piri chicken. Yes, some parts are a little on the dry side. But it’s nothing some hot sauce can’t sort out.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Chips

Hand-cut and non-negotiable.

Cataplana De Marisco

This seafood stew is for a minimum of two people but, in reality, four to five of you can eat this along with other plates quite happily. There are juicy king prawns, clams, mussels, white fish—all in a tomato, pepper, onion, and white wine sauce. It’s a comforting crowd-pleaser.