To be brutally honest, there aren't many restaurants in London that excite me at the moment. There is certainly an amazing diversity, which we rather take for granted; a good pizza or curry in France or Spain is about as common as a food critic that actually mentions the food in the first five paragraphs of a review.

The trouble is that quality varies greatly even in top-end establishments, and there are very few restaurants with an assured sense of identity and individuality behind the menu. Dishes such as "seabass with confit peppers and aubergine Caviar" and "roast anything with wild mushroom risotto" proliferate - the sight of which is like a gustatory sleeping pill to me. I don't know whether chefs cook this kind of stuff because they think it will sell or because it is all they can come up with, but it really is excruciatingly boring.

Anyway, here, in no particular order, are my top five London restaurants that get it right, plus a couple more within striking distance of the capital.

Club Gascon

Well executed, inventive French cooking served in small portions. Pick about five or six dishes from the sizeable menu, and make sure one of them is foie gras. Also good are the chips cooked in goose fat, and the lobster with black pudding. Space is tight and the bill can mount up as dishes accumulate, but there´s a good vibe and friendly service.

· Club Gascon, 57 West Smithfield, London EC1A; 020 7796 0600

Tom Aikens

Massively ambitious cooking, very modern but with French roots. Although the flavour combinations here can be hackneyed, their treatment is anything but, often with the same ingredient transformed in numerous ways. So a carrot may be pickled, served as a jelly, mousse, purée or froth - or, as is often the case in Aikens's cooking, all of the above.

Personally, I find some dishes a bit lacking in texture, and I prefer things a bit more understated. However, Aiken has his own particular style, which is in itself a compliment, and it's refreshing to see someone shaking things up in the capital's fine dining scene. Go for the assiette of pork or any of the salad dishes, as these showcase his enthusiastic presentation.

· Tom Aikens, 43 Elystan St, London SW3
tomaikens.co.uk; 020 7584 2003.

Racine

The antithesis of Tom Aikens, but equally worthy of a visit. This is back-to-basics French cooking: think garlic, parsley, red wine vinegar and so on. I went expecting a decent meal, and was served a fantastic one. The execution was faultless: pink steak, a perfect mousse, fresh fish, crisp chips, fluffy mash - and even the bill was quite digestible.

Highlights included a sensational garlic mousse served with shellfish and saffron, which was as delicious as it was retro, and an incredibly moreish salad of lentils, croutons, parsley and quail eggs. My only disappointment was that my dessert of poached pineapple shavings was a bit too sweet. Nonetheless, for me, Racine is the best bistro this side of the Channel.

· Racine, 239 Brompton Rd, London SW3; 020 7584 4477.

The Providores

Without doubt this is the best fusion food in London. The dishes may sound frighteningly exotic and confused, but Peter Gordon´s mixture of sweet, savoury, spicy and sour has innate cohesion and his cooking always makes sense when you taste it.

Try the seared kangaroo fillet with a spiced red onion bhaji, kumquat relish and greek yoghurt, or baked lime custard with sesame biscuit, vanilla cream and strawberries. The atmosphere is laid-back and friendly, and the bill shouldn´t sting too much either.

· The Providores, 109 Marylebone High St, London W1U theprovidores.co.uk; 020 7935 6175

Yauatcha

A guaranteed good night out, especially if you´re in a group. The beautiful interior design and elegant lighting will get you in the mood, and fantastic cocktails will get you drunk. We ordered a selection of dim sum, all freshly prepared and lightly seasoned, which immediately lifts it above its many rivals in Soho. Best of all, it is just a short stagger to any number of nearby bars for afters.

· Yauatcha, 15 Broadwick St, Soho, London W1F; 020 7494 8888

Further afield

Not strictly in London but worth the detour are the Fat Duck, in Bray, with its Willy Wonka-style menu and added Vorsprung durch Technik in the kitchen, and the Hinds Head, Heston's pub-next-door, which does really good traditional English food at very reasonable prices. A few junctions after the Bray turnoff on the M40 is the refined and welcoming Le Manoir aux Quat´Saisons, where you can sample Raymond Blanc and Gary Jones´s light contemporary French cooking.

· The Fat Duck, High St, Bray
thefatduck.co.uk; 01628 580 333.

· The Hinds Head, High St, Bray
thehindsheadhotel.com; 01628 626 151

· Le Manoir aux Quat´Saisons, Church Lane, Great Milton, Oxfordshire
manoir.com; 01844 278881

· Our roving chef has worked the Michelin-starred kitchens of the UK, France and Spain