The best London food tours

• First time in London, want a proper meal: the East End tour by London Food Tours by Eating Europe, rated 4.96 from 1,981 reviews.
• Want Borough Market: London Food Tours by Eating Europe's tour for cheese and pudding, or Secret Food Tours's for fish and chips and a bacon bap.
• Vegetarian or gluten-free: Sherpa Food tours's Soho tour, which offers both menus on request.
• Love curry: Secret Food Tours's Indian food tour in the East End.
• Short on time: London Food Tours by Eating Europe's two-hour Notting Hill bakery walk.
• Want your own guide: Chubby Fellow's private tours for adults.

Use the table above to filter by neighborhood, and check the tour's available dates when you book: Viator doesn't publish fixed departure days for any of these tours.

London Food Tours by Eating Europe's tour starts at the Market Porter pub on Stoney Street and works through the market and Bankside, past London Bridge and the Clink Prison, finishing at a pub on Redcross Way. Tastings include creamy British cheeses, a sausage roll and a sticky toffee pudding, with British beer and apple cider. Groups are capped at 12 and the tour runs 3 hours. It's rated 4.96 from 815 reviews, from $117.

Secret Food Tours's version starts on Tooley Street and ends at Hay's Galleria. The listing promises a bacon and egg bap, a sausage roll, fish and chips, British cheeses, a classic English dessert and a "secret" signature dish, with ale, beer or cider and honey mead (non-alcoholic options are available). It's the most-reviewed tour here, rated 4.89 from 2,232 reviews. The operator says the menu can change depending on what's available.

Both make a good morning before a Thames cruise or a visit to the Tower of London across the river; see our Thames cruises and Tower of London tours guides.

London Food Tours by Eating Europe's East End tour is our top pick. It starts and ends on Commercial Street by Spitalfields and serves six tastings, which the operator says add up to a full meal. They include its Humble Crumble, fish and chips from a two-time national award winner, and a local drink, and the walk takes in Brick Lane's street art and the area's immigrant history. It runs 3.5 hours, groups are capped at 12, and it's rated 4.96 from 1,981 reviews. Tastings can vary by day and season.

For a different angle on the same neighborhood, Secret Food Tours's Indian food tour starts at the Whitechapel Gallery and serves more than eight tastings: tandoori dishes, vegetable and meat curries, naan and rice, a lassi, and sweets such as gulab jamun. It's rated 4.90 from 654 reviews, and involves a fair amount of walking.

The East End is also a good base. If you're choosing where to stay, our where to stay in London guide covers Shoreditch and the South Bank.

Sherpa Food tours's tour visits five restaurants around Covent Garden and Soho with more than 10 tastings, including cheese, classic Indian dishes and bao on every option. You choose between a modern British route (with wine and sticky toffee pudding) and a classic one (fish and chips, chocolate and beer). It starts at The Crown on Monmouth Street, is open to ages 8 and up, and is rated 4.96 from 1,489 reviews.

London Food Tours by Eating Europe's 2 hours Notting Hill walk visits five bakeries around Portobello Road, with tastings such as a beef and ale pie and a cardamom bun with spiced chai, plus a few film locations.

For a private tour, Chubby Fellow runs Borough Market, Soho and East End routes for your group only, for adults 18 and over with a minimum of two people. Every tour includes drinks unless you ask for none. Check the price for your group size on Viator before you book.

• Vegetarian and gluten-free: Sherpa Food tours offers both menus on request. Eating Europe, which runs the East End, Borough Market and Notting Hill tours, says it will accommodate vegetarians and gluten-free guests "where we can", and Secret Food Tours asks you to contact them in advance. None of the listings mentions a vegan menu, so ask before you book.
• Allergies: Eating Europe's tours aren't suitable for anyone with severe or life-threatening food allergies to ingredients on the tour. If that's you, contact the operator first.
• Kids: on the Eating Europe tours, under-4s join free without food. Sherpa Food tours's Soho tour is for ages 8 and up, and the private tours are adults only.
• Timing: come hungry. Most of these tours are designed to replace lunch, and they last two to three and a half hours.

If you'd rather sit down for something sweet, our afternoon tea guide compares the hotel classics, tea buses and tea cruises.

Borough Market is free to enter and sits right next to London Bridge station. Its regular hours are:

• Monday: closed
• Tuesday to Friday: 10am to 5pm
• Saturday: 9am to 5pm
• Sunday: 10am to 4pm

The market says not every trader is there every day, and Saturday afternoons get very busy, so a weekday morning is calmer. In December it opens seven days a week from Monday, November 30. It's closed December 25, 26 and 27 and January 1, with shorter hours on December 24 and 31; check the festive opening times before you go. Because the market is closed on Mondays the rest of the year, check that your tour date isn't a Monday outside December.

Nearby, Maltby Street Market under the railway arches on Ropewalk opens on weekends (Saturday 10am to 5pm, Sunday 11am to 4pm), plus a Friday evening session, according to its own site.