Top three: Mackerel

For a tasty, ethical lunch

The Hatch 33 Parkgate Road, SW11 (streetkitchen.co.uk)

This is the place to go if you like your street food seasonal. The menu changes depending on what’s good that day, so mackerel (served with fennel, sorrel and roasted beetroot, £7.50) is only on if the fishermen catch some. Open weekday lunchtimes for take-out and on Friday nights when it teams up with the bar next door.

For dinner and cocktails

The Rookery 69 Clapham Common South Side, SW4 (020 8673 9162; therookeryclapham.co.uk)

The Rookery has a Brooklynesque vibe and does a nice line in speakeasy-style cocktails — try a Cynar Kick (£6). The chef Stephen Gadd is ex-Hibiscus and much of his cooking is about letting the ingredients sing. Cornish mackerel is served as a salad with girolles and freshly podded broad beans (£6.50).

For a celebratory blow-out

The Ledbury 127 Ledbury Road, W11 (020 7792 9090; theledbury.com)

The mackerel here is one of chef Brett Graham’s best-known creations. Served flame-grilled with Celtic mustard and smoked eel (£14.50 as a starter at lunch, or as part of the £80 three-course menu in the evenings), it has an incredible, delicately smoky flavour that entirely backs up Graham’s double-Michelin-star status.