London's restaurant scene is booming. What follows is a sampling of the city's best restaurants, in enough categories for us to name our favorites:

Best Chef of the Year: London's hottest chef is now installed at the city's most prestigious hotel, at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's, Brook Street, W1 (tel. 020/7499-0099). Ramsay's modern European menu delights the senses.

Best Newcomer: Chef Paul Rhodes cut his teeth at Michelin-rated three-star restaurants, and now brings his culinary style to Deca, 23 Conduit St., W1 (tel. 020/7493-7070). At this brasserie, carefully honed French cooking techniques are applied to the finest of British produce, such as oysters caught in chilly Loch Fyne.

Best Place for a Business Lunch: Impress your clients by taking them to Poons in the City, 2 Minster Pavement, Minster Court, Mincing Lane, EC3 (tel. 020/7626-0126). This famous Chinese restaurant is outfitted with furniture and accessories from China, and the menu is wide-ranging. After a taste of the finely chopped wind-dried meats or the crispy aromatic duck, it'll be a snap to seal the deal.

Best Spot for a Celebration: There's no spot in all of London that's more fun than Quaglino's, 16 Bury St., SW1 (tel. 020/7930-6767), which serves up Continental cuisine. On some nights, as many as 800 diners show up at Sir Terence Conran's gargantuan Mayfair eatery. It's the best place in London to celebrate almost any occasion -- and the food's good, too. There's live jazz on Friday and Saturday nights.

Best Wine List: The renowned wine list at the Tate Gallery Restaurant, in the Tate Gallery, Millbank, SW1 (tel. 020/7887-8877), reads like a "who's who" of famous French châteaux. Plus, the Tate offers the city's best bargains on fine wines; management keeps the markups between 40% and 65%, instead of the 100% to 200% that most restaurants add per bottle.

Best for Value: Called the market leader in cafe salons, Veronica's, 3 Hereford Rd., W2 (tel. 020/7229-5079), serves not only some of the best traditional British fare, but also some of the most affordable. Many of the chef's recipes are based on medieval or Tudor culinary secrets, and some even go back to the days of the conquering Romans.

Best Modern British Cuisine: In a former smokehouse just north of Smithfield Market, St. John, 26 St. John St., EC1 (tel. 020/7251-0848), serves a modern interpretation of British cuisine like none other in town. The chefs here believe in using offal (those parts of the animal that are usually discarded) -- after all, why use just parts of the animal when you can use it all? Although some diners are a bit squeamish at first, they're usually hooked once they get past the first bite. Book ahead of time.

Best Traditional British Cuisine: There is no restaurant in London that's quite as British as Simpson's-in-the-Strand, 100 The Strand, WC2 (tel. 020/7836-9112), which has been serving the finest English roast beef since 1828. Henry VIII, were he to return, would surely pause for a feast here. This place is such a British institution that you'll think they invented roast saddle of mutton.

Best for Kids: The owner, the Earl of Bradford, feeds you well and affordably at Porter's English Restaurant, 17 Henrietta St., WC2 (tel. 020/7836-6466). Kids of all ages dig Lady Bradford's once secretly guarded recipe for banana-and-ginger pudding, along with the most classic English pies served in Central London, including such old-fashioned favorites as lamb and apricot; and ham, leek, and cheese.

Best Continental Cuisine: Le Gavroche, 43 Upper Brook St., W1 (tel. 020/7408-0881), was one of the first London restaurants to serve the modern French approach to cuisine, and it's lost none of its appeal. If you want to know why, order pigeonneau de Bresse en vessie aux deux celeris: The whole bird is presented at your table, enclosed in a pig's bladder; the pigeon is removed, and then carved and served on a bed of braised fennel and celery. Trust us -- it's fabulous.

Best Indian Cuisine: London's finest Indian food is served at Cafe Spice Namaste, in a landmark Victorian hall near Tower Bridge, 16 Prescot St., E1 (tel. 020/7488-9242). You'll be tantalized by an array of spicy southern and northern Indian dishes. We like the cuisine's Portuguese influence; the chef, Cyrus Todiwala, is from Goa (a Portuguese territory absorbed by India), where he learned many of his culinary secrets.

Best Italian Cuisine: At Zafferano, 15 Lowndes St., SW1 (tel. 020/7235-5800), master chefs prepare delectable cuisine with ingredients that conjure up the Mediterranean shores. The most refined palates of Knightsbridge come to this chic, rustic trattoria for refined dishes like pheasant and black-truffle ravioli with rosemary.

Best Innovative Cuisine: Irish chef Richard Corrigan brings sophisticated modern British cuisine to Lindsay House, 21 Romilly St., W1 (tel. 020/7439-0450). The menu depends on what looks good at the daily market combined with the chef's inspiration for the day. When you sample his breast of wood pigeon with foie gras and pumpkin chutney, you'll want to kidnap him for your kitchen.

Best View: From the terrace of The Bridge, 1 Paul's Walk, EC4 (tel. 020/7236-0000), next to the Millennium Bridge, the panoramic view encompasses a vista of the Thames that stretches from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to the Tate Modern. The modern British cooking is good, too.

Best for Spotting Celebrities: Archipelago, 110 Whitfield St., W1 (tel. 020/7383-3346), is small and intimate, a cozy retreat for Madonna and the other celebs in London. Media headliner Michael Von Hruschka runs this Thai and French restaurant with whimsy and many precious touches, such as a drink list inserted in an ostrich eggshell. But the cuisine doesn't depend on gimmicks. It's first-rate both in ingredients and preparation.

Best Seafood: Back to Basics, 21A Foley St., W1 (tel. 020/7436-2181), is no fish-and-chips joint. Stefan Plaumer's Fitzrovia bistro serves some of the freshest seafood in town. You name it: broiled, grilled, baked, or poached; anything except fried -- and the chefs will cook the fish to your specifications. An array of delicacies from the sea awaits you here, from plump, tasty mussels to sea bass given an extra zing with chili oil.

Best Wine-Bar Food: Cork & Bottle Wine Bar, 44-46 Cranbourn St., WC2 (tel. 020/7734-7807), serves the best wine-bar food in London. The raised ham-and-cheese pie alone is worth the trek across town. It's hardly your typical quiche. Also try the Mediterranean prawns with garlic and asparagus, or the lamb in ale. The wine selection is superb, with a strong emphasis on selections from Australia.

Best Cantonese Cuisine: Fung Shing, 15 Lisle St., WC2 (tel. 020/7437-1539), is a culinary landmark, serving the finest Cantonese cuisine in London, both traditional and innovative. The seasonal specials are the way to go. Stewed duck with yam, tender ostrich in yellow-bean sauce, and a delectable whole sea bass are some of the delicious treats.

Best Late-Night Dining: Atlantic Bar & Grill, 20 Glasshouse St., W1 (tel. 020/7734-4888), is a titanic restaurant installed in a former Art Deco ballroom off Piccadilly Circus. Modern British cuisine, with an emphasis on organic and homegrown products, is served in a cosmopolitan atmosphere until 3am Monday through Saturday.

Best Japanese Cuisine: Robert De Niro and his gang have generated much excitement about Nobu, in the Metropolitan Hotel, 19 Old Park Lane, W1 (tel. 020/7447-4747). The sushi chefs create gastronomic pyrotechnics with their raw dishes.

Best Trendy Restaurant: Following chic and trendy London as it moves east to Shoreditch, Les Trois Garçons, 1 Club Row, E1 (tel. 020/7613-1924), attracts fashionable young London after dark. In an amusingly kitschy setting, it is known for its first-rate French cuisine.

Best for People-Watching: The decades come and go, but The Ivy, 1-5 West St., WC2 (tel. 020/7836-4751), remains a favorite of theatrical luminaries. Noel Coward and Vivien Leigh have given up their tables to the likes of Nicole Kidman and Nicholas Cage. The modern British and international cuisine remains as reliable as ever.

Best Afternoon Tea: The most fashionable place in London to order afternoon tea is the Ritz Palm Court, in The Ritz hotel, Piccadilly, W1 (tel. 020/7493-8181). If you're a woman, dress as if you were the late Queen Mother. Men would do well to dress as Noel Coward in 1937. You've got to make those reservations, though, way, way in advance.

Best Pre-Theater Dining: Opposite the Ambassador Theatre, The Ivy, 1-5 West St., WC2 (tel. 020/7836-4751), is popular for both pre- and après-theater dining. The brasserie-style food reflects English and modern Continental influences. Try favorites such as potted shrimp or tripe and onions, or imaginative dishes like butternut pumpkin salad or wild-mushroom risotto.

Best Picnic Fare: For a picnic fit for a queen, go to Fortnum & Mason, 181 Piccadilly, W1 (tel. 020/7734-8040), the world's most famous grocery store. You'll find an array of foodstuffs to take away to your favorite park.