Haggerston, British, Modern - Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: The wild and wacky French chain opened this eclectically designed 194-room hotel in late 2019, complete with clashing fabrics, retro gaming machines, füsball and karaoke rooms. The loungy restaurant offers an easy-grazing selection of dishes to suit the tastes of globe-trotting hipsters: initial feedback suggests it's better than you might expect (given all the competing attractions).

2022 Review: Although it’s from the Anchor and Hope stable, this all-day operation near Hoxton tube is not a pub: it’s a new café (opened May 2021) within the rebranded Geffrye Museum (which features exhibits on domestic living since 1600). On offer – breakfast, lunch and buns, and – in the fullness of time – a dinner service.

“Perfect local restaurant in a cute location” – across the canal from Hackney’s Broadway Market: a “surprisingly romantic”, Scandi-esque dining room with “inspired dishes, fab wine list and a wonderfully friendly team”, headed by its founders (hospitality power couple Charlie Sims – ex-Noma; plus sommelier and natural wine proponent Honey Spencer). Top Menu Tip – “if the monumental pork chop is on, go for it! (and I don’t even like pork chops)”.

This “bustling place with great small plates and wines” in Cambridge Heath, from Freddie Sheen & Zac Whittle, is “one of the many dotted around the Hackney/Tower Hamlets borders” and “delivers exactly what you want from a good neighbourhood restaurant – tasty dishes, warm service and a comfortable environment”. Three years on from launch, it is “largely a word-of-mouth success and seems always busy still, despite a relative lack of PR compared with others nearby”.