London Canonbury Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: “Quality meat and good value” have carved a fine reputation for this Canonbury gastropub (part of Noble Inns), which is entering its 10th year in 2023. Whole carcasses are butchered on-site, fish is delivered daily, and it’s a beer-lovers dream, with 20 on tap and 60 bottled.

2022 Review: It’s a bit less nook-like than it looks, if you head to the larger basement of this summer 2020 Highbury newcomer: a deli by day and neighbourhood café in the evenings. With a vague connection to Linden Stores (RIP), which it replaced in 2020, there’s a Turkish twist to the contemporary European small dishes and sharing plates. Limited early feedback, but very positive all-round.

“Such a lovely neighbourhood restaurant… thank God it’s my neighbourhood” purr lucky locals at Tim Siadatan & Jordan Frieda’s Highbury Corner fixture, whose “lovely modern Italian cooking” has made it “a real favourite” – “choose the airy upstairs in summer or for a business lunch; downstairs is great in winter or for romance”. After 16 years, though, it can struggle sometimes to fulfill expectations, with the occasional report along the lines of “had high hopes but was a bit underwhelmed: nothing bad, just nothing special” – “it’s under too much pressure” is another suggestion: perhaps “they should take out two or three tables to restore standards”.

The “lovely choice of seafood” – delivered fresh every day from Cornwall and Devon – means you “have to book way in advance” to nab a table at this Highbury Corner fixture. “Shame it’s so small”, but it has already moved once into bigger premises, having started out a dozen years ago as a fishmonger with an 8-seater bar. (Its Cornish sibling restaurant in Padstow is a good bet if you are down in those parts.)

This “romantic” neighbourhood venue on the northern edge of Islington, from brothers Martin & Christoph Lange, has for 10 years treated locals to a “nice variety of modern European food” – and “at this price level is a good all-rounder”. Open for dinner seven days a week and for lunch from Friday to Sunday, it offers a fixed-price menu with plenty of choices at all sittings (except Friday and Saturday night) – keeping a lid on the expense.

2024 Review: “Still a bit of a hidden gem, which is a real shame as this place should be packed” – this converted pub by Essex Road station is a longstanding fixture of the area. With its mix of sushi and other “enjoyable and very tasty” fare, fans say it serves “really wonderful izakaya dishes in a pretty chilled-out environment”; and that even if “it’s not as cheap as it once was, it’s still good value”.

Offering a combination of Turkish, Kurdish and Greek dishes, this “cheap ’n’ cheerful” grill on the Islington main drag has been “a mainstay in the neighbourhood for years, and with good reason”.

2022 Review: Returning in early 2020 to an Islington site its owners used to run in the 1980s (and unconnected with Trawler Trash which recently closed on this site, RIP), this somewhat modernified but relatively traditional chippy provides a proper fish ’n’ chip fix for those times when the many more rarefied options available locally just won't hit the spot.

2023 Review: “Delicious” plant-based versions of classic American comfort food – from burgers, seitan hot dogs and pastrami to milk-free shakes – cut the mustard at this pair of ‘dirty vegan diners’ in Camden Market and Islington. The Islington branch has a vegan butcher next door, touted as the world’s first, with a concession in Selfridges.

“Top-class pizza at the new outlet by Kew Gardens” (on the site of Hawthorn, RIP) wins a particular thumbs-up this year for this “properly Neapolitan” chain (“down to the shrine to Diego Maradona on the wall” in TW9). It was well-rated this year, if not as stratospherically as days gone by, supporting those who feel: “I don’t seem as keen on this place as everyone else, but it’s fresh and friendly and local”. The group started in Ealing over 15 years ago and – as well as its Kew launch – also added a Paddington branch in 2025 to join those in Fitzrovia, Fulham and Islington.

Despite some “really stunning” reports in our annual diners’ poll, we have held off on rating this new Islington ‘bistro pub’ (open in early December 2024, before which it was called the Englefield) due to changes in the kitchen. Launch chef James Cochran (ex-12:51 in Upper Street) moved on as our poll was in progress and a new chef – Stephen Bunch – arrived in April 2025. James is well-known in N1 (and beyond), so his fan club will be disappointed. Stephen was ex-head chef at London Shell Company (a seafood specialist) but also aims to highlight meat on the menu: new dishes include a ‘made to share’ 1 kg côte de boeuf steak, alongside a market whole fish of the day. In summer there’s a 50+ cover outside terrace to the rear of the pub, for weekend BBQ.

The new long-term chef residency at this culinarily renowned Highbury gastropub is from a duo, Jay Claus and Syrus Pickhaver, promising long-forgotten British dishes using whole-beast butchery and sustainable Cornish fish. It has yet to inspire any interest in our annual diners’ poll, though (nor for that matter, amongst any newspaper reviewers) – reports please!

Opened in 2017, this pizzeria not far from Canonbury tube wins very strong local support for its interesting pizzas, with good selections that are either ‘meaty’, ‘vegetarian’ or ‘vegan’.

“You feel as if you’ve been teleported back to the ’80s” (or maybe even earlier) at this “very old-school” Italian relic – a basic café/ristorante by Highbury & Islington tube. “Even if the food isn’t hugely fashionable, it tastes really good and is pretty good value – I bet they make their carbonara with cream!”

In the cosy and evocative, small (27 cover) restaurant of the Islington Arts Club – at the north end of Upper Street – this August 2025 launch is from chef duo Louis Korovilas and Taylor Sessegnon-Shakespeare, who previously worked together at Pied A Terre. It’s weekend-only, from Friday dinner to Sunday lunch, in an affordable (£65 per person) tasting format rooted in French and Italian cuisines, with a weekly-rotating menu (e.g. Broadbean orzotto with chicken wing, Aubergine scarpece, with bagna cauda and clams, Beef carpaccio with oyster mayonnaise and baby artichokes, finishing with Seasonal financiers).

Artisanal ice cream (with winter specials like Christmas Pudding and Gingerbread paired with light glou-glou wines) draws Islington hipsters – and Dua Lipa! – to this endearing backstreet pitstop, opposite ‘Goodbye Horses’ (same ownership, a popular local). It’s barely more than a grab-and-go operation, but the back-lit ceiling is super-funky.

Open in July 2024 in De Beauvoir, on the border between Islington and Hackney, this wine bar and restaurant serves biodynamic and natural wines alongside seasonal and sustainable sharing plates. Also on-site, pour-over specialist coffee shop Day Trip and gelato bar the Dreamery.