Shoreditch, Fusion Restaurant Guide

“Totally living up to the hype!” – Tomos Parry’s “cool ex-pub, first-floor dining room” (above Smoking Goat) was Harden’s top newcomer last year, and “pulls off what so many Shoreditch restaurants aspire to” with “its phenomenal food from the open kitchen; its relaxed-but-highly-competent style; and its lack of expense”. “And the wood-panelled dining room is a welcome change from the usual warehouse-style in the area”. The Basque-influenced cuisine, much of it cooked over an open wood fire, majors in fish – “never overcooked, with a hint of smokiness after a roasting over hot embers” – in particular the “to-die-for”, signature turbot (for which the restaurant is named) which is “positively Mediterranean in its fresh deliciousness”. “The room is small and tables are close together” but no-one seems to care: “the buzz of the place simply tells you that here are a lot of folks really enjoying their dinner”. It helps that “the staff are almost as good as the food: enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and clear in their explanations of the menu”. All this, plus a “brilliant, wide-ranging and value-for-money wine list”.

2017 Review: This “curious, orange-coloured, add-on, covered balcony” adjoining a Shoreditch tech office space serves “scrumptious, healthy breakfasts”, flat whites, juices and Middle East-inspired “fun tapas”. Named after the area’s erstwhile Victorian slums, it “should be hipster heaven, yet feels like an office canteen… which is exactly what it is, I guess”.