Whitechapel, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

This “excellent gallery restaurant” has proved “a great addition to the Whitechapel area”, with “well-cooked small plates of British food on an ever-changing menu”. Chef Nick Gilkinson is making a speciality of this type of venue – he was previously at the Garden Museum in Lambeth. Here, he is joined by Joe Fox, ex-head chef at Petersham Nurseries. (The name refers to the gallery’s architect, Charles Harrison Townsend.)

2021 Review: From the team behind the nearby Culpeper, this new (June 2019) gastroboozer occupies a cleverly rebuilt seven-storey site near the foot of Brick Lane, whose redevelopment has allowed the addition of 15 bedrooms. It opened too late for survey feedback: The Standard’s David Sexton found the ground floor bar a little “cramped” and “not for lingering”, but a good value, if “lonely pioneer of bourgeois taste” in this grungy ’hood.

This “upscale gastropub” in Spitalfields is a “beautifully refurbished” old boozer, now incorporating bedrooms and a roof garden. The “industrial chic” first-floor dining room may have a “simple menu, but the dishes are far from simple, packed full of flavour and balanced superbly – fine-dining food at gastroboozer prices”.

2019 Review: At the foot of a new aparthotel near Aldgate East tube, this year-old venture comprises a coffee shop and terrace downstairs, and a restaurant and bar upstairs, which – under seasoned chef George Tannock – tries harder than you might expect in this location: “a welcome, local, go-to business lunch place, with an excellent and varied menu and staff who are efficient but welcoming”.

“Move away from the ordinary and enjoy something special” at this “cracking venue” – an über-functional, white-walled Spitalfields canteen whose “great, innovative menu” of offbeat British dishes (such as chitterlings) is a stripped-down version of Trevor Gulliver and Fergus Henderson’s world-famous Smithfield original. To some, it is even better: “I now prefer B&W to the mothership – it’s more lively and wears the ‘nose-to-tail’ cloak a little more lightly”.

“Don’t think high end, but these local 24-hour cafés are reliable and pleasant for a plain meal at any hour of the night or day”, but particularly come into their own in the wee hours. In fact, only the well-known Chelsea original and the Aldgate spin-off (in a hotel) are open 24/7: opening hours in Bloomsbury are more selective. (Aldgate also has a standalone bar with a 24-hour alcohol licence).

2022 Review: Near Aldgate, a new hotel – a ‘with-it’ extension of the Hilton brand – opened in April 2021. Later in the year, this large new rooftop terrace and restaurant opens to help it live up to the hotel’s name. Attractions will include an all-day menu from breakfast.

“The whole package – great food, staff and incredible wines” – wins hymns of praise for James Dawson’s wine shop/club/bar/kitchen combination that now has five branches across central London. The focus is on sustainable, small-scale independent producers, with many wines available by the glass.

“The food is as good as the view and worth a repeat-visit!”, say fans of this iconic 40th-floor dining room, near the top floor of the Gherkin (run nowadays by the posh catering company, Searcys). “Great for a celebration and with reasonable prices (especially for London)”, attractions include an “interesting and well-executed afternoon tea”.

Townsend at the Whitechapel Gallery and former Anglo chef Nick Gilkinson opened this all-day bistro, at the top of a four-storey Victorian warehouse in Spitalfields, in early April 2023. The name is "an old English word meaning public or universal, but which also translates to a sense of community".