Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Epping
Hardens guides have spent 34 years compiling reviews of the best Epping restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 454 restaurants in Epping and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Epping restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Epping Restaurants
1. Cinnamon Kitchen
Indian restaurant in City
9 Devonshire Sq - EC2
“Bustling, noisy and delicious” – Vivek Singh’s City spinoff from his flagship Cinnamon Club provides a “fun” opportunity to sample some superior Indian cooking. Its newer Battersea stablemate is less commented on and a little tamer – but fans say the food is “every bit as good”, while both branches have outdoor terraces for al-fresco dining. A third Cinnamon Kitchen opened in Leeds in summer 2025 – the chef’s first foray ’up North.
2. Boisdale of Canary Wharf
Scottish restaurant in Canary Wharf
Cabot Place - E14
2024 Review: “If you are not planning a return to the office, the largest selection of whisky ever seen” helps round off a business lunch at this Canary Wharf branch of Ranald Macdonald’s Caledonian group. “The restaurant prides itself on good Scottish ingredients… shellfish in season… excellent fillet steak” and “tables are sufficiently spaced for private conversation”. Top Tip – “regular visitors may join a club which gives discounts on wines and they host musical events in the evenings”.
3. Radio Alice
Pizza restaurant in
16 Hoxton Square - N1
Our mission: make delicious pizza, served with care, in beautiful spaces.In the beginning we were just Matteo and Salvatore, two brothers from Calabria. We moved to Bologna to study economics, and – like all penniless students – ate a lot of...
4. Capeesh
Italian restaurant in Isle of Dogs
4 Pan Peninsula Square - E14
2024 Review: Dazzling views from the 48th-floor of a Canary Wharf tower help create a sense of occasion at this family-run, five-year-old Italian restaurant and ‘Sky Bar’. Its long menu of pasta, pizza, grills and other fare doesn’t inspire a huge volume of feedback, but the limited amount we have is all upbeat.
5. Oui Madame
East & Cent. European restaurant in Islington
290 Saint Paul's Road - N1
Oui Madame is an evenings-only modern European restaurant in Highbury and Islington, serving seasonal sharing plates and a thoughtful wine list in a cosy, intimate setting. Expect warm hospitality, confident flavours and an easy rhythm that suits everything from date night to ...
6. Barge East
British, Modern restaurant in Hackney
Sweetwater Mooring, White Post Lane - E9
Ahoy there! Step aboard a 120-year-old barge when you eat at this waterside venue, permanently moored on the canal in Hackney Wick. Its Floating Bar may be a magnet for summer drinkers, but the focused modern bistro menu in its interior restaurant is much more than incidental (and Sunday Roast is also a feature).
7. Obicà Mozzarella Bar, Pizza e Cucina
Italian restaurant in Canary Wharf
1 West Wintergarden, 35 Bank St - E14
The freshest Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP is paired with other Italian produce in pasta, pizza, salad and panini dishes at this international chain. There are outposts throughout Europe as well as the US and Japan, although the UK is now only represented by its smart Canary Wharf branch. Reports are not huge in number, but rate it strongly all-round.
8. Il Bordello
Italian restaurant in Wapping
Metropolitan Wharf, 70 Wapping Wall - E1W
“Continuing to be a favourite” – this family-friendly local Italian restaurant opened in 1996 as part of the gentrification of Wapping and remains a “consistently good neighbourhood spot”. “Portions are huge” and there’s a wide range of pizza and pasta as well as more substantial fare (“excellent calves’ liver” for instance). It helps that “service is always fast and efficient”.
9. Smokoloko
BBQ restaurant in Tower Hamlets
Old Spitalfields Market, Bethnal Green Road - E1
“Still top street food IMO” – this oven shaped like an old steam locomotive is an eye-catching fixture in Spitalfield Market and delivers “amazing meats that melt in the mouth”.
10. Mr Todiwala's Petiscos
Portuguese restaurant in
75 Queen's Road - IG9
2023 Review: “Great atmosphere and something quite different!” – this “warm and welcoming” Buckhurst Hill operation mixes Goan and Portuguese influences. It’s a partnership between Cyris & Pervin Todiwala and the Redman-Schaffer family from Woodford, delivering “great little dishes” (‘petiscos’) and “fantastic Portuguese wines from independent estates”.
11. Smith’s Brasserie
British, Modern restaurant in Ongar
Fyfield Rd - CM5
“A favourite restaurant of all time!” – this “very consistent” Essex institution first opened in 1958 and its performance over many years has earnt it a special place in the hearts of its dedicated fan club (which includes Rod Stewart, the Beckhams and other TOWIE notables). “The food is always to a very high standard with the best seafood” – “it can feel very crowded but the fish is always well cooked”.
12. Alec's
British, Modern restaurant in Brentwood
Navestock Side - CM14
2024 Review: “In the heart of Essex, this fabulous fish restaurant” (est. 2010, and revolving around the “plush conversion of an old pub”) “offers amazing dishes and attentive service in a truly beautiful setting”. “It can be fun watching the TOWIE types amongst fellow diners”, but if that loses its appeal, divert your eyes to the “pleasant views from the terrace on a sunny day”.
13. The Fox And Hounds Restaurant & Bar
French restaurant in Hunsdon
2 High Street - SG12
After working alongside Gary Rhodes and serving as Head Chef at Tom Conran’s Notting Hill venue The Cow, chef James Rix launched this smart Home Counties pub (replete with a large beer garden and heated gazebo) together with wife Bianca in 2004. Its rustic Italian- and French-inspired cuisine attracts reviews ranging from “good quality” to “excellent” – with meat (including Josper-grilled steak) a standout, and starters and desserts that are “not too shabby” either.
14. Ark Fish
Fish & chips restaurant in South Woodford
142 Hermon Hill - E18
“A good local go-to fish restaurant” – this large South Woodford venue is too grand really to be called a chippy, and its wide menu extends to crab, oysters, seafood platters, fish stews and moules alongside fish ’n’ chips (which can be prepared deep fried, poached or grilled).
15. Provender
French restaurant in Wanstead
17 High St - E11
“Excellent French bistro cooking at realistic prices” are the prime ingredients of this “great local restaurant on the leafy streets of Wanstead” – “more neighbourhoods need places like this”. Industry legend Max Renzland was a co-founder back in 2011, but the “reliable fare and service with a smile” have carried on since his retirement. Top Tip – “prix fixe is fantastic value”.
16. Yard Sale Pizza
Pizza restaurant in Waltham Forest
15 Hoe Street - E17
“Fabulous pizza” – “quick, fresh, delicious”, and “impeccably made with original toppings” – makes this London-based group “a Friday night favourite”, with 14 outlets across the capital and counting. Founders Johnnie Tate & Nick Buckland last year secured investment designed to boost their presence to 40 sites over five years.
17. Tonkotsu
Japanese restaurant in Walthamstow
Unit 4, 202 Hoe Street - E17
This 15-strong London noodle chain (now with branches in Brighton, Birmingham and Bristol) is “a good stand-by” – perhaps it’s “not as good as some of its competitors”, but it is widely seen as “good value”: in particular “the lunch-time meal deal” is a winner.
18. Mercato Metropolitano Ilford
International restaurant in Ilford
tbc - IG1
2022 Review: Open in November 2021 (first announced in 2019) – this latest branch of the excellent Elephant & Castle-based Italian food operation comes complete with a sustainable timber frame and rooftop urban farm. A transformation of Redbridge Town Hall car park, it’s a collaboration with the local council and the Mayor of London as part of Ilford’s new cultural quarter.
19. Yard Sale Pizza
Pizza restaurant in Leytonstone
622 High Road Leytonstone - E11
“Fabulous pizza” – “quick, fresh, delicious”, and “impeccably made with original toppings” – makes this London-based group “a Friday night favourite”, with 14 outlets across the capital and counting. Founders Johnnie Tate & Nick Buckland last year secured investment designed to boost their presence to 40 sites over five years.
20. Kudu
South African restaurant in Marylebone
7 Moxon Street - W1
Now settling into its flashier new Marylebone premises, this high-profile outfit made its name in Peckham for a “sophisticated take on high-end cuisine with a South African twist”. Owner Amy Corbin is restaurant royalty (daughter of Corbin & King’s Chris) and she and her Saffer-born husband Patrick Williams combined their entire Peckham ‘collective’ of outlets – Kudu, Little Kudu, Curious Kudu and Kudu Grill – into the new site open from September 2025, promising to keep all their hit dishes. Top Menu Tips – “don’t miss out on the freshly baked breads and infused butters… The brisket is well worth keeping for the grand finale!”.
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