Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Hoddesdon
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Hoddesdon restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 165 restaurants in Hoddesdon and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Hoddesdon restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Hoddesdon Restaurants
1. Barge East
British, Modern restaurant in Hackney
River Lee, Sweetwater Mooring, White Post Lane - E9
“It’s so fun being on board a boat!” – this 120-year-old barge is moored in Hackney Wick, near the Olympic stadium, and is also surrounded by gardens providing an alternative backdrop to a meal. All reports agree on its “fantastic food and atmosphere”: there are a variety of menus, including tasting and group options, all featuring imaginative modern British dishes.
2. Smith's Brasserie
British, Modern restaurant in Ongar
Fyfield Rd - CM5
Established in 1958, this Essex institution is well known for its “excellently cooked fish with some imaginative and well-executed dishes”, served in “generous portions” by “well-trained and extremely welcoming staff who provide great customer service”. It’s “always buzzing with a great atmosphere” – “and if you’re lucky you might spot Rod Stewart… a regular”.
3. JM Oriental
Chinese, Dim sum restaurant in Colindale
28 Heritage Avenue - NW9
JM Oriental is the proud recipient of a coveted Golden Chopsticks Award for ‘Best Fusion Restaurant’. Expect a fine dining experience with founder and executive chef, Andrew Hung. Andrew soon realised his path in life was to follow his father’s footsteps into...
5. The Fox And Hounds Restaurant & Bar
French restaurant in Hunsdon
2 High Street - SG12
Chef James & Bianca Rix celebrate 20 years at their smart pub/restaurant this year, recording high levels of feedback and satisfaction for their “much better than usual pub operation” – “food and service are great and it’s reasonably priced”. Top Menu Tip – “the clams and fish are always good”.
6. The Tilbury
British, Modern restaurant in Datchworth
Watton Rd - SG3
2023 Review: “This lovely country pub” run by brothers Tom (a self-taught cook) and James Bainbridge (a former Fat Duck manager) wins consistent ratings for its high-quality cooking using “good-quality meat and fresh, tasty ingredients”. There’s a “lovely ambience and service to match”, all at “amazing value-for-money prices”.
7. 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”.
8. Skewd Kitchen
Turkish restaurant in Enfield
12 Cockfosters Parade - EN4
This “fantastic upscaled-local Turkish restaurant” in Cockfosters gives the traditional North London Anatolian grill a modern makeover – and fans say it’s “wonderful to see it so deservedly busy” on account of its “excellent food and service”. “They’ve just expanded”, but it’s “harder than ever to get a table on a Saturday night”.
9. The Waggoners
French restaurant in Welwyn
Brickwall Close, Ayot Grn - AL6
“The food in this small and atmospheric pub is unabashedly French – tasty, interesting and reasonably priced” with “just the right amount of an English touch”. “Splendid service from host Laurent (Brydniak) and his team, who pay a lot of attention to getting the details right”, adds to the appeal of a venue that is “often busy by midday as a walkers’ reward” after strolling around the neighbouring Brocket Hall estate.
10. Auberge du Lac
British, Modern restaurant in Welwyn
“Not yet back to its old self” seems to be the frustrating verdict on this former hunting lodge, scenically located with a large terrace by the lake of the luxurious Brocket Hall estate. In the early 2000s it was a national name under chef Jean-Christophe Novelli, but has since had its ups and downs. After a hiatus, “its re-opening has been long awaited and eagerly anticipated locally with the pop-ups fully booked”. Early feedback suggests “it still seems to be a work in progress. Menu, food and cooking have been very good, suitably refined and up to the standard expected. However, service can be poor, with staff unable to cope and long waits to order. The general decor is also very dated and doesn’t appear to have changed much during the past three years of closure. Hopefully, it will find its feet but it is taking longer than expected!”
11. Eat 17
British, Modern restaurant in Bishop’s Stortford
23 Potter Street - CM23
2021 Review: “In the heart of Walthamstow Village”, this “great neighbourhood spot” – a Spar supermarket with kitchen attached – wins praise for its “quality” cooking (“the 2019 Harden’s description of pub-type grub underplays its standard and originality”). “Very relaxed and welcoming for young children”, the venture’s best-known innovation is bacon jam, which you can buy by the jar in various flavours. Other branches have opened in Hackney and, most recently, Hammersmith (somewhat better-served areas, so these respective branches are somewhat less of a local lifeline).
12. Savoro
British, Modern restaurant in Barnet
206 High Street - EN5
2021 Review: A former boathouse on the high street, turned hotel and dining room, that remains of note for its “delightful food impeccably served in a not overcrowded restaurant” – though you’ll need to book ahead on weekends, when they also lay on a “good Sunday lunch”.
13. Gökyüzü Chingford
Turkish restaurant in Chingford
Southend Road - E4
2021 Review: “Very lively and noisy with families and children” – the “large” Harringay original of this small Turkish group is over twenty years old, and remains “understandably popular, given its reasonable prices”: “the food is good and plentiful and just keeps coming”, and “the grilled meats are just yummy”. There are now spin-offs in Chingford, Walthamstow and Finchley. Top Tip – “doggy bags are readily provided”.
14. Vrisaki
Greek restaurant in Wood Green
73 Middleton Rd - N22
2022 Review: This Greek-Cypriot taverna in Bounds Green has earned a wide following across north London over 50 years for its generous ‘Special Mezze’: various cold starters followed by charcoal-grilled meats and fish specialities. Family-run by Adreas and Anthony Antoniou, it has recently been given a modern revamp.
15. Mien Tay
Vietnamese restaurant in Haringey
433 Lordship Lane - N22
2023 Review: This quartet of family-run restaurants have won a big reputation for their southwest Vietnamese dishes, including pho and their famed goat with galangal. They started out 15 years ago in Shoreditch before heading across the river to Battersea.
16. Yard Sale Pizza
Pizza restaurant in Waltham Forest
15 Hoe Street - E17
“Delicious thin-crust pizzas” win consistently high ratings for this 10-strong chain across north, east and south London. They are a socially conscious bunch who contributed 8,000 meals to NHS staff during the pandemic.
17. Ark Fish
Fish & chips restaurant in South Woodford
142 Hermon Hill - E18
“With a varied fish menu”, “nice interior” and “very friendly staff”, this spacious South Woodford chippy is “great for a family lunch”.
18. The Orange Tree
International restaurant in Totteridge
7 Totteridge Village - N20
This smart ‘country pub’ overlooking the village pond in Totteridge, far North London, boasts a menu that ranges from steaks to sourdough pizza. But marks suffered this year on the basis of one or two reports saying recent standards have been “all a bit ‘meh’”.
19. Tonkotsu
Japanese restaurant in Walthamstow
Unit 4, 202 Hoe Street - E17
“Tasty, good-value noodles” in a “relaxed environment” make this 12-year-old London chain (14 branches, plus Brighton and Brum) “worth a visit”. The “ramen is deep and fabulous” if “limited in range (no fish-based dishes except prawn)”, and is augmented by “quite acceptable katsu curry”. Aficionados should head to the Haggerston branch to watch the noodles being made.
20. Five Guys Wood Green
Burgers, etc restaurant in Wood Green
Unit 12, The Mall, High Road - N22
2021 Review: “When all you want is an old-school burger”, these US-based arrivals of recent years really “hit the spot” – you can “build your own”, with “tons of accessories”; plus “seriously addictive fries”, “thick milkshakes”, and “more soda flavours than is reasonable”. “The eat-in experience is as depressing as McDonald’s”, though, in fact perhaps more so – “some branches have a strangely gloomy ambience” – but fans feel that “if you don’t mind 1980s-rock, a trip can still be surprisingly fun”.
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