London Bethnal Green Restaurant Guide

“The new kitchen is a joy to watch in action” at Rafael Cagali’s genius venue in Bethnal Green’s “lovely old town hall”, which has lacked ambience in the past, but which emerged from a four-week closure and refurb in early 2025 on which early reports are very positive (the new layout includes a lounge for pre-dinner drinks and snacks). Rafael’s “brilliant” Brazilian- influenced tasting menu here is regularly one of the highest-rated in our annual diners’ poll and the “absolutely gorgeous and surprising dishes” offer “a fun experience whilst also wowing with flavours”. “Service is also a draw from the very knowledgeable staff” and there’s “an amazing wine list and such good advice to go with it”. Allow three hours for the tasting menu which is £245 per person. (“I always say that I cannot get this food anywhere else.....and I leave wanting to come back. That is very special, as is the team.”). Top Tips – there’s also a short tasting menu (Wed-Fri) for £185 per person and three-course set lunch for £110 per person.

2022 Review: “No fuss, not a lot of choice but solid food and good-value wine list” – that’s the deal at this 30-cover, bistro-esque venue, in a light-filled room on the first floor of Bethnal Green’s Town Hall Hotel.

“Still a diamond” – this “old-established East End Italian/British” caff in Bethnall Green is a “tiny” family-run place full of “huge characters, huge banter, and huge plates of food”. The Grade II listed Art Deco interior is “just wonderful”, too – and there’s an occasional cameo appearance from East Enders stars including Ross Kemp and (most recently) Jessie Wallace. One slight irritation: “so many influencers go there”. Top Menu Tip – breakfast is of course the key time to visit: “have the Full English… have anything… it’s all great!”

2022 Review: The wild and wacky French chain opened this eclectically designed 194-room hotel in late 2019, complete with clashing fabrics, retro gaming machines, füsball and karaoke rooms. The loungy restaurant offers an easy-grazing selection of dishes to suit the tastes of globe-trotting hipsters: initial feedback suggests it's better than you might expect (given all the competing attractions).

2022 Review: A late 2020 arrival in Hackney – this new haunt bills itself as ‘a neighbourhood oasis in east london’. It’s a large space (200 covers), complete with bar made out of recycled materials and garden courtyard. Everything is ‘curated’ including the craft pizza. No survey feedback as yet, but the general social buzz about the place is a good one.

2024 Review: A “spectacular breakfast” – “the options are hard to choose from, but none are a poor choice” – is the top culinary feature at these Kiwi haunts, whose zeitgeisty vibe and in-house roasting (omg the smell in Shoreditch!) makes them a magnet for a “top notch coffee” at any time of day.

One of our Top-100 Best UK Restaurants in the 2025 edition: Gabriel Waterhouse and Patricia Wakaimba’s stylish high-ceilinged space near Regent’s Canal inspired a disappointing lack of feedback in our latest 2026 annual diners’ poll: so we’ve removed its top 5/5 rating not on the basis that there has been any lack of excellence this year, but for simple lack of data. He serves four seasonal menus each year, and the limited space makes this a very personal, supperclub- style experience: with 11 servings of the Wednesday evening and Saturday lunch ‘Discovery’ menu (at £85 per person); and 15 servings of the fuller ‘Signature’ menu (at £110 per person) served in the evening from Thursday-Saturday. More reports please!

“Basic in decor and set-up, but given the delicious food and solid buzz, who cares?” – this “busy” Hackney Italian gets its swing from “staff who clearly want to be at work and have a good time”; not to mention, in summer, its superb location on Regent’s Canal complete with heated terrace. The Italian food is also far from an afterthought and can be “fabulous” (“a wild mushroom squid and lardo dish was sweet, mushrooms intense with the seafood playing its part; sardine pasta and pheasant were both excellent – well-cooked, well-balanced, well-seasoned and with great little touches”).

This all-day Hackney venue with a “quirky canalside setting” from St John-trained chef Max Rocha (son of fashion designer John) is “accessible and casual by day, and morphs at night into a sexy hotspot for East London’s beautiful young things”. “Breakfast is a stand-out treat”. The “French bistro food” that follows later in the day receives steady but more guarded acclaim. Top Menu Tip – “rabbit rillettes a highlight”.

Tasca, a pop-up in Bethnal Green wine spot Cav, is a March 2025 arrival from chef Josh Dallaway and sommelier Sinead Murdoch. A culinary tribute to the dining cultures of Portugal and Spain (sample dishes: Jambon Beurre Gilda, Pork & Prawn Cachorrinho, Bikini sandwich), it also features a list of low-intervention wines predominantly founded or made by women. Its debut was too late for feedback in our annual diners’ poll, but in his March 2025 review, The Standard’s David Ellis hailed the “cool” vibe; “warm, unceremonious” service; “beautiful food and fair prices”.

“Hidden away in the Town Hall Hotel”, this “low-key” venue with its white-painted walls and bare tables “could be the termed the hotel’s ‘second’ restaurant or ‘poor relation’ to the two star Da Terra”, but is uniformly praised for its “consistently interesting, well executed dishes”: “highly inventive, tapas-style food that’s ideal for sharing and with super flavours”. One or two regulars note that “it rarely seems to be very busy” and “can lack atmosphere if you hit a service with a limited number of diners”.

This “bustling place with great small plates and wines” in Cambridge Heath, from Freddie Sheen & Zac Whittle, is “one of the many dotted around the Hackney/Tower Hamlets borders” and “delivers exactly what you want from a good neighbourhood restaurant – tasty dishes, warm service and a comfortable environment”. Three years on from launch, it is “largely a word-of-mouth success and seems always busy still, despite a relative lack of PR compared with others nearby”.

“Believe the hype. It’s real!” – this year-old corner-site in Cambridge Heath is proving a “brilliant addition to the London restaurant scene”. Its “elevated Korean cooking is refreshingly different to many other Korean venues”: “home-cooked completely authentic food” that’s “packed full of flavour”. Service too is “incredibly charming” while the modern, white-walled space – if not perhaps an attraction in itself – is a “chilled room” that will do nothing to detract from the meal.