London Hackney Restaurant Guide

“Breathtakingly inventive and excellently executed” cooking (“best described as modern British with a substantial Asian influence”) has won renown out of all proportion to the “extremely small” size of this Hackney two-year-old, which has a better claim to culinary fame than most East End ventures. “How they keep up such high standards with a weekly changing tasting menu is astonishing” (“although we have eaten there more than six times in the last couple of years, I cannot think of any single dish that has ever been repeated”). “And it still feels like a cosy neighbourhood restaurant”, although on the downside “tables are very small and crammed too close together”.

“Simply mouthwatering plates” of “succulent and well-seasoned chops” reward a trip to these “fun” haunts, which in September 2018 added a Shoreditch branch to initial ventures in Soho and the City. It’s a case of “simple food but done extremely well” and “if you like meat, this is a good place to share lots of it with friends, and at a very good price too”. “OK, so I was sceptical: yet another beards and tatts place, I thought – but the quality is such that I (and my meat-loving wife) discuss little else but when to go next!”

“An utterly brilliant tapas café, where you perch on stools, in the window or at the bar; staff are relaxed and chatty, and the food is expertly cooked, delicious and really good value”. That’s the low-down on Moro’s first spin off, a few doors down from the mothership, on Exmouth Market. Since last year it has a “more comfortable Hackney Road version” (near Columbia Road flower market). “Lovely Mediterranean-inspired dishes here too, plus a great spacious setting”, “very buzzy counter-style dining” and “you can book any time”. Top Menu Tips – “yummy aubergine fritters” (“I don’t know how they get them that crispy and tasty”); and a “scrumptious North African/Mediterranean twist on brunch”.

“Inventive dishes that you won’t find in other tapas places” distinguish this “excellent” (if “pricey”) Newington Green Spaniard, with Galician specialities.

“Just an East End boozer it’s not” – this converted public house and dining rooms a short walk from Columbia Road has “an airy, modern and confident first-floor dining room, with food to make you smile and make you think”. “It’s nothing over-fancy, nothing over-priced” – “taking dishes beyond what one would describe as pub grub”, although there’s “no better place for a relaxed Sunday lunch”.

Straightforward but superior deli/café on a Highbury street corner that’s “fantastic any time of the day” – for the most part brunches, coffee and cakes are the orders of the day, but there’s more substantial fare served on weekend evenings.

This landmark east London gastropub near Victoria Park is an “easy destination for a great night out or a weekend treat... always fun and welcoming”. The menu “mixes conventional with more adventurous options”.

“The broth is so incredibly thick and creamy, and this combined with the very generous servings make for a very good quick eat” at these cramped ramen pit-stops serving “noodles… more noodles… and some side dishes for those not wanting noodles”. “As it’s just a place for sustenance, you go with the flow, but staff are friendly and helpful”.

In any other ’hood, this engaging Clapton bottle shop (focused on funky ‘natural’ vintages) with communal central table – and serving some eclectic but interesting small dishes – would be a handy, loveable find. Sitting as it does at the very epicentre of the East End’s fooderati community, it is front page news, as exemplified by its being website Eater’s bizarre choice as ‘London Restaurant of the Year 2017’. In September 2018 it took on a new chef for at least a 6-month residency: Anna Tobias.