London Shoreditch Restaurant Guide

This outpost of the Japanese master of Nikkei dining puts in a steady performance for those who make the trip to its capacious (240-cover) basement location, which is at the foot of a custom-built, Nobu-branded boutique hotel in Shoreditch. There’s the odd gripe about high prices, but no complaints about the food; and all the classics are present, from high-grade sushi to the much-copied miso-glazed black cod. Even so, the venue has never really taken off to the same extent as its siblings further west.

This well-regarded boozer, just off Great Eastern Street, was one of the first in Shoreditch to have a reputation for cooking (in the early 2000s); and is currently on an upswing having hired MasterChef winner Nikita Pathakji to bring some of her refined magic to the kitchen in summer 2024. A busy gastropub is a very different prospect from her former gaffs (Bibendum, Core and Kitchen W8), but her “good Sunday lunch” is definitely a hit.

“It’s good to see innovative and regular changes to the menu”, say fans of these “enjoyable” Mexican street-food operations, which win many nominations for their “cheap ’n’ cheerful formula, including a “fresh and flavourful” menu majoring in tacos, quesadillas and tostadas”. On the downside, for long-term fans, “the food doesn’t seem as fresh as it used to years ago, by which standard it feels mass produced”.

2023 Review: For a meat-free burger, this tiny brand (the first vegan restaurant in Europe to use ‘Beyond Meat’ in its patties) is well worth a try if you need a bite near the Old Street roundabout, or are down Pop Brixton way.

“Sit at the kitchen counter and watch small plates of mostly Italian influence being expertly prepared for the best take on this consistently good venue” (which has no more than 30-35 seats in total). Jon Lawson will celebrate his tenth year here in 2026 and has maintained impressive standards of seasonal Italian-inspired small plates all the while. It helps that the venue has “a nice casual-and-hip but also romantic vibe too”.

“When craving good quality red meat”, “these buzzy (if “very noisy”) chop-shops are bang on the money”, offering some of “the best VFM meat in London”, plus “attentive and welcoming service” too. “The steaks compare very favourably to Hawksmoor, especially as they are a fraction of the price” – “corkage is £10, which when matched with Butcher’s Block prices on a Monday makes for unbeatable value”. “Interiors are sleek but also relaxed (big groups – potentially with burger juices dripped down the front – can laugh loudly across circular tables without getting any side-eye”). Top Menu Tip – “The ‘All In’ is a heady mix of different meats laid on bread which soaks up all the resting juices… wonderful!”

“Barmy and OTT”: Paris-based Big Mamma Group’s original London venue brings a “great fun” cod-Italian vibe to Shoreditch (“think a full-mirrored ceiling” plus foliage and Capri-comes-to- Commercial Street knick-knacks) – “teens (and older types) love it”. If the food is only “so-so”, that hardly matters – the pizza and pasta go down well, while “the desserts look like something Marie Antoinette would order”.

“Knocking it out of the park, with wonderful fresh pasta, buzzy vibe and great value” – Tim Siadatan & Jordan Frieda’s famous Borough Market flagship celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, and along with its magnificent Shoreditch spinoff inspires better-than-ever ratings for a superb-value offering, which continues to attract new converts (“I have taken many friends, all of whom love it”). To their credit, everything is made daily (with the kitchen on full view through the windows in EC2); and prices remain super-competitive: you can still have a bowl of pasta for under £10. The Borough original does not take bookings, but these days you can queue virtually via the Dojo app. A typical meal? – “Anchovies with bread and butter, Pasta with crab, Rhubarb and almond tart, Glass of Primitivo. Bill – very reasonable”.

2022 Review: With its swish, spacious metropolitan styling, this 100-seater brasserie on one of Shoreditch’s main drags does little to advertise the fact that it’s part of the Hart Shoreditch Hotel London (part of the Curio Collection by Hilton), which opened in early 2020. Knowing this helps explain the slightly over-plush styling – at odds with the strenuously hip neighbourhood – and also the wilfully un-corporate menu: inspired by the flavours of Levantine coastal towns (Levantine weekend brunch is a feature). Early reports are too limited for a rating, but all-round very good.

This 10-year-old group with six sites offers a “good-value and tasty” take on the Middle Eastern kebab, served with a “modern twist” alongside “noteworthy cocktails”. “A seat at the counter is fun” at the original Kingly Court branch in Carnaby Street, which has a ‘fine dining’ option downstairs, Kebab Queen (see also).

2024 Review: “Thoughtful” Vietnamese food is served at “fabulous prices for the generous portions” at this duo in Soho and Hoxton from Hieu Trung Bui, who has done much to popularise pho and other southeast Asian dishes in London over more than 20 years. That “plenty of Asian people eat there too” speaks for its “authentic” style.

“A simple but very effective formula” that “really works and long may it continue!” – “When you hear the word ‘chain’ you may think of other steak chains best described as ‘bleugh’. Flat Iron isn’t one of them! Each branch has a cool, independent feel, and most importantly, their steak is actually really good”. Now with 15 branches in London (as well as Brighton, Cambridge, Manchester and Leeds), they provide a curt “well priced” menu of “excellent steak and sides”, plus the odd burger, and “the free ice cream cone at the end is a tasty topping to a very good offering”. “A great example of one getting what it says on the tin” and “impressive how they have kept the quality and friendly service going so well”.

“Sometimes it just has to be ramen”, and this group from Japan Centre owner Tak Tokumine provides noodles and broth that are “consistent, quick”, “high-quality and very reasonably priced” – “service isn’t amazing but the food makes up for it”. The 12-hour tonkotsu pork broth is a speciality of Hakata, Tak’s home district of Fukuoka city on the island of Kyushu.

2024 Review: Star chef Dani Garcia opened his first UK venture in Shoreditch’s Mondrian Hotel a couple of years ago, to mixed reviews. This up-and-down sentiment continues in feedback to date – some reporters think the Spanish cuisine – paellas, roast and grilled fish and meat, tapas – is “very good” (but encountered “an empty room on a Sunday lunch”); other well-travelled types thought it “underwhelming compared to the wonders of his native Andalusian restaurants”.

With a stylish open kitchen centred on a big wood fired grill, famous Irish chef Richard Corrigan’s easygoing haunt south of Silicon Roundabout is hard to pigeonhole. Casual quality dining is the aim: ‘a fusion of Irish and global flavours, showcasing whole cuts of meat, fish, and veg on the grill, alongside raw seafood and other hearty dishes’ to paraphrase the website (or you can just go to the basement bar, Gibney’s, and sup Guinness). All feedback is upbeat, although in terms of fame this place has never caught fire to match the celebrity of its owner. Top Tip – “perfect for a business lunch near Moorgate or Old Street!”

“When you want a hipster burger dripping in your beard, this place delivers!” – Scott Collins’s “buzzy, vibey” joints are notorious for their “really good dirty burgers” with memorable names (the ‘Dead Hippie’ and its veggie cousin the ‘Tempeh Tantrum’), plus “excellent buffalo wings with blue-cheese sauce”. In early 2025 he opened spinoff venture BLOODsports in a Covent Garden basement (see also), showing live sports and horror films on large-screen TVs.

2022 Review: “Top Korean street/junk food”, say fans of Linda Lee’s K-pop-styled pit stops, known for their funky fried chicken and other luridly flavoured bites. In the second half of 2021, she closed her Covent Garden branch, leaving just Shoreditch and St Pauls open, but north London and Nine Elms branches are coming soon apparently.

2023 Review: “US-style dive bar” in Shoreditch “serving what may well be the finest bar-meal/hangover-cure in London – beef chili in a hollowed-out brioche bun, topped with cheese and your choice of chili sauce in varying levels of insanity”. Tim Brice, aka ‘Captain Chili’, took over the former site of Rok (RIP) to open his little corner of Americana in February 2021. Apparently the Cincinatti chilibomb was developed by Greek immigrants who adapted Tex-Mex chili con carne in the 1920s.

“A fix of huevos rancheros never disappoints” at this collection of 11 all-day London ‘cafs’ (with another four across England and two pubs), whose menu mixes British greasy-spoon fare with American diner classics (pancakes, fried chicken, milkshakes) that certainly “set you up for the day”. “Basic, but with a nice buzz”, they are also “great for oldies, with half-price mains for the over 60s”.