‘Here you’ll find east London’s foodies, elbowing each other on bar stools and smiling politely through the fog’ You’ve wandered around Broadway Market, paid £6 for a turmeric oat flat white and traipsed around London Fields — but now, where to munch? Take a left down Martello Terrace and then a right onto Mentmore Terrace and, hopefully, avoid the queue ...
‘A slice of northern Italy on Columbia Road, the restaurant expertly combines high-quality ingredients with true Italian know-how’ Tucked away on Columbia Road’s easternmost corner is Tiella Trattoria, the area’s latest Italian offering. Its exterior is unassuming – save for the stained-glass window on the door – and conceals myriad treasures within. The restaurant was formerly the zippy Anther, with ...
‘The team behind some of London’s favourite Sri Lankan and South Indian flavours has opened a fourth branch in the heart of East London’ “I’m pathetic with heat”, my date pouts at our handsome waiter, AJ, puncturing the stylish gloom of Hoppers’ latest Shoreditch outpost. Fortunately, the team knows exactly what they’re doing. Started by Karan Gokani in 2015, the brand ...
‘A meat feast like you’ve never had before. Vegetarians may want to look away now, as the brains behind Peck Peck and Sutton and Sons are going all-in on roast chicken’ Remember Chicken Run? A plucky group of hens escape from a farmer’s clutches and move to a paradisical island (in the second film). Well… this is the opposite of that. ...
‘Just like grandma used to make’ eorge Hartshorn — one half of the fraternal team (Luis the other) who have swapped touristy Camden pub The Farrier for this local wine bar, bistro and bottle shop — leans over our table, eyes sparkling. He regales us with tales of his Jäger-shotting grandmother, who had a joie de vivre which inspired the ...
‘Bring on the noodles, we bray! The restaurant’s original branch in Soho’s Old Compton Street has got TikTok talking, but does its second location live up to the hype?’ Everyone knows there are different restaurants befitting different occasions: some are romantic, some convenient, some more Instagram-worthy than anything else. To judge them all by the same ubiquitous is something I ...
‘Not today, Satan! Every vegan goth’s perfect evening out’ eople lose their minds when I say I have a vegan Christmas dinner. The concept seems unfathomable that appeasing my herbivorous mother and not massacring a large galliform would also mean not sacrificing flavour. Of course, this job throws up plenty of suckling piglets, boiled shells and lovely dead things, for ...
‘Tokyo and Greece collide in this upmarket Shoreditch restaurant’ Sunday Bloody Sunday is not just a fantastic film. The 1971 flick is a lament, the day rolling around each week like that one cousin you just can’t quite seem to get rid of. What is one to do on this day, apart from going to church? One option I took recently ...
‘Ran our fingers along the perforated cavity to get every last confusing mouthful’ If sustainability and style are pillars from which you construct your reality (I’ve heard of worse), Ivan Tisdall-Downes’s new venture after leaving Native Restaurant in March should be on your festive wish list. Now, if you’re not already a Native devotee, you can take a wild guess ...
‘This cornerstone of Leytonstone’s dining scene recently shut its doors after 25 years, but the concept has been revived in a swish new Shoreditch location’ ALeytonstone institution of 25 years has now landed in the slightly secret Montacute Yards, off Shoreditch High Street. This restaurant has taken a long route from family-run fish and chip shop in 1999 to toast ...