Epping, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

“In the heart of Essex, this fabulous fish restaurant” (est. 2010, and revolving around the “plush conversion of an old pub”) “offers amazing dishes and attentive service in a truly beautiful setting”. “It can be fun watching the TOWIE types amongst fellow diners”, but if that loses its appeal, divert your eyes to the “pleasant views from the terrace on a sunny day”.

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”.

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).

2023 Review: “A good-to-find culinary outpost in an area with few interesting eating spots” – this “welcoming” gastropub is well worth remembering: “a steady hand in the kitchen meets good ingredients, and if food and wine both tread a relatively safe path, it’s no less enjoyable for that”.

2022 Review: Leyton deli and bottle shop that’s a fave rave for anyone living within striking distance (but we also received a very good report on it from a reporter living in SW19!). In autumn 2019, they opened an adjoining café serving snacks and small plates.

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).

2023 Review: Very limited feedback (but all of it upbeat) for Douglas McMaster’s more-eco-than-eco, zero-waste project, above Crate in Hackney Wick’s canalside White Building, which – in its drive for ‘quality through purity’ and ‘a more primitive diet… born from clean farming’ serves a menu of wacky, meat-free small plates and very off-piste wines.

This Grade II listed Stokey boozer was taken under the wing of the gastropub magicians behind the Anchor & Hope and Canton Arms three years ago, and now boasts a “delicious seasonal menu” and “very good Sunday lunch”. The move has been such a success that the Clarence team now has a West End outpost – at no less an address than Soho’s historic Kettner’s (see also). Top Menu Tip – “the pies for two: I’m still dreaming about the chicken and leek”.

2021 Review: “Utterly magic shakshuka served with chunks of roasted sourdough…”, “stand-out salt beef bagels…”, “incredible coffee with a selection of babka sweet breads (in different flavours!)…”, “ZFC – ‘za’atar fried chicken’ – to die for!…” – these “bustling” Israeli delis in Stoke Newington and Soho’s Kingly Court create queues (especially at brunch) with their “quite exceptional and startlingly fresh Middle-Eastern-cum-north-American food. They also make a worthwhile destination at dinner, when the pace is more sedate, the natural wines are flowing and you can actually book a table”. “Casual and relaxed”, they look “gorgeous” too.

2023 Review: This “outstanding” four-year-old is an “engaging but cramped little venue” whose “absolute bargain of a menu” from co-owner Johnnie Crow (ex-Harwood Arms and Anglo), makes it “well worth the trip up to Hackney (booking essential!)”. The meal is structured around one type of meat each month – chicken, game, wagyu – to minimise waste, and “service is personal, enthusiastic and charming”. “You’re unlikely to find much better value in town, with some truly stellar dishes given the mid-range price-point”.

2021 Review: “A Caribbean edge” adds an “interesting twist” to the fundamentally European menu at this late-2019 yearling, which opened without fanfare in the heart of Hornsey. “The chef has little support so expect a relaxed service!”

2023 Review: “Great value and unusual tasting menus, nice wines & lovely service” win all-round applause for this yearling in a Hackney Downs warehouse from Anthony Lyon (of Lyon’s in Crouch End). Head chef Giuseppe Pepe (ex-Pidgin and Marksman) is responsible for the seasonal, minimal-waste menu, and his “food is beautifully presented and served”.

2021 Review: “Try and snag a corner banquette for great E8 people-watching” if you visit this quirky venue – the dining room of a Dalston (technically speaking Shacklewell) events venue where ex-St John chef Chris Gillard delivers some excellent, gutsy dishes. On nights when the venue has a noisy gig though, it can fall down as a foodie experience: “they need to decide if they’re a bar and disco, or a restaurant, because diners don’t want both at once: the waiters were sidetracked mixing cocktails and the DJ an irritant”.

Consistently one of London’s better-performing gastroboozers, this substantial Victorian tavern near Victoria Park in Hackney was iconic in the area’s gentrification over twenty years ago, and “just keeps delivering as a local pub and place to eat”. It does a “perfect Sunday roast” while also catering well for non-meat-eaters.

“Deservedly something of a local institution” – this industrial-style restaurant and grill “manages to provide a cut-above dining experience while retaining a low-key Hackney vibe” – making it the perfect location for the 2021 film Boiling Point, which was spun out into a BBC TV series in 2023.

2022 Review: This “buzzy” Highbury wine bar specialises in hip low-intervention wines, backed up by “great food and service”. The menu is predominantly small-plate bites to accompany the interesting bottles being quaffed, so “they could do with more main course options – but the atmosphere is fantastic”.

2021 Review: A short stroll from Hackney Downs station, this year-old sibling to Ducksoup operates as a ‘fermenting kitchen and eatery’ (and you can buy the results by the gram or bottled as part of their The Picklery range). It also operates as a kitchen from breakfast on, serving a short menu, which varies throughout the day (you might have squid risotto, or steak in the evening); and it’s later in the day that its “great list of natural wines” comes to the fore. “It feels very relaxed, serves lots of pickled stuff and the food’s all good: it’s a bit like going around to a friend’s house, who’s a very good cook and has a lot of very nice wine”.