Highbury, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

This “great local” on Highbury Corner has developed from a catering company and supper club into a fully fledged “neighbourhood restaurant, serving proper food at reasonable prices”, with separate all-day brunch/lunch and evening menus featuring modern European dishes.

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”.

This “super-cool local” off the Holloway Road near the Emirates stadium has been a kingpin of the hip sharing-plates dining scene since it opened seven years ago, making stylish use of a post-industrial space where diners are “packed in like sardines... which are delicious here!”. The “healthy modern British” small plates menu always has “quite a few vegetarian dishes” and low intervention wines are a big feature.

This “grotty Arsenal pub” near the old Highbury stadium in Finsbury Park has won wide acclaim for its “elevated pub food”, with “small plates of tasty British classics” and a “banging Dexter burger” (“I dream about those burgers, they’re that good”). There’s a “nice old-school pub atmosphere too”, with a “lively bar” and “great beer selection”. Chef duo Jamie Allan & Ed McIlroy (aka Four Legs) have now opened their second transformation project, the former chippy Tollingtons (see also). Top Sartorial Tip – “baseball caps and trainers are ubiquitous”.