London Haggerston Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: Charlie Mellor’s (ex-Brawn and Elliot’s) cute Hackney wine bar and merchant provides a high- quality fixed-price modern European menu, accompanied by artisan wines from small producers. There’s also ‘The Cave’, for evening DJ sets, behind the off licence.

2023 Review: The “short and desirable menu” of modern British dishes continues to win praise for this ambitious gastropub near Columbia Road Market, from former St John chefs Tom Harris and Jon Rotheram. A huge hit when it opened, it’s adopted a lower profile over the years, but remains “just the place to take hard-to-impress young adult children”.

This “buzzy and enjoyable location” for “very well-executed Mediterranean small dishes” is the more casual offspring of Sam & Sam Clark’s Moro next door in Exmouth Market – and now has its own spin-off in Hackney Road. The original Spanish/Moorish fusion has taken on additional influences from further afield, including Crete and the Middle East. Top Menu Tip – “good cheese fritters with Cretan honey and Cretan sausage and yoghurt with first rate flatbread”.

Well predating the gentrification of Columbia Road, this “small, local Spanish restaurant” (est 1982) is worth remembering when browsing for blooms and designer flower pots. It probably won’t re-frame your understanding of Hispanic cuisine, but “prices are reasonable” and the “team are friendly and fun” (albeit sometimes under pressure at busy times).

2022 Review: “Outside tables in Columbia Road” help lend an air of rusticity to this former cowshed off Columbia Road Flower Market. The culinary focus is on the south of Italy, and with pasta made daily (including to buy retail), the thrust of our feedback: “what’s not to like?”.

“Simple… seasonal… superb” sums up chef-patron Ed Wilson’s approach at this East London fixture, near Columbia Road flower market – and after 15 years, “the food is better than ever”. “Despite the carnivorous name (and logo!)” the menu also incorporates “impressive and delicately cooked fish and seafood”. Natural wines are a big theme – “uber cool, weird and wonderful bottles that taste better than they look” – “but there’s lots for the traditional palate, too”. Top Tip – “go on weekday lunchtimes to avoid booking”.

“Sublimely executed feelgood nosh of the highest charcoal-grilled order” has attracted a “devoted fan base” for this Middle East/North Africa-inspired grill in a Haggerston railway arch, and its shawarma bar spinoff in Exmouth Market. Ten years on, its feedback – though consistently excellent – no longer scales the hyper-dizzying peaks it once did, perhaps because founder Josh Katz is increasingly focused on his newer, multi-site project, Carmel (see also).

2022 Review: In Hackney’s Broadway Market and next to the Regent’s Canal, this Japanese street food and ramen bar opened in December 2019. It’s smallish – 45 seats – mixing communal seating and some individual tables. Early reports suggest it’s an OK standby – not enough feedback for a more hearty endorsement at this stage.

This “beautifully designed wine drinkers’ hangout” (both a restaurant and a wine store) in a pair of Haggerston railway arches has “a cellar full of real rarities, super-knowledgeable and hospitable owner and staff. It’s the creation of a Franco-Australian duo, founder Jonathan Alphandery and ex-P Franco chef Seb Myers, and its stimulating menu is made with the wine in mind”: “dishes presenting elegant and fresh modern twists on French and Nordic cookery”. Club members get priority booking and can store their wine in the cellars, but members of the public can eat in the restaurant and one or two enjoyed their “meal of the year” here.

“In Little Vietnam in Shoreditch”, this brisk and busting canteen is an “institution” and, if nothing else, “scores well in its hygiene score by the standards of the area!” Service “if a little chaotic, is friendly” and its “home-style cooking, while not amazingly delicate, has plenty of choice, including very tasty pho”.

This 15-strong London noodle chain (now with branches in Brighton, Birmingham and Bristol) is “a good stand-by” – perhaps it’s “not as good as some of its competitors”, but it is widely seen as “good value”: in particular “the lunch-time meal deal” is a winner.

2022 Review: The wild and wacky French chain opened this eclectically designed 194-room hotel in late 2019, complete with clashing fabrics, retro gaming machines, füsball and karaoke rooms. The loungy restaurant offers an easy-grazing selection of dishes to suit the tastes of globe-trotting hipsters: initial feedback suggests it's better than you might expect (given all the competing attractions).

A “spectacular breakfast” – “the options are hard to choose from, but none are a poor choice” – is the top culinary feature at these Kiwi haunts, whose zeitgeisty vibe and in-house roasting (omg the smell in Shoreditch!) makes them a magnet for a “top notch coffee” at any time of day.

2021 Review: “As close as you can get to Buenos Aires without leaving London” – this Argentinian parrilla is one of hip Broadway Market’s longest-serving foodie hotspots, and serves “amazing steaks, and a great wine list for reds”.

2023 Review: This quartet of family-run restaurants have won a big reputation for their southwest Vietnamese dishes, including pho and their famed goat with galangal. They started out 15 years ago in Shoreditch before heading across the river to Battersea.

2022 Review: A late 2020 arrival in Hackney – this new haunt bills itself as ‘a neighbourhood oasis in east london’. It’s a large space (200 covers), complete with bar made out of recycled materials and garden courtyard. Everything is ‘curated’ including the craft pizza. No survey feedback as yet, but the general social buzz about the place is a good one.

“Slightly off the beaten track but worth the trek” – Max Rocha’s “joyous” if “minimalist” Hackney canalside spot is “a fantastic venue, and a slightly quirky one given the charming but industrial view”. It inspires nothing but upbeat feedback for “French bistro food (e.g. Onglet & Chips) cooked to perfection”; and it does a “very good breakfast” too. “Busy, but they don’t hurry you”.

“A real event, with very complex and often-experimental food” – Gabriel & Patricia Waterhouse’s “temple of high cuisine” started out in his flat and, since 2021, has occupied this Scandi-esque, high-ceilinged, light-filled space near Regent’s Canal. Bookings are available for 1-6 diners and much of the seating is at communal tables, to which the ‘Long Form Menu’ at £155 per person is served at peak times (with cheaper options at quieter times). “There’s practically no choice on wine: either you have the wines provided or you have the non-alcoholic versions (same price)”. All reports agree this is “amazing” cooking – “you might not love it all, but you will certainly find it interesting!” – and there’s a general feeling that it is also “very good value for a great gastronomic experience”. As to the overall set-up, while the odd report says the seating is “a bit rag tag”, most say “don’t be put off by the supperclub set-up or shared tables”.

“Reliably excellent pizza” – “better than the other high street chains” – is what you’ll find at this growing Clapton-based operation, now with 12 sites from Balham and Crystal Palace in the south to Tufnell Park (which, as of summer 2024, is the latest to open). They’re perhaps “not smart as places to eat”, but that hardly matters – and the “toppings are interesting without being off-puttingly un-pizza-ish”.

2022 Review: Although it’s from the Anchor and Hope stable, this all-day operation near Hoxton tube is not a pub: it’s a new café (opened May 2021) within the rebranded Geffrye Museum (which features exhibits on domestic living since 1600). On offer – breakfast, lunch and buns, and – in the fullness of time – a dinner service.