Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in London Whitechapel
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Whitechapel restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 44 restaurants in Whitechapel and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Whitechapel restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Whitechapel Restaurants
1. Cinnamon Kitchen
Indian restaurant in City
9 Devonshire Sq - EC2
“Attractive Indians with a good range of different dishes” – Vivek Singh’s dynamic duo of affordable spin-offs from his celebrated Cinnamon Club inspire practically nothing but high praise. The long-established City outlet set inside a rather 1980s atrium development is “a solid option around Liverpool Street” (although at times “the cavernous interior can feel a bit odd and echoey”); the newer Battersea branch occupies a railway arch near the power station and feels “different” (in a good way).
2. The Buxton
British, Modern restaurant in Tower Hamlets
42 Osborn Street - E1
2021 Review: From the team behind the nearby Culpeper, this new (June 2019) gastroboozer occupies a cleverly rebuilt seven-storey site near the foot of Brick Lane, whose redevelopment has allowed the addition of 15 bedrooms. It opened too late for survey feedback: The Standard’s David Sexton found the ground floor bar a little “cramped” and “not for lingering”, but a good value, if “lonely pioneer of bourgeois taste” in this grungy ’hood.
3. Emilia’s Crafted Pasta
Italian restaurant in Tower Hamlets
77 Alie Street - E1
“Excellent pasta” is the straightforward proposition at this Italian trio, with a flagship in Canary Wharf, which takes its name and inspiration from Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region.
4. Chez Elles
French restaurant in
45 Brick Ln - E1
“A simple menu with unexpectedly great food” is to be found at this ‘bistroquet’ on Brick Lane, which has flown the Tricolor in curry country for the past 11 years with a parade of Gallic classics including snails, frogs’ legs and veal sweetbreads.
5. The Culpeper
British, Modern restaurant in Aldgate
40 Commercial Street - E1
“Buzzing” old boozer on a Spitalfields corner site, which was very stylishly upgraded nine years ago and nowadays boasts an airy upstairs dining room with an “always interesting, always reliable” British bistro menu. “The roof terrace is a great bonus”, too.
6. Som Saa
Thai restaurant in Shoreditch
43a Commercial Street - E1
“Full of a young crowd who really want to enjoy the flavours of Thailand” – this “noisy” former factory near Spitalfields Market has won renown for offering “a unique flavour of ‘real’ Thai cuisine with a wonderful selection of zingy, spicy, aromatic and refreshing dishes”. Top Menu Tip – “nothing can beat the whole deep-fried seabass with crunchy bones, and sitting at the counter they’ll do half portions for a single diner. Excellent!”
7. Xi'an Biang Biang
Chinese restaurant in Tower Hamlets
62 Wentworth Street - E1
2021 Review: “Oodles of noodles… and fun, too”: this “bustling, happy-making eatery” – year-old sibling to Highbury’s Xi’an Impression – occupies a canteen-style space in Spitalfields and “specialises in spicy, hand-pulled noodles”; “yum!”.
8. Andina Spitalfields
Peruvian restaurant in Spitalfields
60-62 Commercial Street - E1
2023 Review: Nowadays just in Spitalfields (with Soho, Shoreditch and Notting Hill branches opening and closing over the years), this Peruvian-inspired haunt received mixed reviews this year, linked with one or two incidents of “awful” service. Feedback on its Latino fare, which majors in ceviches and salads (but which is also accompanied by a selection of larger and mostly meaty ‘classic dishes’) is more consistent, though, and fans say it’s “still a cracking place, even after relocating”.
9. Tayyabs
Pakistani restaurant in Whitechapel
83 Fieldgate St - E1
“The grilled lamb chops are worth a visit in their own right” to this “affordable and ever-reliable Punjabi institution in Whitechapel” whose 500 seats are “guaranteed to be jam-packed on any particular evening”. “BYOB means it is even better value for money”.
10. The Halal Restaurant
Indian restaurant in Aldgate
2 St Mark Street - E1
2022 Review: East London’s oldest Indian (established 1939 in Whitechapel) briefly found fame in late August 2020, when it was reviewed by Marina O’Loughlin for The Sunday Times. Run by four generations of the same family – and with somewhat antediluvian decor – it’s not the place to uncover the latest in food fads; or as Marina eloquently put it: “it tastes like the past, deliciously”. Reports please!
11. Bubala
Middle Eastern restaurant in Tower Hamlets
65 Commercial Street - E1
“Every course hits harder than the next… and you don’t even realise all are vegetarian!” – this former pop-up – now with outlets in Soho (on the site of the now-transferred Vasco & Piero’s) and Shoreditch – serves “stunning” Middle Eastern-style dishes from founder Marc Summers (ex-Berber & Q) and head chef Helen Graham (ex-Palomar and Barbary). “If I could eat this food every day, I could easily become meat-free”. Plan ahead – “it’s hard to get a table!”
12. Satay Street Cafe
Thai restaurant in Spitalfields
15 Goulston Street - E1
2022 Review: Originally a stall on Brick Lane (which started in 2009), this 20-seater, a short walk north of Aldgate, is the first permanent home of this experienced Bangkok-style street food vendor. Enjoy dishes (with lots of choice for vegans) on a bed of rice, wrapped tight in a tortilla, or accompanied with salad.
13. Flat Iron
Steaks & grills restaurant in Tower Hamlets
88-90 Commercial Street - E1
“One of the best bangs for your buck in town” – this “well-priced” steak chain has a “sensible formula” and has “managed to keep standards up despite constant expansion” (its latest, 11th London site, opened in March 2023 in Kensington). “Surroundings are basic” and “their menu is very simplistic: you choose a cut of meat, sauce and sides – the cuts are cooked to perfection”, “chips are hot, the service is punctual” and “free ice cream at the end ensures happy faces when people leave”.
14. Needoo
Pakistani restaurant in Shadwell
87 New Rd - E1
2021 Review: Whitechapel Punjabi BYO that’s a real match for its better-known Pakistani competitors in the East End due to its “grilled meats at bargain prices” and other “fantastic, freshly made dishes” from the sub-continent.
15. Gunpowder
Indian restaurant in City
11 Whites Row - E1
“Innovative small plates pack a flavour punch” (“the lamb chops are some of the most glorious things ever”) at this “buzzy if rather cramped” Indian street-food trio, with operations near Tower Bridge, and in Spitalfields and Soho. Top Tip – “good, if limited, pre-theatre menu. Virtually no choice but, with tasty and large portions costing £22 for two courses or £25 for three, excellent value”.
16. Lahore Kebab House
Pakistani restaurant in Whitechapel
2-10 Umberston St - E1
“The original Pakistani joint” – this “perfect” East End pitstop of over half a century’s standing is as “cheap and consistent as ever” (and as grotty…). For “legendary” lamb chops, “the best ever dry lamb curry” and “amazing chicken tikka”, it can’t be beat.
17. Sichuan Folk
Chinese restaurant in Whitechapel
32 Hanbury St - E1
2023 Review: This “tiny place near Truman’s old brewery” serves an “excellent and authentic take on Sichuan cuisine, in a calm atmosphere, away from the agitation of Brick Lane”. Top Tip – “‘numb and spicy’ dumplings live up to their name”.
18. Rosa’s
Thai restaurant in Shoreditch
12 Hanbury St - E1
2021 Review: The “lovely Thai food” at these reliable cafés is “impressively authentic given that they are a chain” – “excellent value” and “fast”, if occasionally let down by “iffy service”. Founded in 2008 by Saiphin and Alex Moore, who inherited the name of their first East End site, the group has 18 branches in London and expanded to Liverpool, Manchester, Reading (delivery only) and Leeds following the sale of a majority stake to US investors. The couple also have two spin-offs, Lao Café in Covent Garden and the new Chinese noodle bar Hoh Sek in St Katharine Docks.
19. The Rib Man
Burgers, etc restaurant in Shoreditch
Brick Lane, Brick Lane Market - E1
“Messy but worthwhile!” – a trip to Mark Gevaux’s acclaimed pitch on Sundays at Brick Lane, for his BBQ ribs and pork rolls from pigs reared outdoors in Norfolk and Suffolk. But the creator of ‘Holy Fuck’ hot sauce suffered an aneurism and underwent surgery in summer 2023 – wishing him all the best for a speedy recovery… not only is he a top bloke, but we all need him back at work…
20. Poppies
Fish & chips restaurant in Spitalfields
6-8 Hanbury St - E1
2023 Review: You can “travel back in time” at this trio of deliberately retro chippies, with their “Formica tables and period posters creating a great atmosphere” – “the fish ’n’ chips are excellent, too”. Founder Pat ‘Pops’ Newland, an East Ender who started working at the age 11, was still a hands-on owner in his 80s when he died in April 2022.
View full listings of 44 Whitechapel Restaurants
Popular Whitechapel Restaurant Searches
london Restaurant News
Top Whitechapel Restaurants
Hot Newcomers & Coming Soon
Hot Newcomers
Coming Soon