London Canonbury Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: “Quality meat and good value” have carved a fine reputation for this Canonbury gastropub (part of Noble Inns), which is entering its 10th year in 2023. Whole carcasses are butchered on-site, fish is delivered daily, and it’s a beer-lovers dream, with 20 on tap and 60 bottled.

2022 Review: It’s a bit less nook-like than it looks, if you head to the larger basement of this summer 2020 Highbury newcomer: a deli by day and neighbourhood café in the evenings. With a vague connection to Linden Stores (RIP), which it replaced in 2020, there’s a Turkish twist to the contemporary European small dishes and sharing plates. Limited early feedback, but very positive all-round.

2021 Review: Jolly Canonbury boozer decorated with pictures of 60s icons. There’s also a jukebox – so it “can get very noisy”. On the menu: “honest pub grub”, including “the best burgers” and spit-roast chicken.

“The neighbourhood Italian everyone would want to have” – Tim Siadatan and Jordan Frieda’s “low-key and lovely” Islington fixture “feels like a special meal every time”, with “amazing pasta” and other “delicious” dishes prepared from “excellent ingredients”. “Choose upstairs in summer for lunch, and downstairs in winter for a romantic dinner”. “Just wish they weren’t so dog-friendly!”.

This 10-year-old fishmonger-turned-restaurant near Highbury Corner is a “great all-rounder”, with “fresh fish” from Devon or Cornwall (it has another branch in Padstow) “often cooked originally”. Even after a move to “slightly larger premises on St Paul’s Road” it’s still “a simple space, so the ambience is not highly rated given the expense” – “shame it’s so small that you can’t always get a booking”.

This “lovely neighbourhood restaurant” in Islington from brothers Martin & Christoph Lange thrives thanks to a “really good all-round menu” fusing Nordic, French and German influences, and a “New York-style ambience”.

“Still a bit of a hidden gem, which is a real shame as this place should be packed” – this converted pub by Essex Road station is a longstanding fixture of the area. With its mix of sushi and other “enjoyable and very tasty” fare, fans say it serves “really wonderful izakaya dishes in a pretty chilled-out environment”; and that even if “it’s not as cheap as it once was, it’s still good value”.

This “small and crowded” grill on Islington’s main drag serves “reasonably priced Turkish, Kurdish and Greek-style food” and is “clearly a local crowd-pleaser”. The ‘Hidden Gem’ basement is available for private parties.

2022 Review: Returning in early 2020 to an Islington site its owners used to run in the 1980s (and unconnected with Trawler Trash which recently closed on this site, RIP), this somewhat modernified but relatively traditional chippy provides a proper fish ’n’ chip fix for those times when the many more rarefied options available locally just won't hit the spot.

2023 Review: “Delicious” plant-based versions of classic American comfort food – from burgers, seitan hot dogs and pastrami to milk-free shakes – cut the mustard at this pair of ‘dirty vegan diners’ in Camden Market and Islington. The Islington branch has a vegan butcher next door, touted as the world’s first, with a concession in Selfridges.

“Glorious-tasting authentic Neapolitan pizza”, “with interesting toppings that are quite unique”, is the USP of this Ealing-based operation launched in 2010 by Naples-born duo Angelo and Pasquale, which has grown in recent years into a small group with outlets as far away as Islington and Fitzrovia. Their “aim is to transport you to Naples, and the pizzas live up to the ambition”.

Opening July 2024 in De Beauvoir, on the border between Islington and Hackney, a wine bar and restaurant serving biodynamic and natural wines alongside seasonal and sustainable sharing plates. Also on-site, pour-over specialist coffee shop Day Trip and gelato bar the Dreamery.