London Stoke Newington Restaurant Guide

“A brilliant pub to have in Stokey”, with “consistently delicious” Franco-Mediterranean food. Like its thoroughbred stablemates south of the river – the Anchor & Hope and Canton Arms – it gets very busy: “if you want to have any conversation, make sure you book a table in the dining area as the tables by the bar can become incredibly loud”. Top Menu Tip – “worth the trip for the potatoes dauphinoise alone”.

Eat at the counter or grab one of the small tables at this popular tapas pitstop on Stokie’s main drag. Feedback is limited but enthusiastic over its focused menu of seafood and tapas dishes, and the paella served at Saturday lunch and all day on Sunday. Top Menu Tip – half-price oysters before 7 pm weekdays and all day Sunday.

With its landmark puce frontage, Das Sreedharan’s Stoke Newington institution is a “really fun place” that “still hits it out of the park every time for authentic, vibrant Keralan vegetarian cooking” – “the menu has been the same forever”, but the food is so good that nobody minds very much.

Cheapo taco shop that evolved from a Netil Market street-food stall to this permanent Stokie café, and which has won a cult following over the years – including in our annual diners’ poll – for its tacos, tacos especiales and quesadillas. There is the odd doubter though (“I don’t understand the hype. The tacos were very average. Plus, you sit all squished up in a site where I felt a makeover wouldn’t go amiss”).

2024 Review: “Literally the size of a dinner plate”, the schnitzels at this tiled Stoke Newington two-year-old are “freshly made”, “tender & super-tasty”, and come with “great sides – especially the pickled cucumber salad”. The classics (veal, pork, chicken) take their cue from German-speaking central Europe, but the menu strays as far as Mexico and Japan to up the variety. A spin-off opened in Hoxton under the name Schnitzel Heaven in early 2023.

“Worth the local hype (and the queue)”, says fans of this small, bright and breezy modern café in Stoke Newington, which has become known over the years for its “twists on the classic brunch options” – “imaginative pairings that don’t sound like they should work but really do”.

2024 Review: “Well done Rasa!” – the revered veggie Keralan has “opened up a new restaurant in Stokey”: opposite the original bright-pink Rasa, now in its 30th year, the latest venture from Das Sreedharan “stays true to the original, but also offers yummy fish dishes” with “a whole array of beautiful and tasty new options” – and “it’s already a local hit”.

On Stoke Newington Church Road, a Korean pop-up-gone-permanent-restaurant from former Galvin Brothers’ head chef, Joo Won. In his March 2025 review, The Standard’s David Ellis felt that “quality control needs a beadier eye” but that if Joo’s ambition was to “draw a local crowd to his cool wine bar/bistro, and give them something they’ve not had before, and at a price which feels very fair” then “he has sprinted past his own finish line”. A couple of weeks later, The Guardian’s Grace Dent hailed “a delicious, Korean-flecked hotch-potch” with unlikely-sounding dishes that work “surprisingly well” (“like a spicy bouillabaisse… with enough bite to make your forehead sweat”).

“Still our pizza favourite no matter how successful and busy they get… the black dough even makes you feel you’re eating healthy!” – this eight-strong chain has grown from its Islington base over the last ten years (est. 2016) and its successful formula revolves around four 48-hour slow-fermented doughs – charcoal, wholemeal, gluten-free and traditional. Of these the first is the most eye-catching: “interesting charcoal-based pizza with delicious toppings”. The original N7 branch near Arsenal and the W14 one (they call it ‘Hammersmith’ but it’s closer to Olympia) attract most feedback, but it’s the food that wins fans: for example, “the original one feels buzzy when Arsenal play at home when it’s packed out, but otherwise can feel a bit grim and loveless”.