The best restaurants in Shoreditch and Hackney right now
Despite what social media may tell you, the best restaurants in Shoreditch are more than just small sharing plates and low-intervention wine. The east London neighbourhood has some of the most exciting and best restaurants in the capital right now. You don't need to go far to find a Michelin-starred meal or a brilliant casual spot. From The Clove Club to buzzy nose-to-tail Italian manteca and Kingsland Road's ‘Pho Mile’ filled with family-run Vietnamese restaurants, there’s something for every taste and budget.
Shoreditch has a big enough food scene to focus on it by itself but we've also considered restaurants slightly further into Hackney, where we recommend places like the world’s first zero-waste restaurant Silo in Hackney Wick, London Field's plant-based, hyper-seasonal restaurant Edit (one of our favourite vegan restaurants in London), vegetable-forward live-fire concept restaurant Acme Fire Cult in Dalston and Berber & Q in Haggerston.
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The best restaurants in Shoreditch and Hackney
1/20Mambow, Clapton
‘Malaysian Heat + Juicy Wines’ is the name of the game at Chef Abby Lee's delightful and fiery modern Malay restaurant. We're not alone in our Mambow obsession here, what started as a street food stall in Peckham has made it north to a buzzing brick-and-mortar which gets cosy at any time of day. The menu is also tiny and fiery, and there's no bad dish to be had. I never skip the prawn toast and whichever Kerabu is on that day's menu (a 5-ingredient vegetable salad). On my latest visit that was a beautiful bavette steak salad with heirloom tomatoes, tallow mayo, sambal belacan & herb salad. Pair your dish with one of Mambow's playful cocktails or aforementioned juicy wines. Whisky lovers should try the Assam Teh made with Assam tea bourbon, condensed milk syrup, ginger and cocoa – if the meal's spices don't wake your senses this concoction certainly will.
– Tal Dekel-Daks
- Address: 78 Lower Clapton Rd, Lower Clapton, London E5 0RN
- Website: mambow.co.uk
- Recommended dishes: Prawn toast, wok-fried mussels, pork belly & rib soup and the beautiful Kerabu Daging, a bavette steak salad
- Times: Wednesday-Friday 17:30-22:30, Saturday 12:00-15:00, 17:30-22:30
2/20Sesta, Hackney
On the leafy, craft and boutique-dotted Wilton Way, Sesta is exactly the low-key, friendly and delicious neighbourhood wine bar and restaurant that is set to thrive in the area. Sesta stands where Pidgin used to be, and is the brainchild of two of its former team members; Drew Snaith, Pidgin's head chef, and Hannah Kowalski, Pidgin's general manager. Together the culinary duo have created a playful take on British and European classics in a space that feels relaxed and homely. For starters, we had an incredibly comforting beef ragu Yorkshire pudding with brown sauce & pickled shallot. Expect other concoctions like aged lamb shoulder and heart kofta with fermented chilli labneh and a pistachio rayu and Fish pie pancake with ranch on the seasonally changing menu. I'm still dreaming about the brown butter cake with caramel apples, mascarpone ice cream and thyme. – Tal Dekel-Daks
- Address: Sesta, 52 Wilton Way, London, E8 1BG
- Website: sesta.co.uk
- Recommended dishes: Beef ragu Yorkshire pudding, brown sauce & pickled shallot
- Times: Wednesday-Friday 18:30-23:00, Saturday-Sunday 12:30-14:30, 18:00-23:00
3/20Pophams, London Fields
Two words: croissant. pudding. These two words should be enough of a reason to venture up from London Fields park to one of London's best bakeries as they transform to a small plates pasta restaurant by night. On the Friday evening I visited, that was specifically a lemon poppy seed croissant pudding but depending on the season you can also find it as a sticky ginger croissant pudding topped with vanilla caramel and crème fraîche. Heaven. Yes, Pophams is known for its gorgeous baked good – and that beautifully translates to its simple Italian menu in the evenings. Not only for dessert, from the mini croissant cracker tartlets to the croutins in the Isle of Wight tomato panzanella and the sourdough, of course. The handmade pasta dishes are also some of the best I've had in London. The gnocchetti sardi with clams with sweet baby tomatoes brings Sardinia to Hackney. And it certainly does feel east London approved, the ice cold martini is made using East London liquor company gin, a splash of Lillet and generous garnishes of Nocellara olives. - Tal Dekel-Daks
- Address: 197 Richmond Rd, London E8 3NJ
- Website: pophamsbakery.com or @pophamsbakery on Instagram
- Recommended dishes: It may be a pasta restaurant by night but this place is famous for its baked goods so do yourself a favour and order as many of those as you can, from the bread to start to the croissant puds for dessert
- Times: Open from 18:00 Tuesday - Saturday
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4/20Bistro Freddie, Shoreditch
Hand-scrawled menus, white tablecloths, extra drippy white candles; Bistro Freddie very much feels like a classic French bistro – but don't be fooled. The new restaurant from the folks behind Crispin is currently one of London's most sought-after tables in town. With interiors designed by Jermaine Gallacher, the space half feels like stepping back into another decade in mittel Europe, and half too cool for school. The menu, devised by new head chef Alexandre Laforce Reynolds (ex-Eline), uses British produce to create a unique take on classic bistro dishes, paired with French wines and digestifs.
On our Saturday lunch visit, we started with the house sausage with brown BF sauce which comes deceivingly plain-looking on a small plate, though was my fellow diner's highlight of the entire meal. My highlight – and one not to be missed – is the flatbread. The handwritten menu changes often and you'll find different toppings for the flatbread (like Dorset snails or Boullaibaise). On this occasion, it was mussels, lovage, garlic and Comté and it was a beautifully buttery, flavourful, colourful and comforting dish. For mains, a perfectly medium rare Bavette came plated on a sea of peppercorn sauce which gave you enough for dunking the house-cut chips into while my fellow diner tucked into the pork tenderloin with sweet Soubise sauce. The chicken pie is what the restaurant is also famous for and comes big enough for two to share. Dessert was a large and airy sticky toffee pudding and my only regret is not toasting the afternoon's line-up with a calvados digestif. All the more reason to return. – Tal Dekel-Daks
Address: 4 Luke St, Greater, London EC2A 4PY
What to order: Do not skip the flatbreadVisit their website or follow them on Instagram @bistro_freddie
LANGLEY5/20Sune, Broadway Market at London Fields
There's a lot of top-notch competition when it comes to restaurants on Hackney's Broadway Market, which stretches from London Fields to the Regent's Canal. But newly opened Sune (pronounced Soon-er) is quickly making a name for itself as a leader of the pack. Opened by one of our favourite sommeliers Honey Spencer and her Noma: alumni partner Charlie Sims, Sune is everything that you want from a neighbourhood joint, a stylish set up with bags of comfort, a huge focus on hospitality – and of course brilliant food. Ex-Pidgin head chef Michael Robins (who's also cooked at Acme Fire Cult and Akoko) is at the helm of the kitchen and brings seasonal British food with a global twist, think smoked eel Caesar salad and homemade linguine vongole pasta with fried garlic and bottarga.
My meal began with Vermouth Soda (made with local vermouth), Carlingford oysters topped with Koji Mignonette and a must-order crispy potato cake topped with very Hackney-esque guindilla peppers and anchovies. A delicious seabass crudo came out looking like a nineties lava lamp with a bright red borscht and dill reduction followed next but it was the Beef Tartare & Croque Monsieur dish that made me want to immediately plan my next return. If you only order one thing make it this dish. The unexpected combination is favoured as a late-night snack by chefs in Montreal. The grilled pork chop with prawn and lemongrass sauce was cooked perfectly and dessert was a fragrant and warming pear tarte Tatin.– Tal Dekel-Daks
- Address: 129A Pritchard's Rd, London E2 9AP
- Website: sune.restaurant
- Recommended dishes: Do not leave without ordering the Beef Tartare & Croque Monsieur and crispy potato cake with guindilla and anchovies.
- Times:
Lunch Fri & Sat 12pm - 2.30pm
Dinner Weds-Sat 5.30pm - 10pm
Bar open until 11.30pm
6/20Llama Inn at The Hoxton Shoreditch
Chef Erik Ramirez brings his Pisco disco (aka much loved Peruvian-American restaurant) Llama Inn to The Hoxton's rooftop. The original Llama Inn opened in a quiet corner of Williamsburg in 2015, bringing a New York take on Peruvian cuisine with a buzzy dining room paired with cascading plants. This life-changing cuisine, sceney buzziness.- and cascading plants - have thankfully all made it across the pond. We particularly love the melt-in-your-mouth scallop ceviche (which my fellow diner said he'd ‘happily bathe in’ ), pork shoulder sliders (which you cannot, or should not, share) and absolutely beautiful and flavour-packed cabbage anticucho. The cocktail menu is just as thought-through with Peruvian and Japanese ingredients like Japanese whisky and Manzanilla Sherry shining through. It's a great place to come for date night or with a celebratory big group. – Tal Dekel-Daks
- Address: 81 Great Eastern St, Greater, London EC2A 3HU
- Website: thehoxton.com/london/shoreditch
- Recommended dishes: The scallop ceviche, pork shoulder sliders and cabbage anticucho are absolute musts. Martini fans should try the Chupetini, which also comes in mini form.
7/20Rochelle Canteen (and ICA)
The modern British dishes created by Melanie Arnold and Margot Henderson (wife of St John’s Fergus Henderson) embrace the trend for minimalism. Short descriptions and few ingredients, expertly prepared, reflect thoughtful sourcing and seasonality. Arnold & Henderson’s two restaurants, Rochelle Canteen and Rochelle ICA, housed in a converted Victorian school in east London and an art gallery on the Mall respectively, attract an art and fashion crowd who feast on straightforward dishes such as radishes and cod’s roe or quail with harissa. The simple white interiors, wooden tables and chairs keep the mood informal and the prices low. - Blanche Vaughan
- Address: 16 Playground Gardens, Shoreditch, London E2 7FA
- arnoldandhenderson.com
8/20Sohaila
The intimate Lebanese-influenced wine bar and restaurant opened by friends Nathalie Moukarzel & Meg Doherty is good in more ways than one. The food, inspired by Nathalie's grandmother's recipes, is delightful for starters (don't skip the spiced beef & ricotta meatballs or chilli butter labneh) but it's also the first restaurant to open under the restaurant arm of Fat Macy’s, a social enterprise that supports Londoners to move on from temporary accommodation through culinary and hospitality training. It's sharing plates and low-intervention wine at its finest and nicest.
- Address: 232 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6PJ
- sohailarestaurant.com
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9/20Smokestak
Oak-smoked, chargrilled, brined. It's barbecue heaven at Shoreditch stalwart Smokestak. Before Manteca, David Carter opened Smokestak in 2016 after he'd spent perfecting smoked brisket buns at festivals street-food pop-ups. And there's good reason the restaurant has kept its buzziness over eight years later. The open-fire kitchen which is the heart of the industrial space houses a very large smoker and it's here where trays of brisket and ribs, ox cheek, charred sweetcorn and coal-roasted aubergine are perfected. Each dish we tried was juicy, exciting and comforting.
- Address: 35 Sclater St, London E1 6LB
- Website: smokestak.co.uk
- Recommended dishes: Beyond the obvious choices like brisket, the gochujang wings with crispy shallots are a messy affair but 100% worth it. The charred greens, tahini, pomegranate, and roasted peanuts salad is also a delight.
- Times:
Mon-Thurs: 1200 - 1500 / 1730 - 2300
Fri: 1200 - 1500 / 1700 - 2300
Sat: 1200 - 2300
Sun: 1200 - 2200
10/20BAO Noodle Shop Shoreditch
Erchen Chang and siblings Wai Ting Chung and Shing Tat Chung are the trio behind London's burgeoning Taiwanese food scene, with five BAO restaurants around the capital so far. Around the corner from Shoreditch High Street Station, you'll find BAO Noodle Shop which is inspired by the beef noodle shops in Taiwan with a focus on heartwarming bowls of noodles (think slow-cooked beef cheek & short rib noodle), naturally, as well as as the namesake Bao buns and excellent snack choices. Those wanting to make a night of it can also book their karaoke room.
- Address: 1 Redchurch St, London E1 6JJ
- baolondon.com/restaurant
11/20Nest, Old Street
Beloved tiny Hackney restaurant Nest made the move to bigger digs in Shoreditch in October 2023. Taking over an impressive Victorian building next door to Shoreditch Town Hall (and next door to The Clove Club), more diners are now able to book in for a tasting menu or four-course set menu and experience the elegant and inventive British small plates from the trio behind much-loved Fenn in Fulham and Michelin-starred St Barts in Farringdon. As with the trio's other restaurants, the menu at Nest 2.0. veers towards all things British and seasonal, with one theme per season. My fellow diner and I visited during ‘game’ season, with grouse tea and a game liver parfait with beetroot meringue opening the evening's tasting menu (followed by a heavenly soda bread with cultured butter). It's a great addition to Shoreditch's restaurant scene, with tasting menu prices staying the same as Nest's previous iteration – £65, with a dedicated ‘one-region’ wine pairing for £55 and a four-course set menu for £40.
Address: 374-378 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT
nestfood.co.uk
Brian Dandridge12/20Counter 71
It would seem, based on a recent(ish) crop of restaurants popping up in Shoreditch – namely Brat, Leroy and the newly opened Counter 71 – that gone are the days of the miscellaneous foams and morsels of molecular gastronomy. The latter of these three is the brainchild of Joe Laker, the chef who until recently headed up the kitchen at the now-closed Fenn in Fulham. He puts the emphasis on ingredients – as few as possible – and the highest quality ingredients at that. The 16-cover restaurant on Nile Street only offers a tasting menu of refreshingly simple but sumptuous dishes made exclusively using UK produce.
- Address: Counter 71, 71 Nile St, London N1 7RD
- counter71.co.uk
13/20Smoking Goat
Smoking Goat has a cult status in London for its Thai dishes, which fuse tradition with modern Bangkok cooking. Clay pot dishes, grilled meat and seafood keep groups coming back again and again to the 100-cover space (the delicious duck laab is a must order).
- Address: 64 Shoreditch High St, London, E1 6JJ
- smokinggoatbar.com
Jean Cazals14/20The Clove Club
Named after the supper club that brought its three founders – Daniel Willis, Isaac Mchale and Johnny Smith – together, this modern British restaurant has been serving arguably the best tasting-menu in London since 2013. Seasonal ingredients sing in the Shoreditch dining room, and service is so impeccable that The Clove Club is more than deserving of its Michelin star. It’s one for a special occasion, rather than a midweek meal.
- Address: Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old St, Hackney, London EC1V 9LT
- thecloveclub.com
15/20Leroy
When Ellory closed its doors in 2018, food fans across London wept in despair. That is, until former owners Jack Lewens and Ed Thaw announced that they were opening Leroy in Shoreditch. In their second iteration, the team is dishing up complex but comforting food that drops an umami bomb onto every plate. This is paired with an expertly curated list of low-intervention, biodynamic and organic wines (and some ciders too). The team’s passion and knowledge are evident in every mouthful, and you will never leave Leroy without a full belly and an ear-to-ear grin. - Charlotte McCaughan-Hawes
- Address: 18 Phipp St, Hackney, London EC2A 4NU
- leroyshoreditch.com
16/20Brat
Since Brat opened in 2018, Tomos Parry’s whole grilled turbot and Basque-inspired dishes (the burnt cheesecake is legendary) have put this Shoreditch restaurant firmly on the foodie map. Meat, fish and game are cooked over fire, and you will find plenty of seaweed, samphire and laverbread, too – a nod to Tomos’s Welsh roots. The first-floor dining room is large and busy, but fortunately you can book ahead. - Blanche Vaughan
- Address: 4 Redchurch St, Hackney, London E1 6JL
- bratrestaurant.com
17/20Sông Quê Café
Kingsland Road has a strong Vietnamese food scene, so much so that it's often referred to as ‘pho mile’. Stretching from Shoreditch High Street station to Hoxton, the area is brimming with authentic Vietnamese restaurants, supermarkets and cafes serving satisfying pho, banh xeo pancakes, bun cha and banh mi. Despite its understated look, Sông Quê has a longstanding reputation for consistently serving some of the best dishes on the mile, and it's definitely worth trying to get through them all at one point or another.
- Address: 134 Kingsland Road, London, E2 8DY
- songque.co.uk
18/20Lyle's
Lyle’s offers innovative and experimental plates in the industrial space of Shoreditch’s Tea Building. James Lowe’s delicate and exacting cooking frequently features game and foraged ingredients, always expertly sourced. There is a set menu in the evening, with lunchtime à la carte options including dishes such as mussels with cider and alexanders or mutton cooked over beechwood charcoal. This sophisticated cooking has maintained Lyle’s credentials as a food-world favourite. - BV
- Address: Tea Bldg, 56 Shoreditch High St, Hackney, London E1
- lyleslondon.com
19/20Lilienblum, Old Street
Tel Aviv chef Eyal Shani is known for his eccentric, unconventional menus. With over 40 restaurants around the world, of which two Miznon's opened in London last year, he opened a third, Lilienblum, which is a more upscale, full-service and larger space compared to the chef's cult casual pita chain, Miznon.
Address: 80 City Road, Shoreditch, London, EC2A 1AT
Lilienblum.co.uk
20/20manteca
A Shoreditch hot-spot embracing the whole animal: sourcing the highest quality meat, butchered by the chefs to make the most of every cut. There’s an in-house salumeria, wood-fired breads and hand-rolled pastas as well as superb Italian vegetable dishes and sturdy salads. Bold flavours in a buzzy atmosphere – but don't be too surprised if your waiter tries to move you in and out quickly on especially busy evenings.
- Address: 49-51 Curtain Rd, London EC2A 3PT
- mantecarestaurant.co.uk
Dishes from £3-£19
