Here are some of my favourite restaurants & cafes in East London, mostly independently owned and run (you can find the franchises without my help). Some get busy – and even good people have bad nights, after all – but you’re in with a fighting chance at all of these. I’ll update this with new discoveries as I make them. Feel free to make suggestions…!
Farringdon/Barbican
St John Restaurant OK, I don’t get the roasted bones, but this restaurant pioneered the revival of unapologetically British cooking
Cafe du Marche Like going to a French village for the night, candle-lit, barn-like room & lovely service (with 15% service charge) – order the cote du boeuf to share
Pham Just very fresh sushi & other Japanese treats. Great before or after heading to the Barbican
Moro This Moorish/Spanish restaurant is always booked out. The lemon yogurt cake is delectable & the tattooed maitre’d has more than one fan
Dose Good coffee & Vegemite toast
Shoreditch
Walluc Fondue restaurant, cosy & shabby chic, a winter destination, somewhat hit-and-miss but romantic atmosphere. Read my review.
Le Trois Garcon French food served in a baroque forest of diamond-draped taxidermied animals.
Rootmaster Vegan food served on an old Routemaster bus. Book the top back table with a group of mates. Read my review.
Whitechapel
Tayyabs Simply beyond compare. Huge queues. Plummeting blood sugars. Legendary lamb chops. Scarlett Johannson eats here. End of story.
Hackney/Dalston
Buen Ayre Fantastic Argentinean steakhouse. Very popular so you need to book ahead. Read my review
Tina We Salute You Sydney-style coffee & cupcakes at a neighbourly street in Dalston
Dalston Lane Cafe caff/breakfast (no website) on Dalston Lane (funnily enough), just round the corner from Ridley Road Market. Read my review
LMNT Popular pub/restaurant on grotty Queensbridge Road with Egyptian mummies, egg-shaped treehouses to eat in and opera on Sundays. Good food and honest prices.
Stoke Newington
Mangal Serious Turkish barbecue. Read my review and see some pictures here.
Il Bacio Family -run neighbourly Sardinian restaurant with good pizza and pasta. An easy win.
Victoria Park
Royal Inn on the Park. Better than your average Sunday roast and a beautiful London park to walk it off in. Read my review.
East London Local 
you have just given me a handful of new places to try! thanks!
happy eating… let me know how you find them
don’t go often to east london but was over there last night and went to Palmers Restaurant in Bethnal Green as i was staying at a friend and we found a voucher online for a free drink. It was Divine, you should pop over there, amazing.
i’m not selfish so here is the link:
http://maps.google.co.uk/coupons/page?did=0_13321791552402120537&provider=SELF&cid=GF4N1U0MM5NHA23W&oi=md_coup&sa=X&ct=coup&cd=1&gl=uk&hl=en&ved=0CAsQ7QRIAA&geocode=FVhJEgMdk1j__w&ei=337WTpPNLcWIjweA7vTQAQ&sig2=NWpOGUq9saCcoYcnSNLixQ
enjoy;
hub
from the other side of london, west 🙂
Hiya, if you are looking for a great dining experience, you should go to the Black Pig with White Pearls Supper club. I went last month and the food my excellent and the venue was an old church hidden away in Dalston, it was amazing, the price was well worth it. Not sure if its in the same place all the time but its worth checking it out as it’s getting quite popular.
Here’s the link for their website: blackpigwithwhitepearls.moonfruit.com/
enjoy.
Does anyone know of any other nice supper clubs in east london????
You cannot mention Tayyabs without mentioning Lahore. And the war is still raging between the two factions to know which is better.
Good point. Personally I like Tayyabs better, but I’m a bit obvious like that 😉