Railroad

Time Out says

Fri Aug 10 2012

It’s safe to call Railroad a trailblazer – when it opened in late 2010 it was the only place we recommended in this still-on-the-up area of Hackney; two years later, it still is.

It’s a simple-looking café/restaurant, with minimal decoration and fewer than ten tables scattered around the tiny wedge of a kitchen. Owner Lizzie Parle (sister of Stevie Parle, of Dock Kitchen in west London) and her partner write a daily changing menu of breakfast, lunch and, Wednesday to Saturday, dinner; there’s often only a choice of a few dishes but everything is imaginatively concocted, made with love and globe-trotting influence. Breakfast might be moroccan baked eggs with cumin and home-made bread, say, or granola with yoghurt, accompanied by Square Mile coffee.

If it’s available, be sure to order a hibiscus cordial (also made by Lizzie, as pretty much everything is). Come evening, candles are lit and blinds are drawn, and the likes of potato and spinach curry, or breaded quail with Vietnamese-style fish sauce are served.

The compact basement hosts poetry recitals and open-mic nights. Railroad’s DIY ethos, independence and creativity make it somewhere we’re happy to go back to again and again.