Restaurants

Set up in 2003 by racy celebrity chef Allegra McEvedy, Leon (now with eight branches in London) emphasises careful sourcing and seasonal produce in its fast food. For a late breakfast we ignored outdoor tables under Spitalfields Market’s permanent canopy and headed inside, where standard modern café furniture on one side of the central counter gives way to a spacious loungey zone on the other. Sofas, a cowskin armchair and red diner-style seating combine with pinned-up foodie cuttings and gherkin-tin lampshades to hit the right note between café and bar (some booze is served alongside impressive smoothies and a short list of teas and coffees). Lunch and evening menus are mostly Mediterranean (salads, wraps and hot and cold meze), but for breakfast there’s fruit, porridge and baked goods. The sole remaining bap was a filling wholemeal bun of slender, dense, delicious sausages, but the bacon and goat’s cheese muffin – new for summer according to the menu’s cheery ‘join our club’ spiel – was claggy, despite the addition of spring onion. A gooseberry and white chocolate version was also heavy in texture, but summer-light in taste.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008