Marmelo Kitchen
An independent restaurant serving delicious-looking food that's the brainchild of Natalie Stopford, who started Marmelo as a preserves business before growing...
Leyton has benefited greatly from its proximity to the Olympic Park; in 2012 the council put their hands in their pocket and got the painters in to gussy up the High Road with a charming, Portobello-esque multicolour paint job. Leyton Jubilee Park was also improved, so as well as being picnic-pretty it now boasts a dandy wooden pirate ship for local sprogs to lark about on. These gestures combined to inspire a raft of trendy types too skint for Hackney to set up home in the area, and as such the local café and pub scene is now well on its way to middle-class respectability. Neighbouring Leytonstone is a slightly fancier proposition (with an according hike in property prices); think bigger gaffs, more bookshops and an active residents' association. Both are on the Central Line, so are technically more handy commute-wise than Hackney, and the fact that the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Westfield (if that's your bag) are a short stroll away conspire in a nifty compromise between convenient and cool.
