The best restaurants in Shoreditch

Margot Henderson’s awfully well known hidden treasure is a dinky, discreet restaurant located in the bike shed of a former school. Inside, things are prettily low-key, with white walls and jugs of flowers on the tables; on warm days, snap up the sought-after spaces in the allotment-yard. The short daily menu deals in simple seasonal fare such as grilled sardines and tomato, braised rabbit with potato and anchovy or onglet with caponata. This is heart-and-soul dining.

James Lowe was once a pop-up partner of Isaac McHale, and, like at McHale’s Clove Club, the no-choice, set dinner menu at Lowe’s cutting-edge solo restaurant goes big on foraged, oft-forgotten finds (dulse, verbena, ransoms), unusual cuts (monkfish liver, mutton breast) and very British ingredients (Jersey oysters, game, Neal’s Yard cheese). Lowe has worked under Fergus Henderson, and it shows: the clinical all-white dining room shares St John’s minimalism, while the beautifully presented dishes are dazzling yet restrained.

A handsome, buzzy chophouse with a no-frills Basque-leaning menu, Brat has a sexy speakeasy style entrance: just a nameplate by the door. A set of poky steps leads you up to a room above a former pub with glorious original features: wood panelling, arched windows, parquet floors. Expect smart service, a nice line in ‘things on toast’ and some serious signature dishes from the grill like beef chops and lobster. It's got a Michelin star to boot. 

Smack-in-the-face Thai barbecue in a jam-packed industrial-meets-rustic setting – Smoking Goat is all smoke, loud music and high-strength alcohol. The food is laced with volcanically hot ‘mouse-drop’ chillies, and the flavours will hit you for six (try the lardo fried rice or the signature fish-sauce chicken wings) – although your wallet won’t be seriously dented, even if you go heavy on the booze. Mind you, this really is drinking food at its best. 

St John’s Spitalfields offshoot has the same workaday style as its Smithfield parent: a bright, white, canteen-like space with a utilitarian bakery counter in one corner. The menu is an exploration of under-appreciated British ingredients (especially gutsy meats), such as sweetbreads with carrots and aioli or Dexter beef mince on dripping toast. Fish, veggie treats and nursery puds such as treacle tart complete the enticing offer. 

With its full-frontal, never-dumbed-down flavours from Thailand’s north-eastern provinces, the cooking at this cavernous, moody and exotic destination is guaranteed to blow you away. Unforgettable dishes include deep-fried sea bass with regional herbs and a dry jungle curry made with guinea fowl – but don’t miss the silky palm-sugar ice cream (think burnt toffee and salt), matched with grilled turmeric-tinged banana. Once you eat at Som Saa, you may never order pad thai again.

Everything about The Clove Club screams ‘look at me’, from the austere dining room and blue-tiled kitchen within Shoreditch’s Old Town Hall to the intentionally avant-garde cooking and the tasting menu: a masterpiece of contemporary aspirations in nine courses. It’s British yet esoteric, accessible yet obscure, and it delivers absolutely ravishing flavours. Hot tip: the corner bar is a prime spot for cocktails and snacks.  

Ellory is dead, long live Leroy. It’s the same team, and (almost) the same name as before, but this EC2 reboot of the short-lived Hackney star is more relaxed and miles better than the original in every department. Unfussy ingredients and clean, bright flavours come together in a cavalcade of small plates ranging from charred runner beans with almond cream and peach to confit rainbow trout with peas, sea herbs and lovage. There are some terrific wines by the glass too. 

A tiny home-style Indian just round the corner from Brick Lane, Gunpowder stands head and shoulders above the rest of the curry mile. It’s ditched stomach-bursting breads and creamy sauces in favour of complex, imaginative small plates: think spicy venison and vermicelli doughnuts, sigree-grilled mustard broccoli and Nagaland crispy pork ribs with tamarind kachumber, plus Old Monk rum pudding to finish. 

A handsome glass-and-zinc building on a Spitalfields backstreet provides the striking backdrop for this head-turning café-restaurant. During the day, it’s all about organic bacon sarnies and coconut-milk porridge, while evening brings more ambitious, skilfully cooked dishes ranging from celeriac croquettes with moreish sage aïoli to pork belly in broth with pickled daikon. We also like Crispin’s airy, minimalist vibe and slick, helpful staff.

Fun, lively and totally vegan, this branch of Club Mexicana is the biggest yet. Enjoy chef and founder Meriel Armitage's unique plant-based take on tacos, nachos and burritos – as well as a giant mirror ball and iconic frozen margs. Read our review of the Kingly Court location here. 

You’re guaranteed a fun time at every branch of this slick Iran-via-India café, and this Shoreditch outpost is no different. The vast dining room, overseen by an army of friendly staff, has 1970s-style decor based on the post-colonial Irani cafés of Bombay. From the menu, start with exotically spiced cocktails, then move on to inventive Indian small plates, with Dishoom signatures such as the black dal and Shoreditch specials including the slow-cooked lamb raan.

This fresh pasta specialist buzzes with activity as its pasta-makers deftly roll and fold their product behind the counter of the small, whitewashed venue. Most people buy by weight to take away, although there is a sit-down tasting area further back. The monthly changing menu offers just a handful of ‘folds’ with seasonal toppings, but the signature dish of agnolotti cavour – ravioli filled with pork, beef and spinach bathed in sage butter – is always available. 

Butchies’ original street-food stall made its name with fast fried chicken, but this proper restaurant ups the ante by matching superlative nosh with friendly counter service and sharp decor. As the unofficial chicken burger champion of London, it serves up delectable buttermilk-fried sandwiches – big bacon-stacked numbers with playful names like Jenny from the Block. Also don’t write off the moreish chicken strips served with house OG sauce and extra dips if you want them (trust us, you will).

It’s fun all the way at this riotous Shoreditch spot – a cross between a chintzy curio-filled emporium and your Italian nonna’s parlour. You’re here for the good times, but there’s some very decent trattoria food on offer too (if you’re prepared to wait). The carbonara for two is a huge, rich bowlful of jollity, and it’s worth adding a few nibbles to start – perhaps a trio of snooker ball-sized crocchè (Italy’s answer to jamón croquetas). Oh, and just wait until you see the loos.

The granddaddy of upmarket steakhouses, this original Spitalfields branch of the beefy Hawksmoor chain is a ruggedly masculine beast complete with an exposed brick bar that makes you want to order a thousand Martinis. Get slabs of prime British-reared beef, yes. But also remember that the menu touts velvety grilled bone marrow, Old Spot belly ribs, lamb tomahawk steaks and no fewer than 16 amazing sides – including triple-cooked chips, mac ’n’ cheese and a brilliant Caesar salad.

Poised between the old-school City and the new world of the Silicon Roundabout, swanky Angler lures in suited-and-booted diners with its Michelin-starred seafood cookery and enviable location up on the seventh floor of the South Place Hotel. The food’s ultra-modern and impeccably crafted – a perfect fit for the dining room’s sophisticated vibe and gleaming monochrome interiors. Angler’s terrace is a rare asset in this part of town.

You can now take the road to Mandalay without leaving the East End by visiting this Burmese star on the fringes of Shoreditch. Looking achingly stylish with its dark wood, chic upholstery and huge windows, Lahpet’s distinctive crossbreed of Thai and Indian cuisine is very much its own – if you don’t believe us, try one of its zingy signature salads spliced with split peas, shallots, tea leaves and fish. It also does lovely plates of hake and deep bowls of coconut noodles too.

Lebanese restaurants don’t come more palatial than this seductive spot just off Devonshire Square. Set up by the guy behind the Comptoir Libanais chain, Kenza signals its intentions with flickering flames, scattered rose petals, water features and mosaics, while the party vibe peaks at the weekends with live music and belly dancing. As for the food, expect home-style dishes built for sharing – we like the lavish mashawy feast crowned by a tiered platter of fresh fruit, Turkish delight and mint tea.

As street-food supremos, the Burger & Beyond boys pride themselves on ageing and butchering the best home-reared meat, and now they’ve brought all their expertise to an urban hipster diner in Shoreditch. Their burgers are officially cooked medium and despite the temptation to double up, a single patty is more than sufficient in its sturdy sesame brioche bun with essential additions. As for the ‘beyond’ bit – think chicken bites, lamb croquettes and addictive ‘dirty tots’. 

Now under the ownership of Gordon Ramsey, PES is very New York: a rustic-themed former warehouse with wall-to-wall wood and long shared tables, serving Italo-American nibbles, luxury pizzas, brunch and great cocktails. Great for groups. 

A permanent Shoreditch home for the cult street-food vendors, this stygian semi-industrial space feels like a medieval nightclub complete with throbbing beats and a man-tastic meat-loving vibe. Beef brisket is the top call on the menu, and it comes two ways – as a single hunk of flesh or shredded and snuggled inside a pillowy, slightly sweet bun with a lick of barbecue sauce and bone-marrow butter. We also rate Smokestak’s lavishly seasoned, long-smoked beef ribs very highly.  

A Shoreditch offshoot of the Marylebone original, Pachamama infuses classic Peruvian cuisine with exciting ingredients from across the globe (especially the Far East). Expect creative small plates piled up with a rainbow of flavours, colours and textures – from sticky miso-cured carrot on risotto-style black quinoa with Peruvian kimchi to the must-order tapioca marshmallows with black mint and peanut sauce on the side. Everything is played out in a genuinely elegant, shabby-chic split-level space patrolled by passionate high-energy staff.

What d’ya get if you meld the small-plates creativity of Bocca di Lupo, the top-quality ingredients of River Café, the magpie culinary gleanings of Morito and an ex-kickboxer chef who trained under Theo Randall? Popolo, that’s what. The food at this tiny Rivington Street joint is stunning, too. Check out the deep-fried olives, agnolotti pasta parcels filled with veal shoulder and the two-day-marinated bavette with chimichurri and you’ll see what we mean.

A dark, smokey subterranean meat joint with a theatrical open-fire pit and swanky cocktail bar above. The fourth restaurant in the Temper family, the Shoreditch incarnation of these steakhouse and barbeque spots is cut from the same cloth as its older Soho sibling. There are some gems in the mix. The pork rib – snackable bites of succulent meat and chewy fat lathered in a stick-to-your-ribs sweet and sour sauce – makes your tongue dance. The burnt squash is soaked with charcoal flavours and layered with a tick swipe of tangy mole sauce. 

Raising the steaks (sorry!) in the capital’s meat market, this vast Shoreditch branch of a highly respected Basque steakhouse chain is all about rustic, peasant-style cookery – although you’ll need deep pockets to pay for its pricy platefuls. That said, eating here is a sound investment: the signature txuletón, for example, is expertly grilled over oak until smokily charred on the outside and perfectly pink in the middle. There are also wines aplenty to accompany your chosen cut.

Stretching across one bendy swathe of the Broadgate Circle foodie complex, this offshoot of Soho’s Yauatcha looks a bit like an extremely glamorous spaceship. Inside, the long room seems to go on forever, while superior dim sum is the main attraction on the food front – don’t miss the sublime venison puffs, the translucent crab dumplings or the wonderfully slippery scallop shu mai. Of course, the whole place is chock full of city slickers, but service and cooking are both top drawer. 

It’s tattoos all-round at this biker café, boutique and barber, which makes two-wheeled petrolheads mainstream. You don’t have to roar up to these arches on a custom-made motor – everyone is welcome – but if you do, you can shake off your leathers and savour a flat white, or tuck into generous portions of good food (the likes of charcuterie platters, huevos rancheros and superfood salads alongside more predictably ‘biker’ dishes).