After killing it on the street food circuit for years, David Carter’s first permanent Smokestak  is a dark, moody BBQ dream, complete with an absolutely huge custom built smoker, responsible for slow smoking all that meat (plus your clothes by the end of the night too). There’s some great snacks on the menu such as a giant slab of pork scratching dusted with chilli powder and BBQ pigs tails which won’t be to everyone’s taste but you should definitely try. A thick cut pork rib with picked cucumber is another favourite and even the veg dishes hit the spot – check out the coal roasted potato and the smoked girolles and beef dripping brioche toast. The snug basement bar is a top spot for cocktails too, perfect to help all that meat go down at the end of the night.

Beigel Bake is an East London institution and their beigels aren’t all about the tourist hype. Salt beef, mustard and gherkins, what’s not to like? And being open 24hrs it’s the perfect place for those late night munchies.

Rochelle Canteen, run by Margot Henderson and Melanie Arnold, has long been one of London’s favourite spots. Housed in a former school bike shed on Arnold Circus in Shoreditch, accessible only through an unmarked door that, when buzzed in, leads you through a pretty garden and to a small dining room, it’s always been a hidden spot for Londoners to enjoy. Aside from being an excellent setting to enjoy a leisurely weekend lunch, the cooking is really quite good too. Simplicity is the order of the day and although menus change daily we can highly recommend the Queenie scallops, grilled in garlic and butter; the skate wing with burnt butter and samphire; and our favourite, the incredible braised lamb with peas and mint.

Jackson Boxer and Andrew Clarke already have a hit restaurant on their hands with Brunswick House in Vauxhall, and now the pair have moved north of the river with St Leonards. They’ve taken over what used to be Eyre Brothers and completely transformed the space, with a horseshoe bar, an open ice bar for shellfish and a log-fuelled fire for cooking big joints of meat and fish. Rustic and hearty cookery has been a big inspiration at St Leonards but the food here is most definitely modern, with a lot of punchy flavour combos at play. This one defo lives up to the hype.

With a menu that is completely free from meat, dairy, sugar and gluten, a meal at Essence Cuisine is seriously healthy. During the day mid-week it’s more focused on quick grab-and-go options from their new Essence Express range, whereas evening dinner offers up dishes like spicy carrot sushi with jalapeno ‘cream’, heirloom tomato lasagne with pistachio pesto and macadamia ricotta, and the ‘Raw Pad Thai’ made from kelp noodles, marinated kale and almonds.

Despite earning a Michelin star, the Ellory boys decided to shut up shop in London Fields and open Leroy in Shoreditch. Luckily, the gamble payed off as Leroy one it’s own Michelin Star in the 2019 Guide. It’s got the same front of house and kitchen team but is more of a relaxed affair, influenced by the new wave of Parisian wine bars. The space is lovely, a sort-of triangular site with lots of natural light, a bar/counter area with high stools and an open kitchen. They offer a range of snacks and sharing plates on the menu, as well as cheese and charcuterie so it caters for all occasions – we’d happily pop in for the terrine, a plate of cheese, and a glass of wine at the bar anytime

Lyle’s has built up a stellar reputation thanks to its elegant, seasonal British food but if you don’t want to plan ahead, you can also drop in for small plates and a glass of wine from their bar snack menu (as long as one of the six bar stools are free of course). It is a changing menu, but if the mussel, garlic and spenwood flatbread or the smoked eel with cabbage and seaweed are on, they’re must-orders. It’s not exactly cheap, but as a Michelin-starred pit-stop it’s pretty perfect.

Popolo is a hidden gem of a restaurant, which boasts a pretty impressive bar for counter dining and intimate dining room upstairs. The menu is mostly Italian with Middle Eastern and Spanish influences…hello fried olives with labne and morita chilli oil. With other dishes like octopus with paprika and potatoes, gnudi with buffalo ricotta and sage butter, and burnt honey panna cotta and figs, this place is defo worth a visit.

Centre stage at Oklava is the kitchen-bar complete with stone oven and charcoal grill, where you can watch the chefs in action as they prepare tasty modern Turkish dishes. The menu at Oklava is split into snacks, salads and grains, pides, seafood and meat dishes, including treats like courgette, feta and mint fritters; beef short rib pide; and crispy pomegranate glazed lamb breast. Make sure to get the house-baked bread with medjool date butter too, SO GOOD.