Food

SMOKEY JERKEY

In New Cross and in the mood for jerk? Make a beeline for takeaway spot Smokey Jerkey. Though there’s curry goat, oxtail and stewed chicken on the menu, the jerk is where it’s at, especially the lamb, which delivers hits of fat, smoke and spice. Whatever main you go for, you can make it a proper feast with sides of rice & peas, patties, plantain, mac & cheese and coleslaw.

CAFE HELEN

Right in the heart of town, Cafe Helen is *the* choice if you’re after shawarma in the Edgware Road area. It’s been around since 1991 (that’s about 74 years in London restaurant years), so we reckon the cafe is about due its well-deserved institution status.

SONORA TAQUERIA

After past lives as Pollo Feliz (specialising in grilled chicken), a tortilla delivery service and a Netil Market stall, Sonora Taqueria finally landed its first brick-and-mortar site up in Stoke Newington. Founded by Michelle Salazar and Sam Napier, Sonora centres around its menu of Northern Mexican food which includes the likes of carne asada, caramelo, lorenza, adobada, campechano or nopales from the grill, as well as a range of quesadillas and guisados (stewed) dishes. The plates are all made using their absolutely epic handmade flour tortillas. There’s usually a queue for this spot and with good reason.

UPPER STREET MARKET

Sat & Sun, 10am - 4pm
8 Esther Anne Pl, London N1 1UN

The team behind Victoria Park Market, Lloyd Park Market and Crystal Palace Park Market has gone north and set up Upper Street Market, which pitches up in Islington Square (just off Upper Street) from 10.30am – 4pm every weekend. The market features 25 stalls with produce coming from the likes of Wild Country Organics, Borough Cheese and Ted’s Veg and street food from traders including Mandala Dumplings, Filigrillz, Ceylon Kothu, and Hoshi. There’s also plenty of coffee and beer to keep you hydrated and there’s lots of seating in the square too.

LES 2 GARÇONS

Recently awarded The Good Food Guide’s Best Local Restaurant award for the whole of London, Les 2 Garçons is a highly rated French bistro in Crouch End. It was founded in 2021 by two old friends, Robert Reid and Jean-Christophe Slowik, who’d long dreamed of opening their own restaurant since meeting at The Oak Room in 1998. Since then, the restaurant’s been raking in the accolades – and not for nothing. This is a classic French bistro at its best, with its regularly changing menu of excellently executed traditional French food and its carefully curated wine list. If this is your bistro de quartier, you’re *very* lucky.

LLAMA INN LONDON

Llama Inn London, Willow Street, London

Cult Brooklyn fave Llama Inn has landed at The Hoxton in Shoreditch, in a beautiful rooftop restaurant complete with outdoor terrace. Llama Inn London has a dedicated entrance through the yellow door on Willow Street, so you don’t have to go through the hotel – look for the llama graphic to get in the right lift. It’s a lovely space, filled with plants, terracotta tiles, mid-century furniture, and booth seating opposite the long bar, with tables and an open-air terrace at the back. Headed up by restaurateur Juan Correa and chef Erik Ramirez, the contemporary Peruvian restaurant has the same ethos of the Williamsburg original with a menu shaped by Erik’s Peruvian-American upbringing. It’s a pleasingly concise menu so you can try a fair few of the dishes – don’t miss the scallop and dragon fruit ceviche, the crispy squid with corn and yuca ceviche, the charred cabbage anticucho and the caramelised pork chop with a zingy cucumber salad and green sauce.  On the Llama Inn London cocktail list, there are some familiar favourites from Llama Inn’s NYC site, including the ‘Chupetini (one shot martini)’, made with Japanese gin, dry vermouth, umami bomb & blue cheese olives, and the ‘Llama Del Rey’, made from pisco quebranta, dark rum, red wine, chicha morada, and pineapple. The food and drink offering is more than exciting enough on its own to draw you into Llama Inn but the rooftop location, and its views of the East London skyline, is the cherry on top. One of the best restaurants in Shoreditch.

LULU'S

Lulu’s has taken over the small end corner building attached to Llewelyn’s, so close it could almost be an extension. Although it shares a team and location, Lulu’s is a more casual affair than its older sibling – a deli and shop by day serving some epic-looking sandwiches and salads, and a wine bar/restaurant by night. The walls are lined high with some great deli produce, like tinned fish and pickles, many of which are made by the Lulu’s team, so you’ll definitely want to pick up a few goodies to take home when you visit. If you’re stopping by though, kick off with a glass of pet nat and some gildas for that Herne Hill holiday vibe and then order up goodies like tomato and seaweed focaccia, marinated sardines with piquillo peppers and creme fraiche; roasted scallops with gooseberry & vermouth sauce, courgette flowers stuffed with oxtail and puttanesca, and the fig leaf panna cotta for dessert. Every plate a well balanced, well executed, and unfussy creation that perfectly suits the casual vibe of the place. There’s also some brilliant wines on offer – the superb Cap de Nit Vermeil light red and the Parajes del Valle orange, both from Spain. All the wines are available from the shop to take home too.

LA FORCHETTA

Head into this Farringdon caff during the day and you’ll see people tucking into huge portions of fry-ups, pastas and sandwiches. Swing by in the middle of the night and you’ll likely see the same, though the clientele may be made up of market traders and ravers because the 24-hour La Forchetta is right by Smithfield Market and fabric. Perfect if you need some grub to sober you up or coffee and a bacon roll to keep you going through a night shift.

LANZHOU LAMIAN NOODLE BAR

Open until 1.30am during the week and 4.30am on Fridays and Saturdays, this noodle bar is the place to go when you find yourself in need of sustenance (and sanctuary) in Leicester Square. The noodles come la mian (hand-pulled) or dao xiao mian (knife-cut) and you can get them with a variety of toppings like fried pork chop, cold sliced beef, tomato & egg and dan dan sesame & shredded chicken. And if you really need nourishing, you can get them in warming soups too. Don’t get that in Burger King do ya?

FIVE POINTS COURTYARD

They already had their indoor taproom, but in 2023 Five Points launched a new courtyard outside their Mare Street-based brewery. The al fresco bar is a huge 300-cover space where you can not only drink the brand’s own beer but also a range of cocktails and low-intervention wines. That’s not all, you can also grab a bite to eat from one of Five Points Courtyard’s indie food vendors. From The Ashes, a nose-to-tail concept created by two former Temper chefs, serves up their signature BBQ, while anoosh, founded by KERB alums Jack A. Fargher and Oli Stephen, dishes out their Mexico-meets-Middle-East tacos. You could easily spend the whole day here.

7TH CAT

Ellen Chew has built quite the restaurant portfolio (including Chinatown’s Rasa Sayang) and she’s added to her Chew On This collection with Chinese spot 7th Cat inside the Empire Casino in Leicester Square. 7th Cat is all about serving up authentic Asian comfort food right on the gaming floor, meaning you can indulge in Cantonese roast duck, chargilled chicken satay, wonton noodle soup and salted egg golden lava bao buns without having to stray too far from the buzz of the blackjack and roulette tables. And because 7th Cat is inside a casino, you can get food from midday right through to 4am every single day of the week.

RANOUSH JUICE

Part of the Maroush group of restaurants (all of which are open pretty late), the Edgware Road branch of Ranoush Juice is open until from 9am to 3am, so it’s got you covered when you crave Lebanese food any time of the day or night. Those cravings do strike for a lot of people as there’s often a queue but the falafel, shawarma, baklava, meghli and fruit cocktail juices are worth waiting for.

ISABEL MAYFAIR

Mayfair’s glamourous Mediterranean spot Isabel has an imaginative brunch menu to match its main offering. Their midday classics all come with a signature twist, such as the English muffins with smoked salmon, a poached egg and passion fruit hollandaise or the chia seed bowl with ‘exotic salad’ and granola. And if you’re not really feeling anything too brunch-y, you can choose from their all-day selection that includes the likes of tuna tartare with ponzu, avocado, wasabi and lime; lobster brioche with hollandaise; and rigatoni all’arrabbiata with capers, olives and aged parmesan.

FUNKY BAKERS

Funky Bakers -Bakery, Passeig del Born, Barcelona, Spain

Funky Bakers is the best modern bakery in Barca. As well as the original plain old bakery, there’s now also Funk Bakery – Deli and Funky Bakers – Eatery too (all pretty self explanatory) so mark them all on your map, as any of them makes for a great pit stop for a pastry or coffee, and more. Their San Sebastian-style cheesecake is particularly good, as are the croissants and lemon tarts. Each location has a little shop filled with great produce and natural wines too so you can pick up a few bits to bring back to London.

BODEGA BONAY

At the excellent Casa Bonay hotel, you’ll find Bodega Bonay, a restaurant and wine bar featuring Mediterranean small plates and beaut interiors. Don’t miss signature dishes such as the sea-urchin royale, glazed eel with coleslaw, braised pork jowl on pan tumaca or the artichoke tatin with a filo pastry based on a recipe by the chefs own Tunisian grandmother. There’s plenty of interesting natural wines from small, independent producers on offer too. A perfect hipster Barca hangout.

GIACCO'S

Named after owner Leonardo Leoncini’s grandpa, cafe and wine bar Giacco’s leans into his Italian heritage with wines, charcuterie and cheese from small producers in Italy on the menu, which are joined by filled focaccia and fresh pasta. Running as a cafe and bottle shop during the day, you can pop into Giacco’s for some Terrone & Co coffee; salads; Leo’s take on the Florentine classic schiacciata ripiena, aka stuffed focaccia; Italian charcuterie and cheese; and wines to take away. Come evening, small plates and fresh pasta dishes like crudo di pesce, pappardelle al ragu bianco, and pici cacio e pepe hit the menu, alongside a low-intervention wine list featuring bottles from suppliers like Tutto Wines, Les Caves De Pyrene, Vine Trai, Ancestral Wines and Gergovie Wines. The 20-cover spot also has nice little vinyl selection and some vintage Celestion Ditton speakers, so the soundtrack is on point too – what more could you want from a neighbourhood joint?

BAO NOODLE SHOP BATTERSEA

After branching out into noods with BAO Noodle Shop in Shoreditch, the Taiwanese chain has opened a second one south of the river. Officially part of the Arcade Food Hall inside Battersea Power Station, BAO Noodle Shop Battersea actually operates as a standalone site with its own dedicated entrance and even a private karaoke room. You can see all the noodle action at the counter that wraps around the large open kitchen, otherwise there’s plenty of room at the communal tables. The signature beef short rib and rare beef rump noodle soups, the aubergine & kelp soup, and the dan dan tofu noodles from the Shoreditch site are also on the Battersea menu, as are a selection of classic bao and small plates like eel & smacked cucumbers, Taiwanese fried chicken, and boiled cull yaw dumplings. There are a few exclusives that you can’t get over in East London, including the Danzai Noodles in a pork and shrimp broth topped with prawns and pork mince, the deep-fried tofu & sanbei sauce bao, and delightful little cheese croquettes with hot sauce & plum ketchup. With warming noodle soups to keep you going when the weather turns and cold drinks like peanut milk and shaved ice strawberry daiquiris to cool you down in the heat, plus all the faves we’ve come to know and love delivered with consistency, BAO Battersea really does tick all the boxes.

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