The Revival of Shoreditch Is On (Again)
Words by Christina Dean
A host of exciting new openings is putting Shoreditch back in the spotlight
When Shoreditch started to regenerate in the nineties and noughties, kickstarted by Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas opening creative space The Shop on Bethnal Green Road in 1992, it was a place where rents were low and the queer and alternative scenes were thriving. Club kids were out in Hoxton Square and dancing at Boombox, the YBAs were letting loose in cheap studios, and where fashion and art went, bars and restaurants followed.
The likes of Yellow on Hoxton Square, Les Trois Garçons and Loungelover, Rivington Grill and Tramshed – both Mark Hix joints, the latter with a giant Damien Hirst cow installation dominating the room – were the restaurants to eat (and be seen) at. As the gentrification wave goes, once there was a real buzz about the area, tech firms, start-ups and property developers swooped in.
None of those restaurants exist anymore and any edge the neighbourhood once had has now been polished away but Shoreditch has remained one of the city’s most popular food hotspots, thanks to its mix of cool chains (BAO, Dishoom and Blacklock), high-end spots (Cycene and The Clove Club) and buzzy indies (Smoking Goat, Bistro Freddie and Manteca).


As we know though, this city is cyclical (just see the resurgence of Kinsgland Road), so while Shoreditch’s restaurant scene has been bubbling away over the past decade or so, other neighbourhoods have had their moment. A couple of years ago W11 and W12 were the most sought after postcodes thanks to spots like Straker’s, Caia, Dorian, Zephyr and The Pelican (with Canteen and Jackson Boxer’s recent revamp Dove making a case for Notting Hill still now). More recently Alley Cats, Bottarga and Fantômas pushed Chelsea into centre stage. Even Canary Wharf boasts a bunch of great restaurants. But now a raft of new openings is thrusting Shoreditch into the spotlight once again.
It started at the back end of 2024 with Bun House Disco, the vibey little sister to Chinatown’s Bun House opening on Brick Lane, and listening bar Mad Cats just over the road on Redchurch Street. And it’s really ramping up for 2025. Isaac McHale, who’s now two Michelin-starred The Clove Club (along with Lyle’s, opened by fellow Young Turks chef James Lowe), played a huge part in turning Shoreditch into a serious dining destination a decade ago, has just opened a second site in the neighbourhood. Bar Valette, on the old Two Lights site, takes inspo from Southern French and Spanish cookery, with dishes like devilled crab tartlets, rabbit leg stuffed with rabbit farce and mushrooms, and smoked grilled Wiltshire trout with cherry stone vinaigrette on the menu.
Modern Indian restaurant group Kricket has chosen Shoreditch for its next site, which’ll also be home to the brand’s first cafeì concept, where you’ll be able to get brekkie dishes like jaggery-glazed bacon chop with Andhra spiced hash brown & tamarind brown sauce, eggs kejriwal and Bombay toasties. Ukrainian restaurateurs Alex Cooper and Anna Andriienko are bringing a taste of the Bessarabia region to London with Tatar Bunar, which’ll also champion Ukrainian craftsmen and makers as well as showcase traditional recipes. Italian-American comfort food will be coming in abundance at Senza Fondo, which will be doing all-you-can-eat lasagna for £20.



The former home of Les Trois Garçons is getting another lease of life thanks to The Camberwell Arms and Bambi co-owner James Dye. Along with business partner Benjy Leibowitz and chef Patrick Powell, he’s restoring the site back into the Knave of Clubs, a pub (a good century before it was Les Trois Garçons, this corner spot was a pub) serving chermoula-marinated rotisserie chicken and Double Diamond on tap.
Even in an area that’s been so heavily regenerated, there’s always room for more development, and that’s exactly what’s happening around Blossom Yard and Norton Folgate on the border between Shoreditch and the City. The teams behind two popular London spots – Angelina in Dalston and Firebird in Soho – have plumped for this location for their next ventures. Osteria Angelina is promising Japanese–Italian fusion pasta; sharing cuts of fish and meat cooked on binchotan grills; and a Gran Bollito Misto (a traditional Italian mixed meat stew), served tableside from a traditional trolley. At seafood bistro Noisy Oyster, from Madina Kazhimova and Anna Dolgushina, you’ll be able to feast on local oysters, crudo dishes, whole fish and signature mini martinis. Cult Thai restaurant Singburi is relocating to the neighbourhood from Leytonstone to take up a unit inside the Montacute Yards development close to the Overground station.


And that’s not all – we’re hearing rumours of a new site from a very popular Spanish spot and a new Chinese restaurant. But will these openings be enough to bring the cool back to Shoreditch, especially on a weekend when ‘booze bikes’ roam the roads, sick splashes across the pavement and drunken bods fill the streets come 5pm? Only time will tell….
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