Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
bakes - make this longstanding café a cheery stalwart on
Stoke Newington's liveliest street. Good all-day breakfasts
too - eggs Benedict, wild mushrooms on toast and the like,
from £5-7 - and great cakes, coffee and fresh juices.
Branches in Islington and Crouch End.
Mon-Sat
9.30am-11pm, Sun 9.30am-6.30pm.
F.Cooke
9 Broadway Market, E8
T
020 7254 6458;
London Fields train station; map p.291.
“Eat more eels!”
announces an old sign at this friendly, traditional eel and
pie shop that's been in the family for generations and on
this spot since 1900. Order pie, mash, liquor (parsley gravy)
and a side of jellied eels and enjoy a nostalgic taste of old
East End history on foodie Broadway Market, where funky
indie cafés rule the roost. They host pop up restaurants in
the evenings, too.
Mon-Thurs 10am-7pm, Fri & Sat
10am-8pm.
Ì
Towpath Café
Whitmore Bridge, 42 de Beauvoir
Crescent, N1
T
020 7254 7606,
W
towpathcafe
.wordpress.com; Haggerston Overground; map p.291.
With outdoor benches by the Regent's canal near Dalston,
Hoxton and Broadway Market, this is a lovely, sunny find
on the towpath; food is creative and seasonal, using
unusual and impeccably sourced ingredients - great for
brunch, with the likes of tru
e and parmesan buns,
organic sausages and toasted cheese on sourdough, or
something a bit more complex, like a paella, later on.
Good soups, coffees and fresh home-made juices, too.
Dishes from £3; no credit cards.
March-Nov Tues-Fri
8am-dusk, Sat & Sun 10am-dusk.
Voodoo Ray's
95 Kingsland High St, E8
T
020 7249
7865,
Overground; map p.291.
Grungy late-night drinking dens
come and go in Dalston like a rash, but
Voodoo Ray's
seems
set to stay - a late-night pizza/Margarita joint where the
American-style pizzas (from £3.50/slice) are huge and
flavourful, and the Margaritas - usually being necked by a
crowd who've had quite enough already - are cold and
strong. Craft beers, too, and a DJ bar downstairs.
Mon-Thurs & Sun 6pm-1am, Fri & Sat 4pm-3am.
RESTAURANTS
Mangal Ocakbasi
10 Arcola St, E8
T
020 7275 8981,
W
mangal1.com; Dalston Junction Overground; map
p.291.
Generally agreed to be the best of the excellent
Turkish diners in a neighbourhood that's spilling over
with them,
Mangal
is renowned for its grills and
skewered meats, many of them served with yoghurt
sauce; the veggie mezes and fresh breads are good,
too. At its sister restaurant,
Mangal II
, around the corner
on Stoke Newington High St, you will join artists Gilbert
and George, who eat here nightly, for similarly simple
food and friendly service.
Dishes from £5.
Daily
noon-midnight.
Ì
Rasa
55 Stoke Newington Church St, N16
T
020 7249
0344,
W
rasarestaurants.com; Stoke Newington train
station; map p.291.
Cosy Keralan restaurant, the first in
London's
Rasa
family, with amazingly good, unusual and very
inexpensive South Indian vegetarian specialities. The equally
fine
Rasa Travancore
across the road specializes in Syrian
Christian cooking, serving some meat and fish. Mains £4-6.
Mon-Thurs 6-10.45pm, Fri 6-11.30pm, Sat noon-3pm
& 6-11.30pm, Sun noon-3pm & 6-10.45pm.
24
W
voodoorays.co.uk;
Dalston
Junction
HAMPSTEAD AND HIGHGATE
CAFÉS
Brew House
Kenwood House, Hampstead Lane,
NW3
T
020 8341 5384,
W
companyofcooks.com;
!
Highgate; map pp.298-299.
Appealing park café, in
the servants' wing of the Robert Adam mansion, serving
everything from home-made sausage and mash to
gourmet sandwiches, cakes and teas. Lots of seating in the
huge, sunny garden courtyard.
Daily: spring & summer
9am-6pm; autumn & winter 9am-4pm.
Lauderdale House
Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill,
N6
T
020 8341 4807,
W
lauderdalehouse.org.uk;
!
Archway; map pp.298-299.
Fill up on home-made
comfort food in this casual arts centre café, or simply enjoy
a cuppa and a slab of cake. On sunny days the terrace,
overlooking the park, is a great spot.
Tues-Sun 9am-5pm
(6pm in summer).
Louis Patisserie
32 Heath St, NW3
T
020 7435
9908;
!
Hampstead; map pp.298-299.
Coffee house
trends may come and go, but for more than fifty years
now this tiny, understated and gloriously old-fashioned
Hungarian tearoom/patisserie has been serving sticky
cakes, tea and coffee to a mixed local crowd.
Daily
9am-6pm.
RESTAURANTS
Czechoslovak Restaurant
74 West End Lane, NW6
T
020 7372 1193,
W
czechoslovak-restaurant.co.uk;
!
West Hampstead; map pp.298-299.
Classic,
unreconstructed Czech and Slovak meat and dumplings
washed down with Czech beer. Set in a tatty residential
house with a back garden, it's a blast from the past, quite
unique and very popular with Czech expats. Mains £8-13.
Tues-Fri 5-10pm, Sat & Sun noon-10pm.
Ì
Jin Kichi
73 Heath St, NW3
T
020 7794 6158,
W
jinkichi.com;
!
Hampstead; map pp.298-299.
Book ahead for this tiny, homely and very busy
neighbourhood Japanese diner, which specializes in
charcoal-grilled
yakitori
(skewers): lots of chicken, of
course, but also quails' eggs or ox tongue, among others.
The sushi, black cod and other Japanese staples are great,
too. Mains £7-15.
Tues-Sat 12.30-2pm & 6-10.45pm,
Sun 12.30-2pm & 6-10pm.
