Haggerston's new restaurants, cafes and bars

Our guide to the best places to drink, shop, play, unwind, grab coffee and eat in Haggerston and De Beauvoir Town
Hip: Haggerston has come alive with a raft of new restaurant and cafe openings
Emily Jupp23 April 2014

The area around Haggerston station has seen an explosion of restaurants and bars in recent months, so we thought it was time to have a root around. Here's our guide to the area's best bars, restaurants, cafés and culture.

Restaurants

Barbecue and beer: Duke's Brew and Que

Duke's Brew and Que

This was one of the first destination restaurants in the area, pulling people from across London with the heady delights of melt in the mouth ribs and locally brewed beers, including those from its own microbrewery, Beavertown Brewery. Special events, such as all-night openings for the Obama election and the Super Bowl, have given this place a sense of community spirit, with a crowd of loyal regulars.

Duke's Brew and Que, 33 Downham Road, N1 5AA, dukesbrewandque.com

A Little of What you Fancy

Deliberately lacking in signage, this hipster hangout on the Kingsland Road between Haggerston and Dalston Junction stations does a mean artichoke heart on pan con tomate with lemon and caper butter, when they remember to serve it with lemon and caper butter, that is. Read more about A Little of What you Fancy

A Little of What you Fancy, 464 Kingsland Road, E8 4AE, alittleofwhatyoufancy.info

Ribeira

The site which used to be the Waterline restaurant is lovely: big glass doors get thrown open in the summer to let the air in, but even in winter you can look out at the canal and watch the swans and rowers float by. There are just two uncluttered menus, breakfast. Food is solid: a big juicy chunk of steak with a selection of sauces, sharing platters, with cured meats and dips, or Ribeira's version of tostadas, made with a choice of fresh toppings and a big starchy carboardy lump of plantain. While the food is middling, the cocktails are brilliant. Opt for the Fire Water, a concoction of Cachaca, lemon juice and elderflower cordial. A lit brown sugar cube is placed on top and Brazilian spices are sprinkled into the flames. Sparkly.

Ribeira, 46a De Beauvoir Crescent, N1 5RY, ribeiralondon.com

Solid grub: tostadas at Ribeira

Tonkotsu East

Tonkotsu opened in Soho in 2012 to wide acclaim and has now taken its special noodle and broth recipe to the tunnels by Haggerston station. The flour for the ramen noodles is specially sourced from a mill in Oxfordshire and the noodles are made on site to owners Emma Reynolds and Ken Yamada's special recipe. The water, too, is filtered to make it soft and pH-neutral, and the pig stock is marinated for 18 hours. It all combines to make firm yet bouncy ramen soaked in deeply flavoured broth. At £10 a bowl, you can't knock it.

Tonkotsu East, Arch 334, 1a Dunston Street, E8 4EB, tonkotsu.co.uk

Bouncy: noodle soup at Tonkotsu East

Trip Kitchen & Bar

Ex-Kopapa chef Selin Kiazim offers a small but perfectly formed menu of delicious Turkish dishes, including a daily special of hellim (halloumi) cooked a different way each day and a signature dish of tender lamb with a rich pomegranate sauce. Try the medjool date butter, which tastes like cake batter, heaped on fresh bread — divine.

Trip Kitchen & Bar, 339-340 Acton Mews, E8 4EA, tripspace.co.uk/food

Tender: lamb with pomegranate at Trip Kitchen and Bar

Street Feast

This nomadic street food market sometimes lives at Haggerston, sometimes other parts of Hackney. At the moment it's at Hawker House, near Haggerston Park. The street food traders under its canvas roof come and go, forming a constantly turning carousel of deliciousness.

Hawker House, 38-50 Pritchards Road, E2 9AP, every weekend, Jan 17-Mar 22, streetfeastlondon.com

Travelling food feast: Street Feast at Hawker House © The Gaztronome

Cafés

HER (Haggerston Espresso Rooms)

Haggerston is now frothing over with coffee joints where five years ago there were none, but not all have succeeded: the lovely Haggerston Tea Rooms, which inhabited a dark corner of the parade of shops opposite Stonebridge Gardens and made whole leaf tea and cheese toasties with bread from St John Bread and Wine, didn't survive the year. It may have been its location, in the dead space between Haggerston station and London Fields, which killed it off, but it's more likely its demise was due to the tea focus, when everyone knows Haggerstonians are coffee drinkers. The thriving Haggerston Espresso Rooms, in contrast, puts coffee at the centre of its business. It has a choice of roasts, does a great flat white and convenient little tidbits, like sourdough toast with marmite, which you can order to go if you're rushing to the station.

HER,13 Downham Road, N1 5AA, http://www.facebook.com/HERHaggerston

Towpath

When the Towpath café opened along the Regent's Canal in summer 2010, inhabitants of the area were thrilled by its cool credentials and good, hot cups of Java. Now the Towpath has expanded, with a floating seating area on the canal and a menu of simple Mediterranean lunches and dinners. But now, with the appearance of Ribeira and Proud Archivist, it's lost its near-monopoly on waterside eats and coffee, so it might need to rethink some of its original policies, for example staff insisting that you sit-in to enjoy your flat white and flax seed porridge, and refusing to provide takeaway cups. Some people might appreciate this dedication to an eco (ish) policy but it was enough to make me switch to HER for my morning caffeine hit. When you're not rushing to work though, it's a buzzing place to watch the sunset.

Towpath, Regent's Canal towpath, N1 5SB (summertime only) towpathcafe.wordpress.com

Proud Archivist

A cool exhibition space serving tea and coffee, cake and simple day and evening menus. You could, in theory, stay here all day, have brunch, look at the artwork, grab one of the homemade cakes and a coffee then segue gently into the evening with a wholesome supper followed by drinks at the bar. All that's missing are cocktails, which aren't currently served, despite a good range of spirits.

Proud Archivist, 2-10 Hertford Road, N1 5ET, theproudarchivist.co.uk

The De Beauvoir Deli Co

A charming deli selling coffee, cakes, breakfast, fresh sandwiches and artisan food on the De Beauvoir/Islington border. The shop attracts a loyal community of foodies who love their locally-sourced products, including organic veg, artisan cheeses and healthy ready meals prepared in house. It's the perfect place for putting together a picnic hamper.

The De Beauvoir Deli Co, 98 Southgate Road, N1 3JD, thedebeauvoirdeli.co.uk

Bars & Pubs

Arepa

A Venezuelan bar that, like Tonkotsu, has just opened its second venue up near Haggerston station. The formula is simple: Arepa serves coffee, arepas and rum cocktails. For the uninitiated, arepas are corn-meal patties stuffed with cheese, roasted plantain, beans or slow-cooked pulled beef.

Arepa, Regent's Canal, N1 5SB arepaandco.com/Dev/Arepa

The Scolt Head

De Beauvoir Town's local pub, The Scolt Head, is a proper pub serving lovely grub. But be warned: everyone in the area already knows this, so get there early if you don't want to be one of the poor saps forced into the beer garden (on the apex of two streets) sipping craft beer outside in the cold on a winter's evening.

The Scolt Head, 107A Culford Road, N1 4HT, thescolthead.co.uk

Culture

Hoxton Hall

Theatre and arts venue Hoxton Hall has gone dark this year and is only hosting a limited number of events. It still holds regular acting classes and exhibitions on local history. Check the website for updates.

Hoxton Hall, 130 Hoxton Street, N1 6SH, hoxtonhall.co.uk

Rosemary Branch

De Beauvoir Town stalwart the Rosemary Branch is a pub with a theatre attached. It's a cosy venue showing a lot of adaptations of classic novels — the Brontë sisters and Jane Austen feature heavily in their repertoire.

Rosemary Branch, 2 Shepperton Road, N1 3DT, rosemarybranch.co.uk

Haggerston Baths

The Grade II listed building on Whiston Road houses an old Victorian bathouse. Unfortunately you can't go inside to enjoy its faded glory because the building closed its doors in 2000. A new campaign has sprung up to rescue the dilapidated structure. The Haggerston Pool campaign holds a stall at Broadway Market where you can buy cake and support the cause.

Haggerston Baths, Whiston Road, E2, haggerstonpool.org.uk

Passing Clouds

Passing Clouds is another joint on the De Beauvoir/Haggerston/Dalston border, like A Little of What you Fancy, but while its geography is disputable, its preeminence in the cool stakes is a matter of fact. By night it's a music venue, hosting live jazz, world music and 'conscious hip hop', by day it puts on everything from film screenings to local community debates and swing dance sessions.

Passing Clouds, 1 Richmond Road, E8 4AA, passingclouds.org

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