Phil Wood’s guide to East London
East London is a fascinating area full of history and packed with things to see. If you haven’t spent much time on that side of town, a visit to Museum of the Home, a candlelit tour of Dennis Severs’ House and a walking tour of Spitalfields with The Gentle Author are great ways to acquaint yourself with the heritage and energy of what was historically the heart of London. Over recent times, this area has become a hotbed of culinary innovation and a re-examining of British cuisine.
So much of East London is criss-crossed with canals, and you can easily spend a day wandering around watching barges as they gracefully glide past paths scattered with wildflowers and blackberries. Right on one of these paths is one of London’s must-do culinary destinations.
Towpath could be excellent just for where it is. Sitting beside a path that winds along Regent’s Canal, watching ducks, runners and cyclists make their way in life is a lovely thing to do. Team this location with idiosyncratic service that makes you feel like a friend and some of the most simultaneously simple and delicious food going and you will soon, as we did, find yourself planning your next breakfast there. The tomatoes sliced and served on crusty grilled bread with Mojo Verde are worth returning for alone. Go as many times as you can!
A decade ago, two of London’s new guard of talented chefs chose East London as a launchpad to international culinary stardom. Ten years later these two restaurants are just as great, if not better, than they have ever been.
Lyle’s is a modern British restaurant in Shoreditch, with the ever-affable and charming chef James Lowe at the helm. In a stripped-back dining room at the base of a warehouse conversion, you will find British food as far away from grey roast beef and stodgy Yorkshire pudding as possible. Utilising a wood fired grill and oven, this ever-changing menu will let you experience the best seasonal produce available in London, all cooked with great care and skillfully balanced seasoning. Saturday lunch is my tip here, as the menu is a la carte. On our visit we had a fantastic dish of plump Barra cockles with seaweed broth and sea greens, a refreshing cucumber gazpacho with nasturtium and melon and a tremendous dessert of loganberry, raspberry and lavender-filled choux.
Not far from Lyle’s is The Clove Club. Housed in Shoreditch Town Hall, this restaurant is the brainchild of the talented Scottish-born Isaac McHale. Awarded two Michelin stars, you could be forgiven for expecting formal and elegant but what you get here is wonderfully relaxed service, an open kitchen and a restaurant full of guests having the best time. The menu is presented as a tasting experience and the accompanying wine match is well worth the entry price. As with all great restaurants, the menu is very seasonal and changes often but as is also the case with great restaurants, every dish builds on the dish before to create a total modern British experience. On the menu is one of the most surprising food and beverage pairings I have ever had; I won’t tell you what it is as I don’t want to ruin the surprise but if you do have it, let me know what you think.
If you find yourself attempting to navigate the throngs of people as they acquiesce towards handing over a ‘tenner’ for a bunch of peonies along Columbia Road on a Sunday, keep walking and have lunch at Cafe Cecilia. Order the deep-fried bread and butter pudding, and be entirely satisfied with your life choices.
No visit to the East End is complete without a visit to the cultural heart of the modern British food movement. St. John Bread and Wine is celebrating its twentieth year and was absolutely packed the day we went. My hot tip would be to call ahead and try to pre-order the bone marrow, which we forgot to do and sadly missed out on. The food here is about as unpretentious and full of flavour as you will find. I love all the classic British desserts, especially Knickerbocker Glory and, my favourite, Eton mess.