The Best Restaurants in Shoreditch: A Proper Local Guide for 2026
Updated May 2026 · Islington Local Guide
Walk out of Old Street station on any given Friday evening and within ten minutes you can be eating Welsh wagyu cooked over open fire, a £5 curry pulled from a takeaway hatch behind a Great Eastern Street shopfront, a £160 plant-based tasting menu that just took the country’s first vegan Michelin star, a salt beef bagel slapped together by a woman who doesn’t have time for your nonsense, or a bowl of phở at a Vietnamese institution that’s been here longer than half the people queueing for it.
That’s Shoreditch in one paragraph. It’s the densest, weirdest, most argued-about restaurant patch in London, and right now it holds three Michelin stars between its top three rooms. It also holds some of the worst tourist traps in the city — which is why a proper local guide matters more here than almost anywhere else.
I’ve eaten my way through this patch for years. What follows is the ‘best restaurants in Shoreditch’ guide I’d actually hand a friend coming in from out of town: the fine dining, the new openings worth booking now, the hidden gems you’ll thank me for, the vegan picks, the budget bangers, the late-night options, and the surrounding neighbourhoods worth stepping into — Brick Lane, Spitalfields, Hoxton, Old Street, the eastern fringe of the City, Hackney Road, Haggerston and Dalston.
If you’re planning a day in the area, this also doubles as a ‘things to do in Shoreditch’ pegboard — food is the spine of any visit here, but the markets, street art, independent cinemas and canal walks fall naturally around it.
The 30-Second Cheat Sheet
If you’re scrolling on a phone and just need an answer, this section is for you.
What’s the best restaurant in Shoreditch overall? Brat on Redchurch Street has held its Michelin star since 2019 and is the defining restaurant of the area. The Clove Club at Shoreditch Town Hall holds two stars and is one of the few London restaurants regularly on the World’s 50 Best list.
What’s the best new opening to book right now? Legado, Nieves Barragán’s Spanish follow-up to Sabor, won its own Michelin star in the 2026 guide. Tavern — the relaunch of Hoxton’s Nest by the team behind Michelin-starred St Barts — is the other one to book before everyone else does.
Where do vegans eat? Plates on Old Street, the UK’s first plant-based restaurant with a Michelin star. Holy Carrot in Spitalfields was just named Time Out’s best vegetarian restaurant in London for 2026.
Where’s the best cheap meal? The Daily Dose on Great Eastern Street does a £5 curry hidden at the back of a small shop. Beigel Bake on Brick Lane still serves a salt beef bagel for under a fiver, twenty-four hours a day.
What’s open late? The Munch on Shoreditch High Street, until 2am most nights and 4am on weekends. Beigel Bake never closes.
Best curry in Shoreditch? Modern: Dishoom on Boundary Street, Gunpowder near Spitalfields, or Hoppers in the Tea Building. Traditional Brick Lane: City Spice or The Monsoon.
Why Shoreditch Punches Above Its Weight
A short bit of context, because it matters when you’re choosing where to spend your money. In the 1990s, this corner of East London was empty warehouses and silent streets. The cheap rent brought the artists, the artists brought the bars, and by the time the rest of London noticed, half the country’s best young chefs had quietly opened restaurants within a ten-minute walk of each other.
The result is a neighbourhood with an unusually dense food scene per square mile. Michelin-starred wood-fire grills sit a block from beloved indie pasta rooms; the original Brick Lane curry strip runs into Spitalfields wine bars; the Vietnamese institutions of Kingsland Road feed into the canal-side cafés of Haggerston; and almost every interesting new opening in London still tries to land here first.
It’s also why you have to choose carefully. The genuinely great places get booked out months ahead. The bad ones survive on tourist footfall and Instagram queues. The guide below tries to separate them.
Fine Dining and Michelin Restaurants in Shoreditch
Brat
Cuisine: Basque / British wood-fire Address: First floor, 4 Redchurch Street, E2 7DP Price: ££££
Tomos Parry’s Welsh-Basque grill above Smoking Goat has been the defining Shoreditch restaurant since 2018. Whole grilled turbot (brat is old slang for the fish) is the signature, cooked over lump charcoal in a hand-built basket. There’s smoked beef sweetbreads, slow-cooked lamb, and the burnt Basque cheesecake that launched a thousand imitators across London. The room — worn wood, classroom-row tables, an open kitchen lined with hand-built wood-fire stoves — sits in the bones of a former pub above what was once a strip club, and the place has held its star for seven straight years. Book six weeks ahead. Sit at the bar for walk-ins. Eat the cheesecake even if you don’t have room for it.
The Clove Club
Cuisine: Modern British Address: Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, EC1V 9LT Price: ££££
Two Michelin stars, a long run on the World’s 50 Best list, and one of the few rooms in London where kitchen, service and wine list all operate at the same pitch. Isaac McHale draws on the best of British sourcing — Scottish seafood, foraged greens, Yorkshire-reared meat — through an inventive, technical, sometimes deceptively simple tasting menu. The setting in the Grade II-listed Town Hall is half the experience. The set lunch is the sensible way in if the full evening tasting feels steep.
Plates
Cuisine: Vegan tasting menu Address: 320 Old Street, EC1V 9DR Price: £££
In February 2025, Plates became the first plant-based restaurant in the UK to win a Michelin star. Twenty-five seats, one fixed seven-course tasting menu, and as of late 2025 a four-month waiting list.
Chef-owner Kirk Haworth came up through The French Laundry and Sat Bains, and Plates has nothing of the apologetic vegan-restaurant feel about it — the maitake mushroom with black bean mole and kimchi, the mung and urad bean lasagne that genuinely eats like lasagne, the raw cacao gateau with sour cherry are all built to stand on their own without the ‘for a vegan place’ caveat.
Michelin’s inspectors made the point that Plates is not ‘the vegan star’ but a star, full stop. Sign up for booking alerts on the website — slots open in batches and disappear within hours.
Legado
Cuisine: Spanish Address: 1 Nicholl’s Clarke Yard, off Blossom Street, E1 6SH Price: £££
Newly Michelin-starred in the 2026 guide. This is Nieves Barragán’s Shoreditch follow-up to Mayfair’s Sabor and, in the view of plenty of regulars (mine included), the better of the two. A huge open kitchen and counter dominates the room. The menu travels Spain — Galician seafood, suckling pig that lives up to its billing, properly grilled vegetables, a Spanish wine list with real depth. The all-day bar with its own snacks menu is the way in when the dining room is booked out, which is most of the time.
Hoppers Tea Building (note: the former Lyle’s site)
Cuisine: Sri Lankan and South Indian Address: Tea Building, 56 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JJ Price: ££
Worth flagging clearly because the area lost a Michelin restaurant and gained a great one. In early 2026, the much-loved Lyle’s closed and Hoppers took over the space — using it to debut a much-expanded South Indian menu alongside the signature hoppers, dosas and kothu. Short-rib biryani, benne dosas, a crab kari omelette. Not fine dining, but one of the most exciting openings the area’s had in years.
The New Openings Worth Booking in 2026
One Club Row
Cuisine: Modern British, New York-influenced Address: Club Row, Shoreditch, E1 Price: £££
The hardest table to land in Shoreditch right now. Chef Patrick Powell’s menu draws on his New York period — generous, confident, full of swagger — and the room runs a walk-in lottery where a small lit sign in the window tells you whether they’ve got space. Saturday brunch has just launched and is already hyped. The kind of place you don’t try to get into on a Friday at 8pm — go on a Tuesday and watch your luck.
Tavern
Cuisine: Modern British bistro Address: The former Nest site, Hoxton Price: £££
After nine years, the team behind Michelin-starred Restaurant St Barts has relaunched Hoxton’s Nest as Tavern — pitched as ‘generous, nostalgic British cooking.’ Devilled pig skin with smoked cod’s roe, hogget scrumpets with mint, the house Tavern sausage with curry sauce. Head chef Kirsty Easterbrook came over from St Barts as sous chef, with executive chef Brendan Appleby overseeing — so a lot of that fine-dining technique has come along for the ride. British bistros are having a moment and this is the most credible of them.
Llama Inn
Cuisine: Peruvian Address: Rooftop, The Hoxton hotel, 81 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3HU Price: £££
Erik Ramirez’s Brooklyn import on the roof of The Hoxton is one of the better rooftop dinners in town when the weather holds. Sharing-style Peruvian — anticuchos, ceviches, smashed plantains — and a pisco sour list that’s worth the trip on its own. Booking essential in summer, completely worth it.
Other recent arrivals worth noting
The former Nobu Shoreditch site has reopened as a robata-focused Japanese restaurant with a more East London identity. Meet Bros — the halal, alcohol-free Malaysian-British collaboration neighbouring Legado — has built a quiet following for premium Australian wagyu and BBQ lamb ribs spiked with Southeast Asian flavour. Vincenzo’s, the New York-style slice shop from Bushey, has landed a Shoreditch outpost with slices from £5.
Hidden Gems: The Restaurants Locals Quietly Protect
Rochelle Canteen
Cuisine: Seasonal British Address: Rochelle School, Arnold Circus, E2 7ES Price: £££
Margot Henderson’s restaurant is genuinely hidden — tucked inside the bike shed of a converted Victorian school, behind a high wall, with no signage doing any of the work. White walls, jugs of flowers on the tables, a tiny daily-changing menu of grilled sardines and tomato, braised rabbit with potato and anchovy, onglet with caponata. On warm afternoons, the allotment-yard seats are the most fought-over table in E2. The puddings are endearingly old-school. This is heart-and-soul cooking and one of the most quietly loved restaurants in London.
Passione Vino
Cuisine: Italian, natural wine Address: Charlotte Road, Shoreditch Price: ££
Famously without a wine list — the staff ask you a few questions about what you like and bring you the bottle. The food is small, classic Italian, very good, and the whole operation feels like someone’s living room. One of those places where every visit ends with you texting someone you know to tell them to go.
The Daily Dose
Cuisine: Curry house Address: 53 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3HP Price: £
Hidden at the back of a small shopfront. Curries for a fiver, lunch only, takeaway-leaning. Exactly the kind of unflashy survival story this neighbourhood needs more of. The full E1 ‘if you know, you know’ experience.
Som Saa
Cuisine: Regional Thai Address: 43A Commercial Street, E1 6BD Price: £££
Inside a former fabric warehouse, Som Saa serves the kind of Thai cooking that doesn’t politely turn down the heat for British palates. Whole fried sea bass with green mango salad, regional curries that bite, charred meats, a properly spicy som tam. The ‘tem toh’ sharing menu is the smart way to order. A favourite of plenty of local chefs.
A Quick Local Tour by Cuisine
Where the area really earns its reputation. Working through it cuisine by cuisine:
Indian, Bangladeshi and South Asian
Dishoom on Boundary Street still pulls a two-hour Saturday-morning queue for the bacon naan roll, and the house black daal genuinely earns the hype. Gunpowder near Spitalfields is small, hot to book, and brilliant for inventive Indian small plates — the Kashmiri lamb chops are non-negotiable. Hoppers Tea Building has just brought serious Sri Lankan and expanded South Indian cooking into what used to be Lyle’s. For the original Brick Lane curry-house experience, the section below covers it properly.
Thai
Smoking Goat on Shoreditch High Street is the late-night Thai canteen — smoked brisket drunken noodles, pork-fat skewers, fish-sauce wings — and consistently one of the most fun rooms in E1. Som Saa for regional and serious.
Italian
Osteria Angelina, set in a former Victorian factory, brings an East London spin to Italian-Japanese (Itameshi) cooking — open kitchen, low-lit corners, intimate-meets-buzzy. Popolo on Rivington Street is the small-plate Italian standby with bar-stool intimacy and seasonal menus. For pizza, Pizza East in the Tea Building has held its ground; Vincenzo’s slice shop is the new contender.
Vietnamese
Kingsland Road from Old Street up toward Haggerston is unofficially known as Pho Mile. Sông Quê Café is the long-running favourite and the locals’ go-to. BunBunBun further along does excellent bún bò huế and bún chả. Kêu on Old Street is your fast, cheap bánh mì stop.
Japanese
The new robata restaurant in the former Nobu Shoreditch site is the destination. Tonkotsu East in Haggerston is the reliable ramen pick when only a bowl of tonkotsu will do.
Middle Eastern and North African
Bubala on Commercial Street has bold, vegetable-led Middle Eastern cooking — halloumi with black seed honey, crispy aubergine, labneh — with a tasting menu that’s one of the best mid-priced deals in the area. Berber & Q in Haggerston is the Middle Eastern grillhouse: lamb shawarma, smoked aubergine, decent natural wines.
Filipino, Korean and East Asian
Capiz by Rapsa in Haggerston is one of the few proper Filipino restaurants in East London. Chick ‘n’ Sours (the original Haggerston branch is celebrating its tenth anniversary) is still very, very good at Korean-twist fried chicken. Xi’an Biang Biang Noodles for the fiery hand-pulled flavours of Shaanxi.
Mexican and Latin American
Corrochio’s in Dalston for tacos and tortas done by a Guadalajara-raised chef — sandy floor tiles painted hacienda red, handmade rugs, the real thing. Arepa & Co at Haggerston for Venezuelan arepas. Llama Inn on the Hoxton rooftop for upscale Peruvian.
African and Caribbean
Eko in Homerton for late-night Nigerian — asun goat meat, jollof, soft cassava fries, live afrobeats on a Friday. Troy Bar in Hoxton does jerk chicken or curry goat with rice and peas for under a tenner and stays for the open mic, jazz and reggae.
American BBQ and Steak
Smokestak on Sclater Street is the BBQ benchmark — David Carter’s dark, moody room with a custom-built smoker doing the heavy lifting. The original Hawksmoor on Commercial Street is, for plenty of regulars, still the best of the group. Blacklock on Rivington Street is where you go for the iconic Sunday roast.
Vegan and Plant-Based Restaurants in Shoreditch
East London has quietly become one of the strongest pockets in the country for plant-based eating, with everything from Michelin-starred tasting menus to all-day cafés:
Worth knowing: Dishoom, Bubala, Som Saa and Acme Fire Cult in Dalston all run strong vegan menus even though they’re not strictly plant-based.
Cheap Eats and Budget Recommendations
You don’t need to spend big to eat well around here. A starter list of the area’s best-value plates:
A general rule: the further east of Shoreditch High Street and away from Boxpark you walk, the better-value the eating tends to get.
Late-Closing and 24-Hour Restaurants in Shoreditch
Shoreditch remains one of the few central London zones where you can still eat properly after midnight.
Around the Corner: The Surrounding Neighbourhoods
Shoreditch leaks naturally into a dozen other distinct neighbourhoods. Here’s what to do — and what to eat — when you step across the boundary.
Brick Lane
The Banglatown stretch of Brick Lane has been London’s unofficial curry quarter since the 1970s and is recognised by the Greater London Authority as a Bangladeshi cultural quarter. Some of it now leans heavily on tourist trade — but the long-standing classics still deliver. City Spice, The Monsoon at 78 Brick Lane, Aladin and Curry Bazaar are widely cited as the strongest of the traditional curry houses. Beyond curries, Brick Lane is home to Beigel Bake (the white-fronted one) and the original Beigel Shop (the yellow-fronted one), the Sunday food market in and around the Truman Brewery, Dark Sugars for hot chocolate, and a strong vegan and Ethiopian street food scene at weekends.
Spitalfields
Gunpowder for Indian small plates. Holy Carrot for vegetarian. Crispin for an all-day British wine bar with low-intervention bottles. Bubala for Middle Eastern. St John Bread & Wine for the original Fergus Henderson nose-to-tail. Hawksmoor for steaks. The covered market itself runs Tuesday to Sunday with a strong rotation of stalls and is worth pairing with a meal.
Hoxton
Smaller than Shoreditch but mighty in restaurants. Tavern (new British bistro). Llama Inn (Peruvian rooftop at The Hoxton hotel). Cocotte (rotisserie chicken). Troy Bar (Caribbean and live music). Sodo Pizza at The George & Vulture pub on Pitfield Street. The Museum of the Home (formerly the Geffrye) is on Kingsland Road and worth pairing with lunch.
Old Street
The Old Street roundabout area is where you’ll find Plates (Michelin-starred vegan), The Clove Club at Shoreditch Town Hall, Kêu for bánh mì, and Sodo Pizza at The George & Vulture. Chef Joe Laker’s sixteen-seat counter restaurant — one sitting a night, ultra-seasonal — has also brought a different kind of fine dining to this stretch.
City of London (Eastern Fringe)
For something more polished and corporate, the City right next door delivers. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay High on the 60th floor of 22 Bishopsgate is newly Michelin-starred in 2026. Duck & Waffle and SushiSamba on top of Heron Tower for sky-high dinners. Wagtail and Lucky Cat at Bishopsgate for evening drinks-and-food. Bread Street Kitchen near Liverpool Street. The Ned hotel for grand-hotel dining at Millie’s Lounge. CORD by Le Cordon Bleu on Fleet Street if you’re heading further west into the City.
Hackney Road
Marksman Public House for chef-driven pub cooking. Da Terra in Bethnal Green for two-Michelin-starred Italian-Brazilian tasting menus. Campania & Jones for Southern Italian in a rustic, warm room. And a long string of independent coffee shops and bakeries lining the road. The Regent’s Canal towpath runs along the southern edge — one of the most pleasant walks in the city when the weather behaves.
Haggerston
The railway-arch belt is quietly one of East London’s best little dining strips. Planque — French-inspired wine bar and restaurant, all about low-intervention bottles, run by an ex-Lyle’s sommelier and an ex-Chiltern Firehouse chef — sits literally in the arches outside Haggerston station. Berber & Q for Middle Eastern grilling. Chick ‘n’ Sours for Korean-twist fried chicken. The Water House Project for chef Gabriel Waterhouse’s supperclub-style tasting menus. Capiz by Rapsa for Filipino. And Towpath — the seasonal canal-side café — for one of the most pleasant lunches in London on a sunny day.
Dalston
Acme Fire Cult, Andrew Clarke’s live-fire restaurant tucked down an alley off Dalston Kingsland, with one of the best terraces in London right next to 40FT Brewery and Dusty Knuckle bakery. Angelina, the kaiseki-meets-Italian original. Mangal 2, the genuine Turkish ocakbaşı institution. Dusty Knuckle for the bakery and informal lunches that have grown a cult following. Andu Café for vegan Ethiopian (BYO). Corrochio’s for Mexican. And Mildreds for vegan.
Things to Do in Shoreditch Around a Meal
Shoreditch is one of those areas where the meal is often half of the plan. A few easy pairings worth building a day around:
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Michelin-starred restaurant in Shoreditch?
The Clove Club holds two Michelin stars and sits inside Shoreditch Town Hall. For one-star options, Brat on Redchurch Street, Plates on Old Street (the UK’s only vegan Michelin-starred restaurant) and Legado off Blossom Street (newly starred in 2026) are the picks.
What is the most romantic restaurant in Shoreditch?
Rochelle Canteen for warm-weather lunches in the allotment-yard. Passione Vino for a quiet, candle-lit Italian dinner. Plates for a special-occasion plant-based tasting menu.
Is Brick Lane safe to walk at night?
Yes — it’s busy with foot traffic until late seven nights a week, especially around the Truman Brewery, Beigel Bake and the main curry strip. Common-sense awareness as with any busy area applies.
What is the best brunch in Shoreditch?
Dishoom for the bacon naan roll (be prepared to queue). One Club Row has just launched a hyped New York-style Saturday brunch. Cafe Cecilia, along the canal in Hackney near Broadway Market, is one of the best all-day spots in East London for a proper breakfast.
Where can I find vegan food in Shoreditch?
Plates (Michelin-starred vegan tasting menu), Holy Carrot in Spitalfields, Unity Diner, The Fox, Mildreds in Dalston, Vegan Yes and Dauns. Dishoom, Bubala and Acme Fire Cult also have strong vegan menus.
Where is the best curry in Shoreditch?
For the traditional Brick Lane experience, City Spice or The Monsoon. For modern Indian, Gunpowder near Spitalfields, Dishoom on Boundary Street, or Hoppers in the Tea Building for South Indian and Sri Lankan.
What is open very late in Shoreditch?
The Munch (until 4am at weekends), Beigel Bake (24 hours, every day), Smoking Goat for late dinners, and several Kingsland Road Vietnamese restaurants on Fridays and Saturdays.
How do I get a table at Plates?
Sign up to the booking-alert mailing list on the Plates website. Reservations open in batches and are often gone within hours. There’s typically a months-long waitlist.
Where should I head first as a visitor?
For a first-time visit, walk from Old Street roundabout east toward Shoreditch High Street, then south toward Spitalfields and Brick Lane. That single one-mile stroll passes most of the area’s best restaurants — and most of the famous street art.
Shoreditch or Dalston for eating out?
Different beasts. Shoreditch is denser, more Michelin-heavy and more polished. Dalston is scrappier, more neighbourhood-driven, and arguably better for natural wine and live-fire cooking. The honest answer: do both. It’s a thirty-minute walk along Kingsland Road and there’s a great meal every few hundred metres.
The Last Word
Shoreditch isn’t trying to be cool any more — it just is, and the food scene has been the biggest reason for at least a decade. The genuinely great places here aren’t the ones with the longest queues or the most Instagram tags; they’re the ones the locals slip into on a quiet Tuesday night without telling anyone. The list above is the one I’d give a friend visiting from out of town. Book ahead, walk between courses, and let Shoreditch surprise you a little.
Updated regularly by the Islington Local Guide editorial team. For more East and North London restaurant guides, visit islingtonlocalguide.co.uk.
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