Best restaurants in East London: The cosy restaurants edition

I prefer snug restaurants a small, intimate space low-lit by candlelight and soft lamps – the glove that fits as they say. But it’s not just this ambience. Smaller restaurants tend towards equally small seasonal menus, typically focusing on a regional cuisine or a specific dish with no room to hide – such quality ingredients must be prepared and cooked beautifully.

I’m an advocate for seasonality and incorporating local ingredients whenever possible when cooking regional cuisines – pakora made with aromatic spiced haggis or Welsh lamb to dip into my Sichuan hotpot broth? Yes, please.

With that said, here are some of the best restaurants in East London for a cosy ambience and stellar menus.

Rake at The Gun

In their words, Rake is all about British restorative fare. The plates coming out of the kitchen are dressed in fine British meats and produce for dinner and Sunday roasts, and hone in on classic flavour combinations, making the ingredients sing.

It’s mouthwatering just thinking about the dishes that have featured on the menu: beer-battered cockles and clams, beef tartare and St George’s toast, cold smoked prawns in the shell, and chicken fried dory. For Sunday roasts, the star choice cuts of meat are complemented by equally standout trimmings: clapshot, collard greens, a velvety, buttery roasted swede and carrot purée, and Yorkshire pudding. I go weak in the knees for a dish or drink that incorporates any type of tea, and for afters at Rake, the Yorkshire Tea brûlée is a marriage of England and France that’s spoon-licking good.

Rake’s dining room above the Gun is the epitome of intimacy, with dark-painted wooden floors, small tables and black leather booths, a bay window/door area leading to balcony seating and a couple of speakers – absolutely vital as the Gun hosts regular music selectors. The simple, understated elegance is in keeping with the Gun’s paired back ambience in Victorian digs.

Hackney, E9 | rakelondon.com

Leo’s Bar and Restaurant

A homey little spot on Chatsworth Road, Leo’s is a retro ‘60s Mediterranean café with a hat-tip to the British caff. A café by day and bar and restaurant by night, Leo’s focuses on Sardinian cuisine and seasonal produce. It’s unfussy comfort eating and I love it.

Inside, you can take a seat at the window or a table, tables are topped by mustard yellow, the seat cushions are green, and hanging on the wooden walls are four daily newspapers. Bottles are on display behind the bar, there are speakers in the corners of the room, retro prints on the wall, and a chalkboard with the day’s menu. In the dining room, you find much of the same surrounded by whitewashed walls, wooden panelling and white tablecloths.

It feels like the kind of place you want to pop by in the morning for a coffee, a paper and a pastry. It also feels like a casual spot for a catch-up with a mate over a lunch of homemade lasagna or riso al salto – a pancake of saffron-laced risotto gently fried until golden brown. In the evening, it’s all wine, low lights and simple but delicious dishes: housemade wild boar cotechino, and meats and seafood grilled over a wood fire, like black leg chicken, sardines, and pork loin. Pop in on a Sunday for the family-style set lunch that finishes with a tiramisu. The café is walk-in only and the dining room requires a reservation.

It’s casual, comfy, and an ode to café bars of old.

Lower Clapton, E5 | leosrestaurant.bar

Mambow

Chef Abby Lee’s Mambow offers another kind of small restaurant – the buzzing kind with a view into the open kitchen where pots steam and bubble. You’ll rub elbows with your neighbours at small candle-topped tables and watch Lee and her brigade prepare your dishes. It’s a pulsating kind of intimacy that is so fitting for the Malaysian fare with little Chinese touches.

Lee’s menu reads like a love letter to the cuisine she grew up with. I would stand in the wind and rain for the spices, aromatics and pickles Lee’s menu promises, knowing it would warm me up and make the wait worth it, so deep is my love for aromatic and herby Malaysian flavours.

You have to go more than once just to order everything on the menu because you want to order everything on the menu. The achar awak –pickles with peanuts – complemented a meal of otak otak – red curry and kaffir lime leaf prawns on herbaceous wild betel leaf, a herbal pork belly and rib soup with a Chinese doughnut, and rempah fish – whole grilled mackerel stuffed with sambal wrapped in banana leaf. For dessert, I miraculously managed the moreish pandan crêpes with Malaysian coffee ice cream.

But I have dates with wok-fried mussels, grilled chicken thighs in a peppery fragrant curry, Nyonya-style chicken wings, and – well, literally the rest of the menu.

Lower Clapton, E5 | mambow.co.uk

Little Duck, The Picklery

The natural wine bar, picklery and restaurant in Dalston Lane is a home away from home. Wood accents, throw pillows, natural light by day – including a deep glow at golden hour when it’s sunny – and candlelight by evening. The centrepiece, however, is the kitchen counter. I will never tire of watching chefs working their craft.

I love all things pickled and fermented, pair these with natural wines and a cosy restaurant and Little Duck was destined for this blog post. The regularly changing menu focuses on seasonal cooking and ferments with menu staples like pickles and past delights such as pork rillettes with mustard and cornichons, braised cavolo nero with dates, tahini and breadcrumbs.

Being able to buy the seasonal ferments and pickles ready jarred already won my heart but Little Duck is one of few places where I want to order each desert item rather than just one – there’s a kindred palate in that kitchen somewhere. Floral, citrusy bergamot sorbet with riesling eau de vie (fruit brandy) and honey or steamed quince and buttermilk pudding with cardamom custard – a thousand times, yes.

Dalston, E8 | littleduckpicklery.com

Rogues

From pop-up to lockdown shop and delivery service to damn good sarnies to a brick-and-mortar restaurant (next door to Rogue Sarnies), Rogues don’t stop. The ambience of the Hackney Road establishment is a study in low-lit seduction and relaxed stylings complemented by always atmospheric candlelight. I love everything about Rogues, from the name of the place to the delicious fare.

Chefs Freddie Sheen and Zac Whittle take standout British produce and make it sing and dance in your mouth. A changing menu dependent on what’s sourced at the market each week, expect the likes of roasted venison loin with burnt apple, parsnip, cranberry and dark chocolate gravy. Wild sea bass with British-grown Japanese artichoke and smoked oyster sauce. Duroc pork chop with grilled nectarines and apricot harissa – like I said, ingredients that will sing and dance in your mouth.

Whether seated in the dining room or at the bar counter, Rogues is the kind of place where you don’t want to rush your meal. The ambience, the drinks, the flavours, and who you’re with all make for a potent spell in relaxed wining and dining.

Cambridge Heath, E2 | rogueslondon.uk

Mangal II

I was destined to dine at Mangal II eventually, not because it’s an East London institution (although there is that) but because I have wild cravings for food cooked over an open fire and simply cannot resist the smoke or the flavours. Mangal II has everything I love: the mangal or open-fire charcoal cooking, dishes I don’t want to stop eating, and a small space where you rub elbows with your neighbours. There’s a downstairs and a basement, but I prefer the upstairs by the windows because I like to people watch on Stoke Newington Road.

Cull yaw fat sourdough pide and cull yaw köfte with grilled apple were everything I wanted and I loved seeing the use of cull yaw (older ewe) meat rather than lamb. The smoked humus was as smooth as you like and my only complaint was that I wanted more of the accompanying pickles fiend that I am. Grilled Cornish chicken and whole grilled mackerel with samphire and bone butter – all I can say is, if you’re torn between the two, order both. The smoked green cardamom negroni delighted me more than a cocktail should but goodness do I love my spices.

It’s not complicated fare nor should it be. A celebration of delicious ingredients cooked over an open fire, you’ll want for nothing more.

Dalston, N16 | mangal2.com

My Neighbours the Dumplings

There’s nothing more inviting and cosy than stepping into the original Clapton location of My Neighbours the Dumplings: signs and red Chinese lanterns float above a candlelit space, years of wax dripping down wine and sake bottles. The windows are gently steamed, and if you have a good nose on you, the scents of vinegar, chilli oil, and soy sauce permeate the air, mixed with the fragrances of steamed and fried delights.

The handmade dumplings are the star of the show, of course, but MNTD don’t stop at the Cantonese favourites, showcasing inspired dishes with higher welfare meat, sustainably sourced fish, and British produce to create small sharing dishes that celebrate multiple cultures.

The hand-cut lamb noodles braised with cumin, star anise and cinnamon is a non-negotiable pick, as are the prawn har gau (steamed prawn dumplings), crispy fried prawn wontons, smacked cucumber salad, crispy chicken wings, and sake for the table. And probably another bottle of sake for dessert.

Lower Clapton, E5 | myneighboursthedumplings.com

Nest

Nest is the sister to Michelin and Green Star restaurant St. Bart’s known for using only British produce, so it’s not hard to wrap your head around Nest’s offering: seasonal British tasting menus that focus on only one meat per season, like beef, sea & coastline, river & valley, or Highlands, and all paired with region-specific wines.

The atmosphere at Nest is somewhere between the slow living aesthetics of a rustic farmhouse and old-timey bar – warm wooden tones, green teal paint, cotton curtains, candles and little vases of dried flowers on wooden tables. As far as cosy restaurants go, it’s actually on the larger side, able to serve 50 covers but still feeling intimate and relaxed.

For me, Nest is a special occasion meal, investing in a tasting menu comprised of the finest British ingredients but simply and beautifully prepared and presented – think fried oyster and bone marrow, hand-dived Orkney scallop, soda bread and rich bone marrow butter, beef and seaweed with barbecued sea beet and beef fat brushed BBQ English muffin. For dessert, cider poached pear and hazelnut.

Shoreditch, EC1V | nestfood.co.uk

Barge East

During spring and summer, dining in the riverside gardens of Barge East or up on deck is wonderful, but I’ll champion the cosiness of dining below deck until I’m blue in the face. The old Dutch barge that calls the River Lee home offers seasonal riverside dining in Hackney Wick and is as intimate as it gets when you’re below deck.

As something of a budding herbalist, restaurants with their own gardens light me up. Seasonal and sustainable is the past and future of cooking – sourcing from your own garden is a privilege not afforded to every restaurant and thus should not be taken for granted.

The menu showcases classic British ingredients and pickings from the gardens whenever possible for casual yet affordable fine dining. Smoked beetroot with Neal’s Yard goats curd and pickled apple. Cornish crab and lobster wontons with bisque, lemon grass and coriander. Ethical butcher onglet with wild mushroom fricassee and smoked bone marrow peppercorn sauce. It’s relaxed, delicious, and won’t break the bank. More of this, please.

Hackney Wick, E9 | bargeeast.com

Editor's note: Spot any incorrect information? Or have an article idea for HeadBox.com? Get in touch at submissions@headbox.com