Cristina Affortunati and her husband Andrei founded the hugely popular Italian sandwich shop Dal Fiorentino in 2022. The pair wanted to bring a taste of their hometown, Florence, to London. Since then they've opened four stores across the city, with the most recent opening this autumn in Holborn. Cristina's agreed to share her favourite food and drink spots from the part of London she calls home, Shoreditch.
Tay Do
60-64 Kingsland Rd, London E2 8DP
Good, easy, cheap. A Vietnamese restaurant with great value for money. Perfect place to go when you don’t want to cook at home and just want to eat something fast. My favourites are the mango salad with dry beef, Vietnamese pancake, and fried spring rolls.
Smokestack
35 Sclater St, London E1 6LB
They have the best pork belly in London and, overall, all their meats are so tender and have the perfect smoky flavour.
E. Pellicci
332 Bethnal Grn Rd, London E2 0AG
When you enter in there, it’s like time has stopped in 1900. It’s warm, it’s welcoming, it has the ‘home-cooked’ vibe, as if you went to visit your nonna for breakfast.
Nightjar
129 City Rd, London EC1V 1JB
For exceptional cocktails and mixology. The drinks menu is very sophisticated and executed with high-quality ingredients. But the best part of it is certainly the live jazz/blues music and the aesthetic of the place. It gives a very 30’s vibe. Perfect for a Friday night out.
Origin Coffee
65 Charlotte Rd, London EC2A 3PE
They just do very good coffee. Strong, short, with a rich and smooth taste.
See also
For more of these local area guides, visit the My Manor page.
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