The best restaurants in Shoreditch

The Pachamama team completed their Mediterranean reinvention with Lagana, a Greek-inspired spot in Shoreditch. Here, you'll find a menu built around freshly baked lagana flatbread with seasonal dips, alongside dishes like courgette tempura, loukoumades stuffed with Graviera and lamb kebab with cumin yoghurt. Expect skewers, dry-aged picanha, and a bouillabaisse riff too. Meanwhile, the interiors pair wabi-sabi walls with vintage chandeliers, while drinks include a frozen pomegranate pisco sour.

Legado is the second restaurant from Nieves Barragan, who won a Michelin star for Sabor. The Shoreditch restaurant, dominated by a huge open kitchen and counter, features dishes from across Spain, delivered with the panache that you'd expect from the chef. That's paired with an excellent Spanish wine list and an all-day bar with its own snacks menu.

Osteria Angelina comes from the same team behind the original Angelina, but this can be viewed as a more casual outpost. it still brings together Italian and Japanese cuisine under one roof, with a specific emphasis on northern Italian cooking. So you'll find milk break, sushi, sashimi and pasta dishes all on the same menu. There's a separate bar here, so if you're in the area it's well worth popping in for cocktails and a snack or two.

This is the second Singburi, which saw the extremely highly rated Thai restaurant move from Leytonstone to a much bigger (and shinier) setting in Shoreditch. Still very much a family business, son Sirichai Kularbwong is now in charge, cooking up an authentic Thai menu that's one of the very best in London.

This is the restaurant above The Knave of Clubs pub and while it's run by the same people, it's a very different beast. Trying to bring over a bit of NYC vibe to London, it's also been referred to as The Devonshire of East London. Vibe-wise, it's certainly similar (getting a table can be tricky) while the food from Patrick Powell features some excellent dishes like his moules frites and schitzel with gorgonzola. Very usefully, there's a "walk-in places available" light if you're passing by and fancy some snacks and one of their excellent martinis.

Great British Menu winner Kirk Haworth is behind this restaurant in Shoreditch which creates a fantastic and unique tasting menu using only plant-based ingredients. Set in a surprisingly quiet building just off Old Street this sees the chef doing wonderful things with vegetables and it's one of the hardest to book restaurants in town.

The Knave of Clubs brings together James Dye (The Camberwell Arms, Franks) Benjy Leibowitz (JKS and The NoMad in NYC) and Patrick Powell (Allegra and Chiltern Firehouse) for a proper pub in Shoreditch. Walk-in only, as you'd expect from most pubs, this puts drink front and centre but that's backed up by a great menu from Powell, which centres around Rotisserie chicken, along with top-notch snacks like their prawn scotch egg.

Chef Tomos Parry's restaurant remains one of the hottest in the area and still manages to attract a celeb or two to the upstairs room that's a little removed from the Shoreditch masses. Up here, you'll find a menu that features a mix of cooking on fire, Welsh and Basque cuisine, and a big focus on wine. It doesn't hurt that the dining room is quite lovely.

Cycene is the restaurant inside Blue Mountain School in Shoreditch, with chef Taz Sarhane (ex Brooklands and Claude Bosi at Bibendum) in charge. Here you can expect a tasting menu-only experience, with a big focus on British produce and suppliers.The meal takes place throughout the building - from the bar to the kitchen and the dining room.

Originally big in Soho and now David Carter (Smokestak) and Chris Leach's Manteca moved to Shoreditch. Designed around an open kitchen with plenty of open-fire cooking. The food is described as a nose-to-tail "Italian with a British accent" with both seasonality and a whole-animal approach to cooking the name of the day (alongside some great pasta).

This is the Old Street restaurant for Richard Corrigan, the top Irish chef who's also behind Bentley's in Mayfair. Expect a menu that has a modern European base mixed in with various Irish influences. There's an excellent pub downstairs too, in the shape of Gibney's.

Serving up some of the best Thai food in London, the trio behind this is Andy Oliver, Mark Dobbie and Tom George. They originally gained a huge following at a Climpson's Arch residency before crowdfunding their own spot. "Regional Thai food with uncompromising flavours" is what they promise.

The original Hawksmoor, and for many the best. Known as the group that transformed steaks in British restaurants forever for the better, this is a perfect place to come to for a meat-fest. And expect some cracking cocktails too - head to the bar downstairs for those and extra snacks not on the main menu.

One of the best restaurants in town and one of the few to have made it into the World's 50 Best list, The Clove Club is now a London institution, on the must-try lists of all good gastro tourists. Head into the main restaurant for a regularly changing tasting menu by Isaac McHale, which is at the heart of things here.

This is the original Rochelle Canteen, from chef Margot Henderson and business partner Melanie Arnold, and has been held up by almost every chef in London as one of the best places to eat at in town. Henderson serves up classic, seasonal cooking. It's a little on the hard side to find - but well worth searching out.

This is a French-style bistro in the heart of Shoreditch that comes from the same people behind Crispin and Bar Crispin. Here, they're serving up their own take on bistro-style dishes, backed up by an all-French wine list.

David Carter's smoky, steampunk room in Shoreditch shows that there is real innovation and creativity behind the macho 'cue look. There's a huge range of smoked delights like the brisket and pickled chilli bun, while there are also some gorgeous dishes for vegetarians.

The original Padella is a London sensation, with its affordable fresh pasta winning friends far and wild. It's hugely popular, which led to this second outpost in Shoreditch. Expect the same great value, high quality pasta and more.

Sister restaurant to Kiln, this is the second version of Smoking Goat and a huge hit. Whether you're sitting up at the counter or enjoying a group meal with friends, enjoy a range of Thai dishes that change depending on produce and a lot of Thai BBQ as well.

Husband and wife team Limor and Amir are behind this Shoreditch spot with a menu that celebrates Eastern Mediterranean cuisine. The menu leans towards plant-forward options with an emphasis on healthy cooking methods. Even the drinks list is similarly curated. Weekend brunches are particularly popular.

Llama Inn originated in Brooklyn from chef Erik Ramirez (finalist in the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef). The NYC twist on Peruvian cuisine has proven to be just as successful in London as in New York. Here, the restaurant is on the roof of the Hoxton Hotel in Shoreditch and in good weather, you definitely want to be on their terrace with a pisco sour.

This restaurant in Old Street comes from chef Joe Laker, previously at Fulham's Fenn. Here in East London, he's opened an all-counter dining restaurant which has just one dinner sitting a night, serving 16 guests. It's all ultra seasonal as well as making the most of bottling and preservation techniques to use some ingredients out of season. Downstairs, the cocktail bar Low Country is also well worth a visit.

Opened in 2015 and since expanded to restaurants in Soho and Tower Bridge, this original Gunpowder serves Indian small plates with an inventive twist. The dishes are inspired by those that the team grew up with and the Kashmiri lamb chops are a must.

If you're after great Vietnamese food in London, then one of the places to head to is Kingsland Road with a huge selection of restaurants. This one stands out though, as the sister restaurant of Cay Tre and with something of a more laid-back vibe.

One of London's biggest success stories, Dishoom seems eternally popular. Serving up all manner of Indian small plates, there's just as big a focus on the bar here as the food. Expect to wait for your table at peak times.

The Shoreditch outpost of the St John empire is almost like a finishing school for London chefs. This restaurant is the beating heart of seasonal British cooking in London and has spread that influence all over the UK.

This is the Shoreditch outpost of the Blacklock group - which has become famous for its piles of chops, cooked over fire. It's also great value for money - and that includes the cocktails. This East London branch also has a large bar area.

Just off Kingsland Road, in an area with some excellent Vietnamese cooking, Cay Tre is held out to be one of the very best in London. Their pho is an obvious attraction here, but there's a broad menu of authentic Vietnamese cooking. (And you can pop across the street to try their Banh Mi shop Keu too.)

The Big Mamma group in Paris have had huge hits with their trattorias and Gloria was their first London opening, in a big space in Shoreditch. It serves up Italian food in a classic looking space (as well as a hidden 80s-set dining room) and a buzzy vibe.

From their simple start on a Maltby Street stall to their permanent digs on Bethnal Green Road, Lahpet are introducing Londoners to the delights of Burmese food.

Previously Burger and Beyond were at street food markets all over town before they settled down in Shoreditch. Their best burgers are on offer here, all covered in excellent toppings like marrownaise and more. Their small plates action is pretty good and the truffled tater tots are some of the best in town.

This Italian restaurant is from chef Jonathan Lawson, who worked with Theo Randall for five years before opening his own place, with cuisine described as Italian with a touch of Moorish and Spanish.

Santo Remedio at London Bridge has established itself as one of London's top authentic Mexican restaurants. This is their second restaurant (but also where they originally started out some years back). They call the cafe "an ode to the bustling cafés of Mexico" with hits from the original Santo Remedio - like the tacos and guacamole - as well as Shoreditch-only dishes. Expect great margaritas and there's a handy takeaway hatch.

BAO have mastered the art of the bao bun - now they've moved onto noodles, with beef noodles being the key draw at this Shoreditch restaurant. But worry not - bao buns are available too.