Restaurant Reviews

36-37 Greenhill Rents, Cowcross St, London EC1M 6BN

The late, great Russell Norman, who also created Polpo, founded this restaurant just off Smithfield Market. It takes its influences primarily from Northern Italy with a particular focus on Florence. So you'll find Italian snacks and pasta alongside huge T-Bone steaks. It's also part-bar, with an extensive list of cocktail classics, so very handy if you're looking for a decent bar in the area.

5 Water St, London E14 5GX

Originally in Soho, this is the main outpost of the Aegean-inspired restaurant Hovarda. It's on one of the huge floating buildings on Wood Wharf, underneath French restaurant Marceline. As well as serving up a menu of Greek and Turkish food from the kitchen, it's also one of the few late-night bars in the area, open until 2am with DJs and artists on all night (and a great cocktail list).

Unit CR32, 1 Crossrail Pl, London E14 5AR

Din Tai Fung is a Taiwanese restaurant that's hugely successful all over the world, mainly for their xiao long bao (aka soup dumplings) which are always made on-site (from a small kitchen that you can see in all their restaurants). There's much more to the menu than that, with lots of dishes beyond the dumplings, including some must-have lava buns for dessert.

25 N Colonnade, London E14 5HD

This is the Canary Wharf outpost of the popular series of London food halls. As with the others, it gathers together some of London's best food operators with 10 kitchens operating in the hall, all backed up by a central bar. Extremely handy for the Elizabeth Line station. You'll find burgers, kebabs, tacos, bagels and lots more besides. If you're meeting friends and forgot to book somewhere, this is a great option.