Islington

07/06/16 - Updated with soft launch info.

We've been in the Islington area for a long time now and we've really noticed that the past few years or so have seen a real improvement in Holloway Road's food scene. So we look with interest to the opening of a new pizzeria, Zia Lucia, which is different enough to get our attention...  

The pizza bases are 48-hour slow fermented doughs. And

Jay Rayner praised the "the sheer pleasure" of their food. Grace Dent eulogised their "highly devourable sharing plates". And on the back of such success Shoreditch smokehouse Rök are now opening their second restaurant. They're taking over a Grade II listed building halfway up Upper Street where they'll open a 60-seat restaurant and bar in July.

Rök Islington will launch with a seasonal summer menu by executive chef Matt Young featuring aged beef rump with

JaguarShoes Collective are expanding their empire further north, taking over pie and mash spot Manze on Chapel Market for two months. Every evening the beautiful art deco cafe will transform into a cocktail speakeasy. They'll be serving up prohibition era style cocktails with a modern twist - such as Hanky Panky - Gin, Sweet Vermouth, Fernet Branca Menta. They're also promising plenty of oysters too. If you're heading out after work, head down there

Seafood with a huge dash of sex appeal, Galley brings va va voom to N1

The revitalisation of Islington's dining scene continues apace with news of another interesting restaurant opening on Upper Street. Galley restaurant and bar takes over the space occupied by United Ramen and is a venture by brother and sister team Oriona Robb and Marcel Grzyb.

Marcel's been Head Chef at Soho’s Randall & Aubin for a decade and, as you might expect given his background, he's put together a menu with a strong focus on seafood.

His sister

Updated 7/12/15 with menu, photos and opening date

Hot Dinners got a sneak preview of Bellanger this week and even with days of fitting out to go, the place looks fantastic. They've opened up the front of the dining room, adding a semi-private dining alcove, put booths all down one side. There'll be 10 seats for counter dining and a large dining room towards the back which has been

The chocolate houses of London's past may have been dens of debauchery and political intrigue, but a new one planned for Islington's Chapel Market will be an altogether more respectable place. Jaz & Jul’s Chocolate House is the first bricks and mortar spot for popular Broadway Market stallholders Jasmine Kershaw and Juliet Sampson.

The new cafe and shop will serve what the pair declare to be indulgent proper hot chocolate - made on site using

Updated 13/10/15 with pics.

Well it seems that there well and truly is a god. It's not a secret that Hot Dinners is based in Islington, so when news popped into our inbox that MEATliquor was planning on opening their fourth restaurant here, well to say we were pleased isn't the half of it.

They're going to open where in the site where Pipsdish once was - an

Fish and chips aren't just for Fridays. Stoke Newington based chippy Sutton & Sons is proving such a success (also opening in Boxpark in Shoreditch) they're opening a new site in Islington's Essex Road. It's an street that's not blessed with great places to eat and owners Danny and Hana Sutton are confident they'll soon become a local favourite. 

The menu - based around freshly caught, hand picked fish from

A Hot Dinners exclusive

Super popular East London fried chicken shop BIRD is building on its success with two new openings planned for North London this Autumn. Their first will be in October in Islington on the Holloway Road (where The Bailey used to be) The second will be in Camden in November - we'll bring you more news on that when we get it.

Expect to see a new menu for BIRD Islington. Hot Dinners got the scoop on at least three new

The roving pizza popup set up by Giorgio Locatelli with his wife Plaxy, which was in Marylebone for a three week stint last September, is once more on the move.

This time the Michelin-starred chef is going to be throwing pizzas in Islington (well at least his staff will). Pizza Locadeli will take over the old Post Office space on Upper Street for three months. The space around it is currently being redeveloped as Islington Square - part of a multimillion pound new

Chef Lee Tiernan is bringing a ‘Metal and Mangal’ restaurant to Islington. Lee's Black Axe Mangal project first started in Copenhagen as a series of popups where it quickly reached cult status amongst both locals and travelling chefs. Prior to his move Lee spent over 10 years working at St John, finishing up as head chef at Bread & Wine in Spitalfields working alongside James Lowe and John Ogier of Lyles.

Relocating

Islington gets a restaurant from Tom Oldroyd, who has come from Polpo to rejuvenate the Islington dining scene. We take a look.

It's been far too long since we went to a London supperclub, so having written about the arrival of Croft Kitchen in Holloway a few weeks ago, we decided to rectify that. There were a few reasons why. First it was incredibly local, which is always a plus point (but that said it's barely a 5 minute walk from Highbury and Islington station - so pretty easy for transport). Secondly, the team involved had all manner of interesting places on their CVs.

Chef Phil

There's another restaurant on the way to Islington and this looks like an interesting spin on a traditional Chinese restaurant...

It's an all-day family-style Chinese restaurant serving food that harkens back to 80s China. The dining room will be kitted out to evoke a family style all-day dining room with an "80s Chinese home theme with kitsch items". It's designed by Michalis Boyed Studio, who