Islington

Bad tidings to report today as Islington Rotisserie spot LeCoq is closing its doors just before Christmas. As it's one of Hot Dinners' local restaurants, it's particularly bad news, but the team are looking towards new ventures in the new year. In the meantime, you have until 23 December to get down there and try some of the best rotisserie chicken in town, not to mention more rotisseried beasts (like the mutton above) and the amazing roast potatoes. And to find out more

We return to Islington's LeCoq to check out their brand new menu with a lot more than chicken in the rotisserie. 

Good news for fans of LeCoq’s rotisserie roasted chicken - the Islington brasserie is reinventing itself as a full-time rotisserie restaurant.

Hibernation season is still quite a ways off yet, but for fans of LeCoq it might be time to embrace the elasticated waistband already. Previously only available on Sundays, their golden (spit) roast dinners, including their Sutton Hoo chickens, will soon be available to

It's all change at this Islington brasserie with a new menu and a new terrace

Rok have opened their second restaurant in Islington - we went to try it out

We've got to say, we like the way street parties are going. They're no longer the kind of thing where the best you could expect food and drink-wise would be some curling sarnies, pasta salad of dubious origin and some lukewarm sauvignon blanc.

And the one that has Hot Dinners' name written all over it (not literally) is the Colebrook Row street party in Islington this weekend. Tony Conigliaro’s cocktail bar 69

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