It's hard touching down in a brand new city and knowing how to get the best experience out of a handful of days, especially a city as big as London. Where to shop, which restaurants to eat at, where to drink, what galleries to visit, where to experience the culture. We've put together, what we believe, is the ultimate guide to East London. Everything there is that's worth doing in Hackney, all a short distance from our Shoreditch store. Take it from us, we've been around long enough to know. Check it out below, and explore the full interactive map of our spots of choice.
WHERE TO EAT
Campania
Campania, also known as Campania & Jones, is tucked away just behind the picturesque Columbia Road serving up southern Italian food and wine sourced from local and small producers. The very charming building itself dates back to the 1800s, rustic wooden furniture and and aromas of pasta makes you feel like you could really be in Italy, all whilst sitting in the heart of Hackney.
Elliots
Elliots is a restaurant, bar & natural wine store using produce from local suppliers, real farm to table feel to this place. They’ve got a sample feasting menu which is always a nice shout when visiting a new resturant. If you find yourself south of the river, head to their Borough Market location.
Facing Heaven
A reborn Sichuanese food concept from Los Angeles chef Julian Denis. Sensational vegan comfort food, natural wine and craft beers, all relatively light on your wallet. The toilet feels like a disco. We recommend you go there very hungry, you’re going to want to order one of everything.
Beigel Bake
Goes without saying, the best beigel you’ll find in the East End. Loads of meat, veggie and vegan options. Tonnes of baked goods. If you hang around the back while its empty you’re in with a chance of a free beigel fresh out the oven courtesy of one of the bakers. They also now take card payments which is a first, and very handy.
Brawn
Fantastic wines and food, real neighbourhood spot feel to this place. If you’ve ever been to Sargasso on your summer Margate trip then Brawn is a must-visit, as it’s their London sister resturant. So good you’ll want to take the food home with you. Well you can courtesy of their shop, where you can buy sauces, aperitifs, oils, etc.
Mangal II
4 Stoke Newington Road, N16 7XN
Food so good Gilbert & George are often spotted there. Founded by Ali Dirik who opened the restaurant four years after he moved to London from Instanbul, the restaurant is now ran by his sons, Ferhat and Sertaç Dirik. There’s an abundance of good Turkish spots in London, but what sets Mangal II apart from the rest is the detail-focused atmosphere, fantastic wine selection, and their regular communication with their community (check out their instagram and their websites newsletter).
E Pellicci
332 Bethnal Green Road, E2 0AG
Proper cafe; massive portions, family ran, and been here for over a century. Can’t get much more old school than this. Priamo Pellicci moved from Tuscany to London and opened this cafe, naming it after his wife Elide. A huge amount to choose from on the menu from all day fry ups, cold cut sandwiches, pasta, salads and deserts. It's one of those cafes full of autographed celebrity portraits, and was the daily morning eatery of choice for the Kray twins.
Cafe Cecilia
A casual neighbourhood bistro, but the food is world-class. The cafe sees a simple interior approach, comforting wooden tables, clear white walls, reasonably priced menu and the Modern House-esque minimalism makes for a relaxed atmosphere. Impeccable service and food, lead up by head chef and owner Max Rocha (who previously worked at The River Café and St John), is what makes this place so special. Named as one of the best restaurants in London by Time Out Magazine. It’s a bit of a mission to get a table but it's absolutely worth it, this place is pure gold.
Brat
Housed within a former strip club, Brat serves up Spanish food based around applying techniques of Basque cooking to British produce. A lot of Welsh ingredients are present in the food, a nice touch from head chef Tomos Parry who is from Wales. The open kitchens features a huge grill on the wall so you can watch your food being prepared and cooked, which for us only adds to the excitement of dining. The interior of the dining area has a rustic feel and is quite wood-heavy, think traditional Spanish seafood resturant ambiance. It’s worth nothing that Brat gained it’s Michelin star in it’s first 6 months of operating - nuff said.
Burger & Beyond
147 Shoreditch High Sreet, E1 6JE
Burger & Beyond originally started trading out the back of a van in Essex. Their American burger joint style burgers are so good, they went on to open a bricks and mortar resturant in Shoreditch, as well as their other UK locations in Soho, Borough and Manchester. Open from lunchtime ’til late every day, Burger & Beyond is a safe bet with their all-star classic American line-up of meat and vegan burgers, fries, milkshakes and deserts. The bone marrow gravy fries are a must-try…
WHERE TO DRINK
Royal Oak
The Royal Oak has a proper local boozer feel despite being planted bang in Sunday’s tourist hotspot, Columbia Road. Few good local beers on the menu, good wine selection for a pub too. Must-visit if you’re at the flower market. Try the roast on a Sunday, one of the best in London.
The Camel
A needle in a hay stack to find, which means it’s packed with regulars. A great choice to experience a British boozer full of Londoners. Famous for their pies too - we recommend you try them out. Local beers too.
Chesham Arms
Real community pub, feels like a local from the second you step in the door. Warm, welcoming, beautifully traditional interior, and tucked away enough that it isn’t mega loud and lairy. Fantastic crisp selection too.
Spurstowe Arms
Traditional Victorian pub setting with low lighting, easy going atmosphere, fast service and a beer garden. Located a little bit off the beaten track usually means you’ll find a good amount of locals in there. A lot of good drinks in here too; generous wine offering and some great cocktails (including a margarita machine…), and some fantastic food too. Everything from welsh rarebit (a rare pub find) to 28 day aged steak to vegetarian mezze plates.
Oranj
A natural wine bar located in an East End warehouse isn’t the usual setting you’d expect. But that’s all part of the charm. A warm orange glow around some steel shutters, the sounds of life happening inside, excellent wine selections and the ever-changing food residencies. A must-visit for the wine connoisseur.
WHERE TO GET COFFEE
Pavilion
A great pitstop during a long walk in Victoria Park. Housed in a big Victorian-style glass-domed building, they serve breakfast, brunch, croissants and cakes alongside some of the better coffee we’ve had in London. Amazing views of the park and lake. If you want to experience coffee at Pavilion but won’t be at Victoria Park, you can visit their other coffee shops at Broadway Market, Columbia Road and the Truman Brewery.
Jolene
Sitting in the heart of Shoreditch on Redchurch Street, Jolene is a little slice of gold. It’s the bakery and coffee shop version of it’s Newington Green resturant (which we also recommend). Jolene works with regenerative food growers and small producers who hold landcare and animal welfare as their top priority. Freshly baked bread and pastries among daily changing sandwiches and some of the most refreshing iced coffee we’ve ever had. Perfect light breakfast/brunch/lunch takeaway option that you can eat sitting in Arnolds Circus, which is a stones throw away.
Climpson & Sons Café
Initially starting off as a stall on Broadway Market in the early noughties, Climpson & Sons now operate from a bricks and mortar shop on the very same street. The building itself is worth a mention - beautifully rustic wooden exterior with ourdoor benches built in, original wood floor, double doors that are opened all summer long accompanied by the smell of coffee from am to pm. London’s coffee culture is brilliant and competitive, and Climpson & Sons definitely deserve to be up there at the top. One thing that really sets this coffee shop apart from the rest is their online recipes to perfect coffee and coffee-based cocktails at home.
WHERE TO EXPERIENCE CULTURE
Dinner Party Gallery
Founded by longtime friend of Goodhood Lucas Dillon, Dinner Party is easy one of our favourite independent galleries in London. The last couple of years of programming has seen excellent shows from Lucas himself, alongside GH favourites Russell Maurice a.k.a Gasius, Dean Edmonds, Claire Barrow and more. One to watch for sure.
Whitechapel Gallery
77-82 Whitechapel High St, E1 7QX
Whitechapel Gallery sits in Whitechapel High Street, it’s home for over 100 years. The gallery opened in 1901 and was one of the first publicly funded galleries for temporary exhibitions in London. Exhibitions and works by the likes of David Hockney, Gilbert & George, Bridget Riley, Nan Goldin, Lucian Freud, and countless other world-famous artists have been displayed over the years. A museum or gallery visit is an essential trip in a new city in order to get a view of the art and culture that that city holds in high regard.
Cafe OTO
A cafe during the day and a live performance venue at night. Cafe Oto (Oto being the Japanese word for sound) champions and provides a home for creative music that exists outside of the mainstream. Effortlessly cool, great place to introduce yourself to new music and immerse yourself in the experience. To give you an idea of the types of live performances you can spectate at Cafe Oto, the likes of Sonic Youths’ Thurston Moore and avant-garde jazz legends Sun Ra Arkestra all feature on their programme back catalogue. If you go in the day and not during the evening performances, you can still visit their cafe for a coffee, and their shop for a plethora of vinyl, tapes, CDs, books and posters.
NTS Radio
Our favourite radio station since 2011. NTS revolves around music discovery, independence and not following the crowds of commercial radio - things we can get on board with. Founded by Femi Adeyemi and orignally broadcasting out of a hut in Gillett Square where they continue to be based, only in a different HQ now. They throw some great parties in Gillett square during the summer months, and you can often find NTS DJs at various events during festival season. Broadcasting live from over 50 cities that you can tune into at any time, or listen to their maaassive archive of shows and infinite mixtapes. The Breakfast Show with Flo or Zakia is often the show of choice at GH HQ.
WHERE TO SHOP
Goodhood
We can’t write about the best of the best that East London has to offer in terms of shopping and culture, without talking about ourselves. In our humble opinion you can’t get much better than Goodhood. If you’re a new customer or you’re not too familiar with us, we’ve been independently ran for 15 years. We create culture, redefine the idea of luxury, and source some of the best brands and product from all over the globe. We love championing newer and smaller brands and introducing you to people and labels you’ve never heard of prior. It’s a lifestyle, baby!
World of Echo
A mix of cult classics and rare vinyl, new and used, something for everyone. Some of the best selections you’ll find in East London, thanks to owners Natalie Judge and Stephen Pietrzykowski dedication to digging in record shops all over the globe. If it’s named after an Arthur Russell album its bound to be good.
Idle Moments
Record shop and wine shop all in one, bang in the middle of Columbia Road. You could easily spend an entire afternoon sampling some wine, digging for new music and if you go at the right time, you can catch one of their regular live DJ sets. A guaranteed good time.
Donlon Books
Donlon Books is the only bookshop in the whole of London where I could get my hands on a copy of Larry Clark’s Wacko Maria publication, so it’s 10/10 from me off of that alone. A carefully curated mix of counterculture, subculture and youth culture informed books, from indie publishers to big publishers - all the things we love. Need we say more.
Funk
Funk is an independent British cheese and small producer bottle shop. A go-to for British cheese and a vast selection of natural wine, as well as being a direct way to support farmers and independent/local makers. If you're unsure of what cheese and wine to pair, you can pick up a hamper made by Funk.
Waste! Store and Gallery
Ran by young Londoners Jack & Roydon, this place is a goldmine for the collector. Full of art, tees, books and trinkets that you’ll be hard pressed to find anywhere else in London, a room full of total gems. Great gallery space next door too.
194 Local
Located in the middle of Brick Lane since 2018, 194 Local has become one of our favourite vintage stores. They specialise in vintage menswear, accessories and lifestyle items from the 1980s through to the late 2000s, with a focus on US and Japanese streetwear. You’ll find vintage Fuct, Stone Island, Stussy, X-Girl, band tees, knitwear, and a tonne more.
WHERE TO GO OUTSIDE
Hackney City Farm
Hackney City farm brings a little bit of the countryside into the city. It’s reletively big considering how central the location is and there’s a lot of animals to see, as well as a garden. You can buy fresh-farm eggs from their farmshop that have been sourced from their free roaming chickens for less than your average supermarket price, or eat at the on-site resturant. The best bit, it’s completely free to visit the farm.
Haggerston Park
East London offers up a good selection of green spaces and parks, Haggerston park is one of our favourites. Smaller and quieter than the very popular Victoria Park (which is also great), with open spaces to hang out with a takeaway from one of the many fantastic food spots mentioned above, play some games with mates, read, or just hang out solo and relax.
Victoria Park / Raemers Skatepark
Previously known as Victoria Park Skatepark and recently renamed Raemers Skatepark, in homage to the late Ben Raemers. The main feature is the large bowl with a swimming pool style section as well as a pretty big cradle - the only cradle you’ll find in London. There’s also a street section with ledges, banks, pump bumps and hips. One of the main benefits about Raemers skatepark is that it’s situated in the middle of Victoria Park, so there’s loads to do in the way of eating, drinking and relaxing. Coffee and lunch from the previously mentioned Pavillion, if you’re there on a Sunday you can catch the Victoria Park market for street food and snacks. Victoria Park is the biggest park in the Tower Hamlets borough so there’s plenty of green space to relax in.
Hackney Bumps
A simply designed, but very fun, outdoor concrete skatepark in Daubeney Fields in Hackney. It was originally built in 1986 but had been left abandoned for some time, until a group of local volunteers took it over. The Hackney Bumps volunteer team has been working to regenerate and maintain it since 2019 and the skatepark has seen dramatic improvements as a result. Since the volunteer team started working on Hackney Bumps, the skatepark has gone from only concrete bumps, to the additions of half pipes, a flat rail, ledges and a hip. This spot is entirely community funded and is a real use it or lose it type of park, one of those places you want to support whether is be financially or emotionally. “Support the scene or you won’t have one”.
WHERE TO STAY
The Black House
As seen in the Modern House, The Black House is a two bedroom Victorian terraced house situated in the coolest neighbourhood in the East End, a stones throw from Columbia Road. Sitting right in the heart of Hackney, The Black House is local to all of the above essential spots to visit on your trip. A simple material palette, graphic accents and space-saving fixtures, inspired by Japanese living. That's gotta be better than a Travel Lodge... Book your stay here.