It's a trendy East London district formed around Commercial Street, Brick Lane, nearby Liverpool Street and the bustling Spitalfields Market, and it's brimming with excellent places to eat no matter what time of day. Wet your appetite with a glance at our guide to restaurants in Spitalfields, featuring quirky curry houses, boozy brunch havens, British bistros and sumptuous seafood escapes.
A cool new bar and restaurant in Old Spitalfields Market, KERB Social Club promises a buzzing atmosphere and great food. Expect colourful interiors, complete with booth seating and large screens, showing all the biggest live sporting events.
There are three different street food traders onsite, serving up everything from loaded hotdogs to deep dish pizzas and jerk chicken. Plus, there are a wide range of classic and signature cocktails on offer too.
Shanghai Cocktail Lounge is a trendy, venue that promises a range of international eats. Head upstairs to discover a sleek cocktail bar decked out in Asian-inspired artwork and plush velvet sofas, serving up sumptuous dim sum selections.
Tuck into the likes of mushroom and truffle or pork and prawn dumplings, as well as tasty bar snacks like chilli rice crackers.
Started by two friends from Yorkshire who shared a love of the 80s, the TV show 'Cheers' and, most importantly, classic comfort food, The Breakfast Club is renowned across the UK for their trendy cafs which merge British and American culture. Stop by their Spitalfields restaurant to enjoy retro interiors with quirky neon signs and classic cafe seating, not to mention their secret basement bar. Breakfasts here showcase blueberry pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, as well as bean shakshuka, full Englishes and a range of Benedicts. But if you swing by for dinner? You can also sink your teeth into Philly cheese patty melts and Nashville fried chicken burgers.
Nestled in the heart of Spitalfields market, Alfi serves up delicious Italian dishes with its natural and biodynamic wines. As you sip and savour classic styles and adventurous tipples, you can nibble antipasti, pastas and perfectly baked pizza.
We're talking crab linguine, cacio e pepe bucatini and pumpkin ravioli. The grilled dishes are special too, from the baby chicken to the rib-eye steak.
Yuu Kitchen is a highly acclaimed Pan-Asian restaurant led by head chef Mark Earnshaw. It comes ladorned with atmospheric hanging lanterns and fun manga illustrations along the wall, making for one of the top restaurants in Spitalfields to enjoy dishes inspired by the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan and more. Get ready for a range of creative small plates, like their signature Filipino-style sticky adobo wings, and succulent meats fired up on the robata grill, such as the iberico pork pluma. But that's not all, as you'll also find a huge range of bao, including our favourite – the crispy soft shell crab with wasabi mayo.
After starting as a humble Brixton Market burger restaurant in 2011, Honest Burgers has gone from strength to strength, now boasting venues all across the UK. And at its Spitalfields restaurant, it serves gorgeous burgers made with British beef, free-range chicken or vegan Beyond Meat patties, nestled in a delicious, fluffy bun – our favourite is the Honest, made with beef, red onion relish, smoked bacon, cheddar, lettuce and pickles. And, of course, you can't forget to order a portion of this joint's famous rosemary salted fries on the side.
Found in a converted fabric warehouse, Commercial Street restaurant Som Saa (from Mark Dobbie and Andy Oliver) is as trendy as you can get. The dining room is undeniably edgy, with rough, stripped-back brickwork, low-hanging lanterns and an East London buzz every night of the week. It's all about regional Thai food here, which of course comes as a regularly changing menu of dishes made for sharing; think laab muang gai, pad pak and gaeng kua fuk tong. And the drinks list? It's been meticulously crafted to pair with Thai flavours to a tee, including international wines and signature cocktails like the Mapraw Manhattan, made with coconut oil-washed Bourbon, vermouth, maraschino, orange and mandarin bitters.
What started as a series of successful pop-ups across the city has now become the beloved Bubala Spitalfields, a Middle Eastern restaurant which serves an entirely vegetarian menu. They've got a cracking range of cocktails to choose from, alongside house wines on tap from Uncharted Wines, with tasty dishes like fried aubergine in date syrup, honey-coated halloumi and oyster mushroom skewers to choose from.
After the success of their Chelsea and City outposts, Canto Corvino opened what is now one of the best Italian restaurants in Spitalfields, slinging out hearty European dishes to eager East London diners. The space, which is decked out with mid-century-style leather seats with a backdrop of roughed-up brick walls and a few pops of colour from the pretty indoor trees. On the menu? All kinds of enticing antipasti, like seared beef carpaccio and burrata Pugliese - perfect for nibbling before diving into the pasta, secondi or josper plates. One dish you certainly can't miss is the monkfish ossobuco with tiger prawn minestrone and basil.
When you're not soaking up the sunshine on the luscious rooftop garden (where they grow many of their own ingredients) or sinking a pint in the pub, head to The Culpeper's grand first-floor restaurant. An atmospheric space, it showcases white-painted brick walls, huge light-loving windows, hanging plants and leather banquette seating. The Sunday roasts are absolutely divine, featuring dishes like top rump of beef and a veggie Wellington, although the regular evening menu is not to be missed either. Sink your teeth into internationally inspired bites, such as pan-fried gnocchi with pesto and burrata, as well as miso hake accompanied by pink fir potatoes and dashi beurre blanc.
Boasting locations in Soho, Tower Bridge, Spitalfields and even Lisbon, not to mention a Bib Gourmand, Gunpowder is a powerhouse of Indian cooking. Make yourself comfortable in the slick dining room, which features walnut tables and stools alongside wood-panelled walls, then treat your tastebuds to modern Indian small and sharing plates. From the spicy venison and vermicelli doughnut to the egg curry masala and Goan-style grilled prawns, you'll be grinning from ear to ear after a trip to this joint.
Crispin is a chilled all-day restaurant which is just moments away from Liverpool Street station, situated inside a quirky asymmetric pavilion made from glass and zinc. The modern cuisine here ranges from ham hock with parsley terrine to Portland crab linguini, with cracking veggie options like burrata with tema artichoke as well.
