2 Best Restaurants in East London, London

You'll need some help finding this East End fashionista headquarters located down a side alley in happening Bethnal Green. Once inside, check out the striking loft dining space and bar in their postindustrial chic setting, before polishing off light French and English dishes. Choices range from steak tartare and Croque Madame to cod and clams and Longhorn beef with red wine sauce. Be sure to catch the resident pianist at weekend brunch, camping up everything from Katy Perry to Girls Aloud on the baby grand. The Cockatoo is the downstairs performance space, serving up the same menu as the main restaurant along with cabaret. 

You'll feel like quite the foodie insider once you finally track down the quirky Rochelle Canteen, founded by Melanie Arnold and Margot Henderson, two doyennes of the London food scene. It's set in a former bike shed at the Victorian-era Rochelle School—ring the buzzer next to a blue door, go through the "Boys" entrance, and enter the long white canteen, where you'll enjoy gloriously understated British fare ranging from monkfish liver parfait and crab apple jelly to beef and pickled walnut pie. Bump along with the Frieze London art crowd and enjoy braised chard with ricotta on toast, or go for a dessert such as poached quince with chocolate sauce and praline or a velvety custard tart.