Local restaurants
Head east for super-cheap Vietnamese on Kingsland Road; or cruise Brick Lane for curry (Café Naz is always reliable). Exmouth Market is a great lane of shops and eateries. We love Moro (+44 (0)20 7833 8336) for Spanish and North African tapas and grills; Exmouth Grill (+44 (0)20 7837 0009) where you tailor fish or meat dishes by choosing sauces. Medcalf (+44 (0)20 7833 3533) was a butcher’s, now a buzzing diner and drinkery. From foie gras to smoked eel, Club Gascon on West Smithfield (+44 (0)20 7796 0600) serves Michelin-starred French fare; St John on St John Street (+44 (0)20 7251 0848) puts colour in the cheeks of carnivores with earthy British cooking. A former working man’s café, the Quality Chop House on Farringdon Road (+44 (0)20 7837 5093) has hard benches but great food. Pub/club/ restaurant Smiths of Smithfields on Charterhouse Street (+44 (0)20 7251 7950) is ideal for brunch. Dine (+44 (0)20 7404 1818), recently opened off Chancery Lane, does paysan French with British produce, from former Roussillon chef-patron Thomas Han. A stroll or cab away, behind the Tea building in Shoreditch, is the incomparably romantic Les Trois Garcons, 1 Club Row (+44 (0)20 7613 1924), whose theatrical interior houses a really lovely Modern French restaurant.
Local bars
Match Bar on Clerkenwell Road (+44 (0)20 7250 4002) provides cocktails over the road from the hotel.
Diary
Late March Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race (www.theboatrace.org). Mid-April London Marathon (www.london-marathon.co.uk). Late May Chelsea Flower Show (www.rhs.org.uk/chelsea). Late June Wimbledon LTC (www.wimbledon.org). July–September The Proms (www.bbc.co.uk/proms). August bank holiday Notting Hill Carnival. September Open House Weekend (www.londonopenhouse.org). Mid-October–early November The London Film Festival (www.lff.org.uk). 5 November Bonfire Night. 12–21 December The Spitalfields Winter Festival (www.spitalfieldsfestival.org.uk) brings an eclectic programme of concerts and events, designed to reflect the various communities that live in the area, to this vibrant corner of east London.
For a full list of bars and restaurants in London, click here
