East End London Food Guide: Brick Lane, Spitalfields & Shoreditch Eats

The East End of London has always been the place where new arrivals changed the city's food. The Huguenots brought silk weaving and the cafe culture that led to the great Spitalfields coffee houses. Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe created the salt beef and bagel traditions still alive on Brick Lane. Bangladeshi families transformed that same street into one of Britain's most concentrated restaurant strips. And now a wave of chefs from across the world have set up in Shoreditch and Bethnal Green, making this the most culinarily interesting square mile in the country.

Brick Lane itself splits into the southern Bangladeshi curry strip and the northern vintage-and-bagel stretch. The famous 24-hour Beigel Bake at the north end serves the salt beef bagel London has eaten since the 1970s: a proper option at any hour. Sunday morning is when the full Brick Lane market kicks in — a sprawl of food stalls, vintage clothing, and record dealers that extends into Spitalfields and Cheshire Street.

Spitalfields Market runs daily but is best on Sunday. The covered Victorian hall has become a food court of unusual quality: genuine bánh mì, Korean fried chicken done properly, excellent wood-fired pizza, and rotating street food operators. It borders on the Hawksmoor Spitalfields steakhouse, one of the best steak restaurants in Britain.

Columbia Road Flower Market on Sunday mornings is two streets north and worth combining — the surrounding cafes (Laxeiro for Spanish tapas, Jones & Sons for brunch) fill with market traders and locals from 8am. St John Bread & Wine on Commercial Street is the canonical nose-to-tail dining experience, open for breakfast through dinner. Dishoom's Shoreditch outpost handles the all-day Indian cafe brief impeccably.