Experiences
The 6 Best of Shoreditch
Shoreditch wears its reinvention lightly these days. Here are six things worth your evening: a two-star tasting menu in the old town hall, a basement bar that still plays it straight, the street art and the Sunday market, the breakfast that started a queue, and the room to sleep it off.
In short: our top picks are The Clove Club, Nightjar and Shoreditch Street Art & StolenSpace Gallery. 6 places in total, chosen on merit, with the full reasoning below.
Shoreditch has been declared over more times than anywhere else in London, and it keeps not being over. The warehouses went years ago, the cereal cafe is a memory, and yes, the suits have moved in along the Old Street fringe. None of that matters much once you are actually here. Under the railway arches the walls still change every few weeks, the basements still hide some of the best drinking in the city, and on a Sunday the whole place smells of bagels and frying onions. What follows is not a list of everything. It is the handful of things we would actually send a friend to do, eat, drink and see, with somewhere good to put your head afterwards. Book the restaurant and the room well ahead. Everything else, you can mostly just turn up to.
| Place | Area | Price |
|---|---|---|
| The Clove Club | Shoreditch | |
| Nightjar | Shoreditch | £££ |
| Shoreditch Street Art & StolenSpace Gallery | Shoreditch | |
| Brick Lane Market | Shoreditch | |
| Dishoom Shoreditch | Shoreditch | ££ |
| Boundary Shoreditch | Shoreditch | ££££ |
-
Editor’s choice
The Clove Club
Why we pick itIsaac McHale's kitchen has held court in the tiled grandeur of Shoreditch Town Hall for over a decade, and the cooking has only got sharper, now carrying two Michelin stars. The buttermilk fried chicken with pine salt has become a bit of a legend, but it is the precision of the longer tasting menu, all British produce and quiet confidence, that makes this the neighbourhood's serious table. Sit at the counter if you can.
Two-Michelin-star modern British tasting menu
-
Nightjar
Why we pick itDown a flight of stairs off the Old Street roundabout, Nightjar does the sultry low-lit thing better than almost anyone, and unlike a lot of the local competition it has the drinks to back it up. The cocktail list reads like a history lesson and the live jazz starts around nine, so book a table for the proper experience. Worth the slight effort of finding the door.
Speakeasy cocktail bar with nightly live jazz
-
Shoreditch Street Art & StolenSpace Gallery
Why we pick itThe walls around Hanbury Street, Redchurch Street and the Brick Lane arches are a gallery that repaints itself, so no two visits are the same. Wander it for free, then duck into StolenSpace just off Brick Lane, where the artists you have been admiring outside turn up in limited editions you can actually take home. A good rainy-afternoon pairing with the market.
Open-air murals and an urban art gallery
-
Brick Lane Market
Why we pick itSundays are when Brick Lane comes properly alive: vintage rails, secondhand records, antiques of wildly varying honesty, and the smell of salt beef and a hundred kinds of street food. The Old Truman Brewery yards are the heart of it. Come hungry, bring cash for the stalls that pretend not to take cards, and treat the haggling as part of the fun.
Sunday vintage, antiques and street food market
-
Dishoom Shoreditch
Why we pick itThe original Shoreditch branch is still the one with the most charm, a handsome room inspired by the old Irani cafes of Bombay. The bacon naan roll has launched a thousand hangover recoveries and the house chai is the real reason to come early. They do not take breakfast bookings, so arrive before nine or settle in for a short wait that is genuinely worth it.
All-day Bombay cafe, famous for breakfast
-
Boundary Shoreditch
Why we pick itSir Terence Conran's converted Victorian warehouse has just seventeen rooms, each individually designed, which keeps it feeling more like a very stylish flat than a hotel. The ground-floor brasserie does a proper Sunday roast and the glass-walled rooftop gives you the whole East London skyline with a drink in hand. The ideal place to sleep off everything else on this list.
Boutique hotel with rooftop bar and brasserie
Before you book
Most of this clusters in a fifteen-minute walk between Old Street and Brick Lane, so you can do a lot of it on foot in a single day and evening. Sunday is the day for the markets and street art but the worst for restaurant tables, so reverse the usual order: galleries and bagels by day, dinner earlier in the week. The Clove Club books weeks out and takes a deposit, Dishoom does not take breakfast reservations so go before nine or after the rush, and Nightjar is worth reserving if you want a table for the live sets. Old Street and Shoreditch High Street are the stations to aim for, and a black cab home after the last drink is no hardship from here.
Common questions
What are the top picks in this guide?
The Clove Club is our editor's choice: Isaac McHale's kitchen has held court in the tiled grandeur of Shoreditch Town Hall for over a decade, and the cooking has only got sharper, now carrying two Michelin stars. The buttermilk fried chicken with pine salt has become a bit of a legend, but it is the precision of the longer tasting menu, all British produce and quiet confidence, that makes this the neighbourhood's serious table. Sit at the counter if you can. The Clove Club, Nightjar and Shoreditch Street Art & StolenSpace Gallery lead the guide, with 6 places in total, all chosen on merit.
How does Lamplit London choose its recommendations?
Every place is chosen on merit, after first-hand visits where possible, with no pay-for-placement. Read our full method at https://www.lamplitlondon.com/how-we-choose/.
Related guides
Dining The Best Restaurants in Shoreditch
East London's best tables: where to eat well in Shoreditch, from open-fire cooking to neighbourhood gems.
5 places Read guide →
Bars The Best Bars in Shoreditch
East London after dark: the cocktail dens, natural-wine rooms and rooftops that define Shoreditch.
5 places Read guide →
Dining The Best Pubs in Shoreditch
From Victorian corner boozers to craft-beer favourites: the best pubs in Shoreditch.
5 places Read guide →From the Journal
Experiences
London Off the Script: The Unusual and the Free
The London you remember years later is rarely the one on the list, and the best of it tends to cost nothing at all.
12 Jun 2026Read →
Experiences
Things to Do for Two: A London Date Beyond Dinner
The most memorable London dates are often the ones where dinner is a footnote and the evening is shaped by something you did together.
4 Jun 2026Read →
Experiences
The View From the Top: London From Above
At street level London resists you, but go up and the city finally shows its shape, a single legible object you can hold all at once.
21 May 2026Read →Readers also viewed
Experiences The Best Bookshops in London
Oak galleries, a canal barge and the best-smelling shop in the world: London's loveliest bookshops.
6 places Read guide →
Experiences The Best Shisha Lounges in London
Marble floors, garden cabanas and premium blends: London's most polished shisha lounges.
6 places Read guide →
Experiences The Best Candlelight Concerts in London
Vivaldi and film scores by the glow of a thousand candles, in London's most atmospheric churches and halls.
6 places Read guide →
Experiences The Best Museums in London
World-class and mostly free: the best museums in London, from the great institutions to the hidden gems.
5 places Read guide →