Islington
17 rooms on the London list
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Known for, here
The gastropub5 here
- The Compton Arms — Runs its kitchen as a chef residency, and four of the five tenants left to open their own rooms.
- The Baring — Ranked seventeenth in the Top 50 Gastropubs two years running, on Rob Tecwyn's Moro-trained quail shish.
- The Drapers Arms — Rewrites the menu daily and hosts Glandstonebury, its own annual festival of offal cookery.
- The Pig and Butcher — Breaks down whole animals in a purpose-built butcher's room in the basement, on the old Smithfield drove road.
- The Duke Organic — A pub kitchen buying from organic growers and cooking whatever they send that week.
Restaurants4
Sushi Show
Solid · Sushi · Islington · $$
walk-in
The shop is run by a fish wholesaler with thirty years in the trade, which is why a piece of fatty tuna over the counter here costs what it costs (Sushi Show, The Infatuation).
SASA
Solid · Sushi and binchotan grill · Islington · $$$$
book ahead
The wagyu ribcap skewer comes with blitzed nori to sprinkle over, off the binchotan grill Mark Tan-Pham put in when he moved SASA along St John Street in June 2025.
The Tamil Crownjust added
Solid · Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan · Islington · $$$
book ahead
Beef masala uthappam, a small thick dosa spread with spiced meat, which the Good Food Guide calls an absolute standout.
Tenshi
Listed · Japanese izakaya · Islington · $$
book ahead
Okonomiyaki is the house dish here, a cabbage batter cooked on the griddle and finished with brown sauce, and it is the reason to pick this room over the sushi counters further up Upper Street (Time Out).
Provisions1
Anji Orient 安吉便利商店just added
Listed · Chinese and Korean grocer · Islington · $
walk-in
A Chinese and Korean grocer on the corner where Baron Street meets Chapel Market.
Pubs & cask7
The Compton Arms
Solid · British · Islington · $$
book ahead
Chris D'Sylva cooked here and left to open Dorian, Four Legs cooked here and left to open The Plimsoll and Tollington's, Dara Klein cooked here for almost two years and left to open her own Tiella, and the kitchen they were all squeezed into is small enough that Time Out's food…
The Baring
Solid · Gastropub · Islington · $$$
book ahead
Rob Tecwyn cooked at Dabbous, Moro and Morito, and it is the Moro end of that CV you taste first, in a quail shish under pul biber chilli oil and garlic yogurt.
The Drapers ArmsBib
Solid · Gastropub · Islington · $$$
book ahead
Once a year the pub clears the calendar for Glandstonebury, its own festival of offal cookery, with other London chefs cooking in the kitchen.
The Pig and Butcher
Solid · Meat-focused gastropub · Islington · $$$
book ahead
The pub stands on the old drove road where cattle were rested before the last walk into Smithfield, and it still breaks down whole animals, in a purpose-built butcher's room in the basement.
Earl of Essex
Solid · Craft beer · Islington · $$
walk-in
The pub has confirmed to CAMRA that it holds no regular beers at all, so the pumpclips have come off and what is on is written on a board to the left of the door.
The Duke Organic
Listed · Organic gastropub · Islington · $$$
book ahead
The bar will not stock a multinational brand. Every beer, wine, spirit and soft drink in the building is organic, biodynamic or Fairtrade.
The Lexington
Listed · Pub · Islington · $$
walk-in
Doors at three in the afternoon, and the bar runs to four in the morning from Thursday through Saturday.
Cocktails2
The Bar With No Name
Solid · Cocktail bar · Islington · $$$
book ahead
The house signature is a Prairie Oyster built on a tomato yolk, and it comes out of a laboratory on the floor above the bar.
The Bottle Cocktail Shop & Bar
Listed · Cocktail bar · Islington · $$
walk-in
This is an off-licence that will sell you one GBP 5 serve of a bottled cocktail before you commit to a bottle, and if you buy a wine or spirit off the shelf it will charge corkage and hand you the glassware to drink it on the terrace (venue site).
Wine1
Godet!
Solid · Wine pub · Islington · $$
walk-in
Sylvain Bertozzi took a pub on Essex Road, kept the bar and the wine list, and gave the kitchen away to a rotating residency, which is why the food here has already changed hands once (Hot Dinners).
Bakes & sweet2
Pophams
Solid · Pastries · Islington · $$
walk-in
Ollie Gold used to cook for Formula 1 teams, and in 2017 he put a bakery into a derelict chemist's shop on a quiet Islington corner (Islington Gazette).
Quince Bakery
Solid · Bakery · Islington · $
walk-in
Landrace Milling stone-mills their flour in Somerset, which is the difference between a bakery that talks about British produce and one that has gone and organised it.
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