Crispin
The restaurant sits in a purpose-built glass and zinc pavilion on a Spitalfields backstreet, put up for the job rather than converted from a shopfront.
Why go
Dominic Hamdy and Oliver Hiam opened Crispin in 2018, coming from the Aldwych coffee shop Lundenwic, and it has since anchored a four-site group that includes Bar Crispin in Soho, Bistro Freddie in Shoreditch and Crispin at Studio Voltaire in Clapham. Lewis de Haas ran this kitchen from 2021, arriving from Petersham Nurseries and The Shed, and was promoted to group executive chef in August 2025 (Restaurant). The cooking is seasonal European off independent growers, priced as a set menu at £29 for two courses and £39 for three, and the wine list runs low-intervention bottles with pairings at £35 and £45. Glass on three sides means the room changes character between lunch and dinner service.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the set menu, then the bread. Time Out on it:
Potato sourdough from Hackney bakery The Dusty Knuckle came with terrific whipped butter.
1 The celeriac croquettes with sage aioli are the other thing the review singled out. - Avoid: walking to Soho for this menu. Bar Crispin off Carnaby Street is a separate site with its own kitchen.
What locals & experts say
- Time Out (4/5, Sarah Guy, April 2019):
The minimalist dining room is airy but intimate,
ina handsome glass and zinc construction on a Spitalfields backstreet,
about £110 for two with drinks and service.1 - Harden's:
From the team behind Lundenwic, a purpose-built, zinc-and-glass kite near Spitalfields, housing an all-day cafe bar.
Too few survey returns so far for a food rating.2 - Local rec: a local sent Jeff here. REAL.
Good to know
- Timing: the venue lists Monday to Saturday, lunch noon to 2.30pm and dinner 5pm to 9.30pm. Harden's lists different days, so confirm before traveling.
- Booking: online for up to six. Parties of seven and over go through the events form; 40 seats inside, 20 on the terrace.
- Price: £29 for two courses, £39 for three, before wine.
- Dietary: the venue publishes no gluten-free, celiac or vegan statement. Third-party listings claim both, so ask the kitchen rather than trust a listing.
- Location: White's Row, a two-minute walk from Old Spitalfields Market and Liverpool Street.
Craft signals (kitchen and wine: seasonal, from named growers)
Two signals. The kitchen states its own policy as a seasonal modern European menu built by working with independent growers and small-scale producers, which is why the set price holds while the dishes behind it move. The wine is the second: low-intervention bottles from around the world poured by the glass against that card, with pairings priced as part of the set rather than bolted on. Neither is a rotation in the weekly sense and neither is static; a set-price kitchen rewriting its card with the season is exactly what seasonal describes.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "Local rec" REAL.
Verdict
could-visit — Solid, and it does one thing well: a short seasonal European menu at a set price, poured against a low-intervention list, in a room built for the purpose. The group behind it has grown into four sites with a group executive chef, which is a mark of competence rather than of a singular kitchen. Nothing here is unavailable elsewhere in east London, so it earns a stop when you are near Spitalfields.