Five Fingers
Chettinad cooking is the black-pepper end of Tamil food, and here the lamb version runs 13.95 on a Kingsland High Street menu that also stretches north to biryani and tandoor.
Why go
Five Fingers trades as a South Indian restaurant at the Dalston Junction end of Kingsland High Street, open noon to 11pm every day of the week. The kitchen covers dosa and Chettinad alongside a large north Indian section, and the vegetarian side of the menu runs palak paneer, aloo palak, dal makhani and channa masala. Two private rooms sit behind the dining room, The Lounge for up to 20 and the Grand Hall for up to 80, which makes this one of the few places on this stretch that can take a party of that size without a buyout. Hackney inspected the kitchen in December 2025 and gave it 5, the top hygiene band, with all three categories recorded as Good.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Chettinad lamb curry at 13.95 pounds, then a masala dosa to see how the griddle work compares against the curry section.
- Avoid: treating the dosa as gluten free. The venue's own dosa menu carries a Contains Gluten label.1
What locals & experts say
- Local rec: Stan, per Jeff's list, for local Indian.
- Five Fingers (own menu): the dosa section is labelled
Contains Gluten
and the chicken tikka masala carries aNuts
marker, which is more allergen detail than most restaurants on this street publish.1 - Food Standards Agency (Hackney, 19 Dec 2025): rating 5, with
Hygienic food handling
,Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building
andManagement of food safety
all recorded as Good.2 - Coverage gap: no Harden's entry, no Time Out review and no award placement could be found for this restaurant on 2026-07-29. The critics have not been.3
Good to know
- Timing: noon to 11pm, seven days. Kitchen runs straight through, so a late lunch works.
- Booking: taken through the venue's own site. Worth doing for the private rooms.
- Groups: The Lounge seats 20, the Grand Hall 80.
- Dietary: a vegetarian section is on the menu and allergens are marked per dish, including a Nuts flag on the chicken tikka masala. The venue claims neither vegan nor gluten-free, and the dosa menu is labelled Contains Gluten.
- Getting there: 6 Kingsland High Street E8 2JP, beside Dalston Kingsland station.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Rec via: Stan.
- Note: "Stan pick for local indian." REAL.
Verdict
listed — A South Indian restaurant on Kingsland High Street that Stan sends people to, open noon to 11pm every day, Chettinad lamb at 13.95 and two private rooms that take 20 and 80. Top food hygiene rating from Hackney in December 2025. No London critic has written a word about it, so the rec is doing all the work, and Stan's rec is a reason to go rather than a reason to rank it higher.