Marksman Public House

Lee Tiernan cooked at St John for a decade and then built Black Axe Mangal, and this is what he says about one dish here: "Have you ever had their beef and barley bun with horseradish cream? If not I pity you, deeply. One of the best bites in London" (Time Out, July 2024).

Why go

Tom Harris and Jon Rotheram met at St John Smithfield and took over this 1865 Hackney Road pub in 2015, refurbishing it without hollowing it out: the mahogany bar, the wood paneling and the jukebox stayed downstairs, and the upstairs became a light dining room designed by the Italian furniture designer Martino Gamper (The Nudge; venue press page). In 2017 it became the first pub in London to win Michelin Pub of the Year, out of more than 500 pubs across the UK and Ireland, and it is still tagged an Inspectors' favorite in the guide. The nose-to-tail training shows in what the kitchen chooses to cook rather than in a house style: kid goat curry with fried potatoes, devilled crab on toast, fried salt hake and potato rissoles, cured Tamworth pork belly, grilled Brixham sole with devilled dulse butter. The menu is rewritten every day. Downstairs runs local beer, ale and cider, including Bethnal Blond brewed 300 metres down the road, next to about 50 mostly old-world wines. There is a roof terrace, dogs are welcome, and Columbia Road Flower Market is a two-minute walk.

Order this / avoid

• Order: the beef and barley bun with horseradish cream, which is the house speciality and the dish two separate sources single out. Then the brown butter and honey tart, which the venue's own press page quotes a critic warning you not to share: "The third spoonful will reveal your naivety in 'splitting' this tart, as you're being unattractively territorial." On a Sunday, take the roast: Norfolk chicken, saddleback shoulder or Hereford rump, with dripping and sage roast potatoes and cauliflower cheese ref. Two courses is GBP 42, three is GBP 48. If you are downstairs for a pint, order a bacon and barley bun and stop there.
• Avoid: expecting a local's welcome with your dinner. The Infatuation puts it straight: "The polished service feels more like a restaurant than a pub, so don't expect the same level of banter," and upstairs "it's very much an eating establishment these days."

What locals & experts say

• Lee Tiernan, chef-owner of Black Axe Mangal, in Time Out (8 July 2024): the Marksman is one of his six favorite classic London restaurants. "I might be biassed because the patrons of the Marksman, Tom (Harris) and Jon (Rotheram), are two of my best mates. But these gentlemen really know their stuff and are two of the most knowledgeable and talented chefs I know. That is what makes the Marksman so, so good. The attention to detail, from the food to the decor of this vintage boozer is everything you could want for. It's a proper pub." On Sunday: "The Sunday roasts are particularly good and you can walk it off around Columbia Road flower market afterwards." ref
• David Paw, The Infatuation (22 August 2022, scored 8.1): "It's an old Victorian pub on the Hackney Road run by two guys who know what they're doing. And at the Marksman, they're doing what they damn well please." His verdict: "The Marksman is a serious destination restaurant, and all the better for it." His caveat is quoted in the avoid line above. ref
• Michelin Pub of the Year 2017: the first pub in London to take the award, beating over 500 pubs across the UK and Ireland, per The Nudge and the venue's own site. It remains in the MICHELIN Guide as Traditional British and an Inspectors' favorite. ref
• Press extract on the venue's own page, unattributed: "If there's a better lunch to be had in Britain right now than the beef and barley buns with horseradish, the kid goat curry with fried potatoes and the brown butter and honey tart served at the Marksman pub on Hackney Road, I want to know about it. I want it brought to me, or if necessary, I want me brought to it." The Financial Times, which the venue links, put it another way: the pub "might be the most important thing to happen in the area since the jellying of the first eel." ref
• Local rec: Jeff has it as a top Lee Tiernan recommendation, and the Time Out piece above is that recommendation on the record. REAL.

Good to know

• Timing, with a caveat: the pub publishes no opening hours anywhere on its site. The only source found is The Nudge's note from December 2022 that it opens Wednesday to Sunday. Call 020 7739 7393 before you plan a Monday or Tuesday.
• Booking: the restaurant manages its own bookings and Michelin's advice is to contact it directly. Downstairs you can walk in for a pint.
• Sunday: two courses GBP 42 or three at GBP 48. Parties of nine or more get the three-course Sunday menu shared family style, and the feasting menu is reserved for nine-plus and private hires.
• The menu changes daily, so treat any dish list, including this one, as the register rather than tonight's card.
• Dietary: the venue's only published line is "Please inform us of any allergies or dietary requirements." Nothing is published about vegan or vegetarian provision or about cross-contamination, and the menu turns over every day, so ask when you book.
• Dogs and outside space: dog-friendly, with a roof terrace, and it is a known Sunday-morning spot before the Columbia Road flower market.
• Hygiene: FSA rating 5 at the Tower Hamlets inspection of 30 January 2025 (FSA).
• Address note: 254 Hackney Road, E2 7SJ. Time Out's Tiernan piece prints E2 7SB, which is wrong; Michelin, the FSA and The Infatuation all agree on 7SJ.

Craft signals (kitchen: a daily rewrite out of a St John lineage)

Two signals. The menu changes daily, which the entry states plainly and which is why any dish list here is the register rather than the card, and the kitchen doing the rewriting is two St John Smithfield chefs, which explains both the daily habit and what turns up on it. Nose-to-tail cooking and a fixed printed menu do not go together: you buy what the supplier has and you write the card afterwards. Neither signal is a rating and neither is the Victorian room.

Jeff's take (his words)

• Note: "A top lee tiernan rec. Proper pub and Sunday roasts. Multiple chef recs for Sunday lunch." REAL.
• Rec via: Lee Tiernan. REAL, and confirmed in print.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

must-visit — Lee Tiernan, who cooked at St John for a decade and then built Black Axe Mangal, puts this in his six favorite classic London restaurants and says of one dish: 'Have you ever had their beef and barley bun with horseradish cream? If not I pity you, deeply. One of the best bites in London.' Tom Harris and Jon Rotheram came out of St John Smithfield, took a Victorian boozer on Hackney Road in 2015 and made it the first pub in London to win Michelin Pub of the Year, in 2017, out of more than 500. The menu is rewritten daily, the Sunday roast is the reference version in east London at GBP 42 for two courses, and the brown butter and honey tart is the reason to overeat. Go on a Sunday, walk it off at Columbia Road.