Perilla

The seaweed sourdough at Perilla arrives quartered and steaming in a stamped brown paper bag, with whipped brown butter to push into the middle of it.

Why go

Go for the bread and whatever fish is in the beer batter that week. Ben Marks and Matt Emmerson opened Perilla on a corner by Newington Green in 2016, in a building that had been a children's café, after a run of pop-ups that sold out (The Nudge). Marks had cooked at The Square, at Noma and at Claridge's. He raised the money by asking the people he had worked for: We begged and borrowed from people that we'd worked for in the past, amazing industry legends in Phil Howard, Martyn Nail and Thomas Kochs and we opened Perilla. (The Staff Canteen)

Marks calls what he does "casual dining, but with upmarket food. Thoughtful, considered, refined foods, but in a really relaxed atmosphere, very much deep rooted in classical European cuisine, but with a lighter, more modern touch." He is blunt about his own early cooking: "The food has become more simple in lots of ways. Maybe slightly more confident, more based around flavour and less based around ideology or philosophy. Maybe you could say slightly less try hard than it used to be, if I'm completely honest." (March 2025)

Gavin Hanly of Hot Dinners came back in April 2025, nine years after his first visit: "The nine years since our original visit has seen Perilla become an extremely accomplished restaurant, and so much more than just a 'neighbourhood restaurant'." He went further: "this restaurant really should have a Michelin star. The cooking was exceptional throughout and, so far in 2025, it's already up there with the very best meals of the year for us."

The kitchen cooks a lot out of what would otherwise be waste. Yesterday's bread comes back soaked in moules marinière. The cooks braise a cod head in red wine into a ragu, serve it over monk's beard in place of pasta and scatter toasted bottarga breadcrumbs over the top (Grubstance, 2025). Pierre Koffmann, who eats here often enough that Marks simply feeds him, singles out the vegetables: He's very, very good with vegetables. (Condé Nast Traveller, July 2026)

The room is a corner site with a curved glass front, so it fills with daylight. Sit at the kitchen bar for the view of the pass. Harden's is cooler. Its newest edition still calls the room a worthwhile destination, but says the pair's younger restaurant Morchella has overshadowed it (Harden's).

Order this / avoid

Order: the seaweed sourdough with whipped brown butter. Grubstance found "a crust full of crunch and snap" and butter "rich with caramel tones", and ordered a second bag (2025). Then whatever fish the kitchen is battering. Hanly had cod cheeks at £15 in April 2025: "a must-have snack, mostly because of that pitch-perfect curry sauce but also, those salted gooseberries were exceptional." Grubstance had gurnard fried in beef fat "until it forms a lacy, craggy batter made for maximum dipping action" (2025). Finish on the chocolate, hazelnut and salted caramel pavé, which Hanly says has been on the menu for years (April 2025). Grubstance found a chocolate biscuit that snaps, salted caramel and roasted nuts, then a bitter ganache with sea salt over it (2025).
Avoid: the Ibérico pluma. Grubstance called it "the weakest link" on her table and found the sea spaghetti vongole "too salty" (2025).

What locals & experts say

Pierre Koffmann, of La Tante Claire, July 2026, who is fed whatever Marks decides: Chef Ben [Marks] changes his menu a lot. He tends to just give me what he wants me to eat when I go to Perilla. He's very, very good with vegetables. I remember one time we had the fish and chips which was incredible. It was a little fillet of red mullet with a beautiful batter and the most perfect mussels as well; it's all done to perfection.2
Gavin Hanly, Hot Dinners, April 2025, on the low-waste cooking: Yesterday's bread soaked in moules mariniere (£6 each) - They go big on low waste, which is exemplified in this dish. Think of it as how you might finish off a moules marinere dish by dunking some bread in it, but to the nth degree.1
Harden's newest edition, the one cool note anywhere: Somewhat eclipsed nowadays by its upstart younger sibling, Morchella in Exmouth Market, this casually stylish and easygoing venue in Newington Green remains a worthwhile destination, serving a focused menu high-quality dishes that are 'full of oomph and prepared with lots of care'. 'And who doesn't love their own cutlery drawer?'5
Harden's reporters, on who gets the benefit: 'Innovative casual dining' from acclaimed chef Ben Marks is served by 'welcoming and knowledgeable staff' at this easygoing Newington Green spot - 'lucky local residents!'5
Grubstance, 2025, on the walls: The former children's café features a colour palette of multiple shades of brown, from umber-tinged to teabag-dyed walls - a rustic Scandic aesthetic full of charm.3

Good to know

Where: 1-3 Green Lanes N16 9BS, on the corner at the southern end of Green Lanes by Newington Green. You will also see it filed under Stoke Newington, the next neighborhood over.
Booking: online or on 0207 359 0779. The SevenRooms page covers Perilla and Morchella together, so check which room you have booked before you travel (Hot Dinners).
What it costs: in April 2025 the priced plates ran from £6 for the bread in moules marinière to £28 for Herdwick lamb leg, with hake at £23 and the chocolate pavé at £12. Grubstance put her meal at £50 to £60 a head with a bottle of wine later that year.
The menu moves: Marks changes it often, and Pierre Koffmann says the same. Expect the fish to have changed by the time you get there.
The other one: Morchella in Exmouth Market is the same pair's Mediterranean room in Clerkenwell.

Verdict

should-visit — Order the seaweed bread and whatever fish is in the beer batter that week, and sit at the kitchen bar if there is a seat. Ben Marks cooked at The Square, Noma and Claridge's and has spent ten years on a corner by Newington Green making this the kind of room people cross London for, with a chip-shop curry sauce for the fish and a cod head turned into ragu. Hot Dinners went back after nine years and said it should have a Michelin star. The grumble is that the same pair's newer room in Clerkenwell now gets the attention.