Food year resolutions: Gillian Riley on having a spicy start to your New Year
The food historian and writer tips some favourite flavourings, and looks back at some of last year’s food highlights in Hackney
Food & Drink
Gin Cup: World’s Best Martini competition comes to OSLO Hackney
You can find it ‘anytime, anyplace, anywhere’, but only the finest cocktails will be on hand for this boozy grand finale
Rehab, Hackney Central, restaurant review: in sickness and in health
This new vegan bar and kitchen trumpets the health benefits of its offerings – and who are we to argue when it tastes so good anyway?
Black Cat vegan cafe to combat cold winter night with soup kitchen
The cooperatively run Clarence Road spot say reveal the menu for the inaugural evening on 22 December, where ‘nobody will be refused food’
Be-Bop-A-Lula, Stoke Newington, restaurant review: Nashville to N16
The old Monarch pub has been transformed into a boozy temple of rock ‘n’ roll, Americana, and high-calorie diner classics. Does the food get our reviewer jiving, or All Shook Up?
Pumpkins are for life, not just for Halloween…
…but, as our resident food historian Gillian Riley spells out in this latest piece, every member of the cucurbit family of fruits is worthy of your attention
Hackney the perfect Petri dish for new vegan burger experiment Doppleganger
We sent a reviewer to take one of the very first London bites of this Cambridge creation – does it live up to the claim that it ‘could be mistaken for meat’? And perhaps more importantly, is it tasty?
‘We’ve got the homeless of Hackney sick of sourdough!’: Volunteer project dishes up weekly meals for the needy
A spin-off from a project born in the Calais Jungle, Refugee Community Kitchen sets up shop every Thursday outside Hackney Central Library
Smoking Goat, Shoreditch, restaurant review: ‘like they’ve entered a cheat-code to my heart and stomach’
New Shoreditch restaurant Smoking Goat takes inspiration from Northern Thailand and its culture of aharn glam lao – drinking food
Guy Fawkes, garlic and and the Great Pyramids: notes on November in food history
In hiding from Halloween, our resident historian Gillian Riley turns her imagination to Bonfire Night and the transgressive thrills and benefits of so-called ‘Papist’ garlic
Gillian Riley on food history: ‘I say it’s spinach, and I say the hell with it!’
Leafy greens have a crucial role to play in many global cuisines, from Seoul to the Seine. Gillian Riley leafs through her history and recipe books to make the case for the much-maligned likes of spinach and cabbage
Hackney Downs Vegan Market to go weekly from this weekend
The free Saturday plant-fest, which attracts thousands to Hackney Downs Studios, is run by popular local blogger Fat Gay Vegan
A ‘gram don’t come for free: Insta ‘influencers’ feed the camera first
Four of East London’s most followed Instagrammers share where to eat and how to show off the best spots
Essence Cuisine, Shoreditch, restaurant review: raw and order
This shiny new Shoreditch hangout is part-takeaway salad joint, part-molecular gastronomy café, and 100 per cent meat, dairy, gluten and refined sugar-free. Rabbit food or raving success?
Walking on eggshells: Gillian Riley on eggs, featuring global recipes and some cracking history
Through the eyes of Gillian Riley’s “always hungry” Roman legionary (who this month is picking up some eggs from Stamford Hill for the journey north), take a tour of the world’s unbeatable eggy dishes
Homebrewing: Forest Road brewer gives advice on how to make it WORK
The story of Forest Road Brewing Company’s pale ale WORK began in Pete Brown’s Dalston garden – we bring you his tips on creating your own batches of beautiful beer