Best restaurants in Dalston

This cosy, rustic spot twenty minutes from Dalston Junction boasts inventive vegetarian dishes alongside comforting meaty burger and pasta dishes. Quirky interiors, Craft beers and unique cocktails make it clear you’re definitely in East London.

This family-run Vietnamese canteen isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing but it doesn’t matter when the food is good and the prices low. A favourite among locals, try the banh-xeo pancakes with smoked tofu and asparagus. 

This family run, no fuss or frills Turkish restaurant specialises in hot and cold mezze including halloumi, hummus and charcoal grilled kebabs all meant for sharing. The ideal spot for a cheap and casual meal.

Churning out freshly made pizzas, this cheap and fun trattoria is a must visit for any Italophile. Team your pizza with antipasti and Negronis and you are as close to being Italian as it gets.

Headed up by Israeli chef Oded Oren, this Mediterranean inspired restaurant joins many others in the city serving up this increasingly popular cuisine. On the menu you’ll find lamb sweetbreads and ox cheek with hummus.

Set on introducing Venezuelan cuisine to London, Arepa’s menu consists of traditional South American ingredients, think: corn, beans, fried plantain and cassava, to bring both traditional and unique Venezuelan dishes to the streets of London.    

Referring to itself as a ‘fermenting kitchen and eatery’, kimchi, kombucha and drinking vinegars are heavily featured throughout and available to buy. Seasonal plates include crispy lamb with labneh and braised duck with saffron butterbeans.  

This cheeky bar and restaurant, named after Pamela Anderson herself, serves up all its main dishes in half a pineapple. From chicken aloha with jollof rice to mumbo jumbo prawns, every dish tastes like summer.

Merging Japanese and Italian cuisine, this intriguing restaurant serves food in a small minimal space in busy Dalston. Expect dishes like unagi risotto and black sesame pannacotta. Worth a visit if you’re in the area.

Cadet is a wine bar, shop and charcutier that sits just a stone's throw from Newington Green, that’s as charming as it is delicious. The menu changes daily and you’ll find the likes of small plates like mussels with cucumber and dulse or barlotti beans with lamb fat, as well as a plethora of cured meats and bread.

Famous for 22 inch pizzas, only a slice or two is needed to fill you up. The ever-changing menu means when it comes to these New York-style pizzas there is always something new to try.

Vegetables lie at the heart of this unique BBQ spot in east London, while all its meat and fish are sourced from regenerative farms and sustainable suppliers. It brews its beer on site too, and the by-products are used to make ferments and hot sauces – pretty neat, right? 

With a regularly changing menu and dishes that look more like they belong in an art gallery, Pidgin's tasting menus are filled with experimental dishes - but don’t get too attached because things are never repeated.

Bringing together North African and Middle Eastern cuisine, ex-Ottolenghi chef Josh Katz’s brings flavourful small plates and grilled dishes to the arches of Acton Mews. Expect aubergine sabich with sour cream and wood-roasted prawns pil-pil.

Unsurprisingly you’ll find fried chicken in every dish on this menu. Expect tenders with seaweed and chicken burgers with Asian slaw. This isn’t your stereotypically dodgy chicken shop, although great for lining the stomach anyway.

As one of three taquerias in this mini chain, naturally you’ll find sharing mezcal, margaritas, and lots of guacamole here. You’ll want to order a fair few small tacos in soft corn tortilla shells too.