Cafe Cecilia

"When your gut tells you that you should go for the onglet with peppercorn sauce and chips, you listen. Just as we listened when it told us to come back to Cafe Cecilia for lunch, having had a black pudding breakfast there the same morning. Despite its location, in a slick new build with cool marble white interiors, there’s a warmth about Cafe Cecilia. It’s in the fizzing green peppercorn sauce, it’s in the always-pleasant staff, and it’s in an Irish/modern European menu that leads with Guinness bread and butter." - jake missing, sinead cranna, daisy meager

"Nabbing a spot at one of Café Cecilia’s window-side tables early in the morning is one of the savviest restaurant moves you can make in London Fields. The hip British spot hugs the Regent’s Canal and, like the Hackney waterside walkway, is a bustling scene come lunchtime. But this fashionable canteen is best first thing. A plate with a crisp, still glowing fried egg alongside black pudding and brown sauce always goes down a treat. " - heidi lauth beasley, jake missing, rianne shlebak

"Sage and anchovy fritti Every restaurant in the world should have a snack that you could, conceivably, eat all night. With your first drink until your last drink, from light until dark. This fritti is that snack. The batter is as light as a choirboy’s whisper and inside is anchovy carefully sandwiched between a sage leaf. It’s salty, savoury, and your hands won’t be able to resist one more. Find it at chic British spot Cafe Cecilia in London Fields." - jake missing, heidi lauth beasley

"Since Cafe Cecilia opened in 2021, it has maintained a steady flow of plaudits from all the coolest places, in part because of chef-owner Max Rocha’s connection to the world of fashion (father John and sister Simone are designers). However, there’s a surfeit of substance as well as style in this stark, minimalist cafe-bistro. Rocha and his staff are direct descendents of the ingredients-obsessed River Cafe, Rochelle Canteen, and Quo Vadis. Like peer Anna Tobias’s cooking at Cafe Deco, Rocha’s can be a bit beige, but it’s deserving of the attention it has received. Do not miss the steak and chips with peppercorn sauce, nor fruit tart at dessert." - Adam Coghlan

"Don’t be fooled by the name, for this popular local spot is less a café, more a pared-back, industrial-style restaurant with a modern bistro feel. The chef previously worked at St John and the River Café, and now mixes these influences with his Irish heritage. The Guinness Bread ice cream is sublime." - Michelin Inspector