The quiet tourist’s guide to Hackney.

I moved to London in 2011 and made the East my home! If you want recommendations for clubs and pubs and gigs and parties I’m afraid I can’t help you. But if you’d like to know some lovely walks, or where to find good books and quiet parks and cafes to read them – here’s what I love about Hackney.

• FOOD: Leila’s Shop. Bubbling baked eggs in cast iron skillets, freshly squeezed blood orange juice.
• FOOD: The Albion. For breakfast, a full English fry up; scones, gingerbread men, cupcakes and Victoria Sponges for afternoon tea; fish and chips for dinner.
• FOOD: Boundary Restaurant. Hidden below the Albion Cafe, an expensive restaurant with beautiful English and Scottish oysters, seafood and steaks.
• FOOD: Rochelle Canteen. This small eatery in an old school serves, fittingly, a sort of gourmet Enid Blytonish cuisine. To get inside you have to ring a bell and be let in, but don’t be shy. It’s worth it. A sweet old story about it.
• SHOP: Aesop. For beautifully-scented, plant-based skincare. “We advocate the use of our products as part of a balanced life that includes a healthy diet, sensible exercise, a moderate intake of red wine, and a regular dose of good books,” they say.
• SHOP: Labour and Wait. Gorgeous things for the home like preserving jars, old Stanley thermoses, enamel cookware and old fashioned feather dusters.
• SHOP: Ally Capellino. A British designer of accessories, including bags made of the highest quality leather. (Occasionally she splashes her brandname around too much for my liking, but you can find bags without it.)

• MARKET: Broadway Market. Every Saturday from about 8.30am the entire street is taken up with stalls. It’s a paradise for a hungry person, with lots of food stalls for brunch and lunch, and fresh delicious produce to take away for cooking.
• FOOD: Violet Cakes. This pretty little standalone shop serves cupcakes, flapjacks, whoopie pies and other sweet treats. If that selection’s too girly for your liking, try a quiche or a ginger molasses slice which tastes very edibly of aftershave and licorice. Everything’s made on site in an open kitchen – watch jealously for tips for your own baking.
• FOOD: Wilton Way Cafe. One of only two places whose avocados are ripe enough to properly have on toast; they also sell Anzac biscuits. These two facts combine to make me suspect an Australian might work there.
• FOOD: Happy Kitchen. Under the London Fields rail stop, Happy Kitchen serves fresh vego food for breakfast and lunch. I can recommend their fresh juices, granola (though it’s far from healthy) and the ‘Supergreen’ pancake.
• FOOD: Climpsons. The best coffee in London. It’s occasionally served without a smile – but who am I to complain? I’m a smile-free zone too quite early in the morning. They roast the coffee themselves nearby and supply many of London’s nicest cafes.
• FOOD: Bella Vita. A cheap and cheerful Italian restaurant with immense pizzas; fun for inexpensive group dinners.
• SHOP: Borough Wines. A tightly edited selection of very good wine. The most affordable of all are their house red, white and rose which, though I’ve not tried it myself, you can refill from huge barrels for just £6 a bottle.
• SHOP: Broadway Bookshop. A charming bookshop with a great selection of art, design, local authors and hardbacks, as well as the usual fare.
• NATURE: London Fields. In summer the park fills up with picnickers, soaking up the sun. In winter it’s a beautiful place to walk. Some parts are designated ‘wild’ and small meadows flourish filled with wildflowers. It’s home to the Lido, a heated swimming pool where people do laps all year round.
• NATURE: The Canal. Down the bottom of Broadway Market is Regent’s Canal. Turn left to walk past Victoria Park and all the way to the Thames; turn right to track up to Islington. (Get a drink en route at the Towpath Cafe.) It’s the most calm and gorgeous walk in London, aside from intense cyclists who feel the need to ring their bells a million times as they pass.

• FOOD: The Corner Room. It’s quite hard to find this small restaurant tucked into the back of a much larger building. Go into the Town Hall Hotel (ignore Viajante, its more expensive housemate) and head up the stairs. It doesn’t take bookings but if you get there before 7.30pm it seems to be okay. 
  
• FOOD: Bistroteque. If you order before 7.30pm, you can get a three course feast for about a third of the price it would normally cost.
• SHOP: Prick your finger. For the knitter and crocheter, this craft shop sells wool and yarns. Many are home-dyed and spun. The shop assistants wear spectacular jumpers of their own creation and love to know what you’re making; around the shop are dotted vaguely-feminist themed knitted posters which are hard to describe but brilliant to look at.
• SHOP: Jambala Bookshop. A second hand bookshop of no particular theme but excellently low prices run by the friendly Buddhists from the London Buddhist Centre next door.
• SHOP: Frockney Rebel. A nice vintage shop that’s an oasis of cool on the rough strip of Mare Street/Cambridge Heath Road.

• MARKET: Columbia Road flower market. Some people go here every Sunday to buy flowers – they make up about 20% of the huge crowd. The rest of the hoard are there to soak up the atmos, smile listening to the voices of the Cockney flowersellers, and take photos for their Tumblrs. It’s a beautiful day out and there are loads of places for brunch or a drink after you’ve shuffled along the market. If you get there after 1.30pm the flowers are much cheaper.
• SHOP: Vintage Heaven. Etsy in real life, this shop opens only from Friday – Sunday and is a must visit for old textiles, crockery, and vintage books (particularly old illustrated guides to gardening and identifying British flora and fauna).
• SHOP: Rospo. Very different in style to Vintage Heaven, Rospo is slightly more modern, masculine and rough with army greatcoats, old wooden crates, scratchy Pendleton blankets and a jumble of mid-century furniture downstairs.
• NATURE: Hackney City Farm. If city life is getting too much for you, pop in to the Farm to say hello to geese, guinea pigs, ducks, goats and two simply enormous pigs. Then you can wash your hands and pop into the cafe for a gorgeous fresh lunch. Occasionally it’s a bit overrun by noisy children but it’s churlish to be cross at them; you’re at a mini-farm, what do you expect?

• FOOD: The Pavillion. The best cooked breakfasts in London. Full stop. Sadly the lake it looks out over has been hideously drained and is currently being renovated, but it’s a mark of how perfect the breakfasts and coffees are here that it’s highly recommended anyway.
• NATURE: Victoria Park. A huge and beautiful park to walk in, kick a ball around or picnic.

• FOOD: A little of what you fancy. Lovely fresh seasonal food. For breakfast I have the scrambled eggs and roasted tomatoes, tiny ones still on the vine. The lunch and dinner menu changes all the time – as a taste, the last time I was there I had southern-spiced free range chicken, polenta chips and sweet corn relish. Dessert, like creamy eton mess or the more delicate lavender panna cotta with blackberries, is a must.
• FOOD: Tina we salute you. The second of two places (the other being Wilton Way Cafe) that can be trusted to serve perfectly ripe avocado on toast. Their coffee is excellent. If the salted caramel tart is on, get it.
• SHOP: Dalston Oxfam. Dalston Oxfam sells a huge range of well-organised secondhand books, all (with only a few exceptions) for £1 each. If you’re travelling, go there to pick up a cheap read for your trip and donate them back before you leave.
• SHOP: Pelicans and Parrots. Taxidermy, art books, meticulously selected vintage clothes and accessories, great music on their record player. This is my favourite vintage shop in London because of the owners’ impeccable taste.
• SHOP: Beyond Vintage. A superstore is soon to launch near Pelicans and Parrots!
• NATURE: Dalston Eastern Curve Garden. Urban space reclaimed as a tranquil community garden.

• NATURE: Abney Cemetery. The most stunning mash up of wilderness and history; plants have been allowed to grow almost wild in this silent, centuries-old graveyard. Explore.

• MARKET: Chatsworth Road Market. Real estate agents always describe Chatsworth Road as “vibrant” or “ever-changing.” Its residents prefer to call it “the last of the traditional high streets.” Its Sunday markets are a much quieter version of Broadway Market with less posing, less stalls (and in particular, less fresh produce) but much more smiling.
• FOOD: Creperie Du Monde. Beautiful sunny cafe with friendly staff. Delicious hot chocolate.
• FOOD: Venetia’s. Read the Guardian with breakfast.
• STAY: Russell’s of Clapton. If I was visiting Hackney I would stay in this 5-room B&B. Its owner and her puppy sound charming.