Best restaurants in Stoke Newington: where to eat and drink

Interiors at Jolene, a long zinc table topped with ceramic vases filled with stems of flowers

Looking for Stoke Newington restaurants? Here are our favourite restaurants in leafy Stoke Newington, from creative brunch plates to late-night cocktails and fab neighbourhood-style restaurants.

Next discover the best new restaurants in London and some of our London food guides, including the best restaurants in Shoreditch, best restaurants in Hackney and best restaurants in Kings Cross. If you're partial to a cocktail served with stellar sound systems, discover our favourite listening bars in London.

Jolene – for seasonal food and baked goods

This cool yet cosy neighbourhood joint attracts a friendly crowd of locals. Striped back to basics, plastered walls, zinc tables and exposed pipes are warmed up by flickering tea lights, and single stems of red berries cast shadows onto white walls. Take a seat at the long bar area to catch a glimpse of the chefs at work in the open kitchen, or, in the warmer months, lounge on the outdoor benches sipping punchy begronis and slathering butter onto hunks of sourdough.

On our visit, highlights include warm, doughy flatbreads dripping with garlic butter; silky smooth ravioli, filled with smooth pumpkin purée, that soaks in a sage butter sauce; and flaky grilled stone bass basked in a creamy, salty butter sauce. The flourless chocolate cake rivals that of The River Cafes, with an almost molten centre and crisp exterior.

An all-natural wine menu, split into sparkling, white, and red options, offers primarily European varieties. Be sure to peruse the counter, brimming with loaves of sourdough, hearty sausage rolls and fresh-from-the-oven madeleines. jolenen16.com

Parasol – for underground cocktails

Parasol is a latest addition to the slew of cool cocktail bars in Dalston. With a subtle exterior, stepping down concrete stairs reveals a plush curtain, behind which lies a dark and cosy speakeasy-style bar. It’s a large space with a disco ball at-the-ready for DJ sessions until the early hours. Those more sweet-inclined shouldn’t miss the fragrant Baklava with bourbon, amontillado, pistachio, honey, cardamom and orange blossom. It was the Korean Jesus that stood out from the crowd – a gochujang twist on a spicy margarita balanced with plum soju, honey and with added aromatics from ginger and coriander. Fans of citrus flavours shouldn’t miss the silky Yuk Fu with Chilean pisco, green chartreuse, matcha, pandan and coconut, and a piece of lemongrass balanced on top.

Alongside the house, ‘disco’ and sharing cocktails sit beers, ciders – including Parasol’s own Umbrella London brand – and a sizeable wine list. Bar snacks are kept simple but effective: paprika-topped creamy hummus and crisp Gordal olives make for great counterparts to the liquid refreshment. parasol-london.co.uk

The interior at Parasol, a dark, cosy space with booths and tables plus seats underneath the paper lanterns at the bar — Image credit: Steven Joyce

Vicoli di Napoli Pizzeria – for Neapolitan pizza

For the ultimate Neapolitan pizza in London, head to Stoke Newington (and be prepared to queue) for a seat in Vicoli di Napoli, as recommended in the book ‘Eat, Pray, Love’.

This Neapolitan family first began making pizza back in 1870, and the business is still going strong five generations later with sites in Naples, Tokyo and, London.

Go for the classic marinara or the margarita (with the option for double mozzarella). Each of the ingredients used is of the highest quality, from the thin, pillowy soft base to the sweet tomatoes and fresh peppery basil. facebook.com/vicolidinapolipizzeria

Esters – for creative brunch plates

White walls, angular tables and pops of orange give this neighbourhood café a sleek scandi vibe, while families spend the morning sipping on flat whites and friends get a post-run refuel. Browse the cake counter, all of which are made in-house, and be sure to order the addictively chewy, salty white chocolate miso cookies.

There’s a focus on sourcing of produce with loaves of bread from Bermondsey’s Little Bread Pedlar, coffee from Staffordshire’s Has Bean, and chocolate from Suffolk’s Pump Street Bakery.

Don’t expect to find avocado on toast here, rather crispy pork belly with punchy wakame salsa verde, wafter-thin slithers of fennel, fried egg, sweet tomatoes (grown down the road at Growing Communities’ vegetable patch) and bread to mop up the rich aïoli. For those with a sweet tooth, order the French toast, where toppings change based on the seasons. We loved the floral grilled peaches, raspberry purée, whey caramel and lightly whipped ricotta cream that came with ours. estersn16.com

Brunch of pork belly at Esters, Stoke Newington

Perilla – for modern European dishes

Housed on a trendy corner in Newington Green, walls have been stripped bare, the original terrazzo floor has been exposed, while the windows that wrap around its triangular frame look out onto the green and pour light onto marble-topped tables. A peak-through-pass shines a spotlight on chef as he calmly plates up.

Fried duck egg, with its sunshine yolk, was topped with a rubble of chopped mussels and herbs and a final slosh of parsley sauce. It’s unlike anything we’ve eaten in London, which is one of the things that makes Perilla great. This is a menu that surprises, often in its simplicity. Grilled romaine lettuce sat in a puddle of a pecorino liquor, sour with lemon, and punctuated with dots of parsley oil. With stalks of sorrel, it was sharp and intensely savoury – a wonderful balance of flavours.

The wine list is succinct, focussing on quirky bottles from Europe – a fruity German silvaner was seriously easy drinking. With a daily changing menu to explore, it’s the kind of restaurant every neighbourhood should have. perilladining.co.uk

Fried duck egg with chopped mussels and parsley

The Good Egg – for Middle Eastern fare

This is relaxed day-to-night dining with a warm, friendly vibe. The menu is an eclectic mix of the owners' favourite dishes, inspired by their childhood and travels in amongst others Tel Aviv, Montreal, California and Jerusalem.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner menus are available during the week and weekends feature an all-day brunch menu.

Pastrami, breads, preserved lemons and pickles are all made on the premises and other ingredients are carefully sourced, some from just streets away such as the smoked salmon from Stoke Newington locals, Hansen and Lydersen. Meat comes from London butcher, Turner and George.

The one-room space is fresh, open and buzzy with whitewashed brickwork and blond wood tables and bench-style seating. In the evening clever lighting gives the room a cosier, more intimate feel. Tables are quite close, but the acoustics mean that conversations are kept private. thegoodegg.co

Fink's Sweet & Salt – for coffee and sandwiches

Fink’s Salt & Sweet is where the cool kids of Finsbury Park hang out at the weekend. Stripped-back interiors are the norm in hip parts of London but light spills in through the floor-to-ceiling windows of this desirable corner spot on to wooden floors, off-white tile and dark grey chipboard walls, and galvanized zinc counter and tables.

The counter and shelves heave with local produce – Balthazar bread, Dodd’s gin and jars of English Preserves that you can yourself spread onto sourdough toast for brunch. Go one step further with sobrasada (spreadable paprika sausage) brought over direct from Mallorca by a lady who lives down the road, drizzled with sweet honey. We’re going back in the summer for a locally cured House of Sverre salmon board with goat curd, seaweed and crackers, and a quince and aniseed spritz on the pavement outside. finks.co.uk