Brick Lane | Where To Eat, Drink & Be Merry On This Iconic London Street
It’s hard to believe that in the 16th century, Brick Lane was but a humble country path bordered by brick-firing workshops.
It’s really built up over the years.
Historically, this Spitalfields street was in one of the most deprived areas on the outskirts of London, with huge families crammed into tiny terraced houses. But it was also one of the most spirited, with a thriving philanthropic movement establishing everything from free schools and libraries to soup kitchens feeding 6,000 mouths a day. And in the 18th century it began weaving its unique tapestry of migrant cultures, with the arrival of Huguenot refugees (French Protestants who literally were weavers), followed by hundreds of Irish people driven over by the Potato Famine of the 19th century; Jewish families escaping persecution in the early 20th century; and finally growing into the cultural home of London’s Bangladeshi community.
diamond geezer/Flickr
It’s this rich, multicultural heritage that gives Brick Lane – a.k.a Banglatown – its unique, vibrant character, and a walk down this cobbled street will take you past some of the capital’s finest curry houses interspersed with Jewish beigel shops, street food markets, vintage stores and cafés.
GETTING TO BRICK LANE
The closest tube stops to Brick Lane are Aldgate East (on the District, Hammersmith & City lines) and Shoreditch High Street (Overground). If you want to avoid the crowds, it’s best to visit on a weekday – but then you’d be missing out on the buzz of the markets on weekends.
You can generally follow your nose (quite literally), but if you’re after a little guidance, here’s our pick of the best places to eat & drink and things to do in Brick Lane:
Jump to: BARS | THINGS TO DO | MARKETS
WHERE TO EAT ON BRICK LANE
The Famous Curry Bazaar
If its fame hasn’t quite reached you yet, rest assured that TFCB lives up to its name – cheery staff and good value meals are the order of the day at this award-winning Brick Lane curry house. Book online for BYO with no corkage (Mon-Wed), or plump for their set menu, which will net you a starter, main and naan for just over £20. The menu’s absolutely massive, and it’s all lip-smacking, delicious stuff. They also claim to serve London’s hottest curry, and take no responsibility for the after-effects.
Details: 77 Brick Lane, E1 6QL | Book The Famous Curry Bazaar
–
Graam Bangla
Celebrity TV chef Atikur Rahman’s Brick Lane curry house is called “My Village”, and you’ll feel right at home here, from the warm welcome to the relaxed atmosphere. The menu sings with dishes specific to the Sylhet region of Bangladesh (where many of the community’s original residents hail from). You’ll come across rare ingredients, nose-to-tail dishes and a healthy dose of heat – and to really connect with each dish, you’ll be encouraged to eat with your hands.
Details: 68 Brick Lane, London E1 6RL | Book Graam Bangla
–
Aladin
Prepare to have all your wishes granted at this long-standing, multi award-winning curry house, so long as those dreams involve smashed, spiced potato coated in breadcrumbs and fried; flaky, buttery roti; flavoursome tandoori chicken; and four floors of neon-pink lit dining. You can also enjoy free corkage, and a 20% discount if you book online.
Details: 132 Brick Lane, E1 6RU | Book Aladin
–
Bengal Village
Bengal Village is a favourite of the broadsheet restaurant critics, and for good reason – top dishes here include tender slow-cooked garka lamb, scorched seekh kebabs and the Bangladeshi fish specialities. Smart, spacious dining rooms and long tables make it a perfect spot for groups.
Details: 75 Brick Lane, E1 6QL | Book Bengal Village
–
Beigel Bake
Hello I’m Nik/Unsplash
You don’t need us to tell you that beigels are delicious – and this is where to get them. Serving up salt beef or salmon and cream cheese sandwiched between freshly baked dough, and all with change from a tenner, this classic bakery has been a local favourite since 1976. And they’ve stayed open pretty much continuously since – it’s open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, making it one of the best late night restaurants in London for a post-clubbing feed.
Details: 159 Brick Lane, E1 6SB | Open 24/7 | More cheap eats in London
–
Katsute100 Brick Lane
A completely charming Japanese tearoom, from the founders of Katsute100 in Islington. This café serves amazing loose leaf teas imported directly from Japan (try the one with mountain grape) and elegant patisserie (like this matcha mille-feuille crepe cake), which you can even enjoy in the authentic tatami room in the basement…
Details: 147 Brick Lane, London, E1 6SB | More info
–
The Monsoon
Opened by the team behind The Famous Curry Bazaar, The Monsoon is another excellent, quintessential Brick Lane curry house. Fragrant Bangladeshi dishes mopped up with hot, crispy naans and washed down with mango lassi combined with late hours, BYOB, and an eternally convivial atmosphere make it one of the essential spots on the strip.
Details: 78 Brick Lane, E1 6RL | Book The Monsoon
–
Bun House Disco
Right at the very northern end of Brick Lane you’ll find this newly opened restaurant from the team behind Soho’s Bun House. Inspired by the hedonism of 1980s Hong Kong, it’s a neon-drenched, disco ball-toting corner spot serving up wonton (which come ‘slurpy’, ‘wet’ or ‘messy’), fluffy buns, and intriguing cocktails laced with Chinese herbs.
Details: 118 Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch, E2 7EE | No bookings
–
Preem Brick Lane
This late-license, long-standing Balti house is a perennial favourite. Aside from the signature dish – where they’ll really dial up the heat if you ask them to – Preem also does a great line in tandoori kebabs and fluffed-up naan. And they somehow taste even better at 1 in the morning…
Details: 120-122 Brick Lane, London E1 6RL | Book Preem (30% off when you reserve in advance)
–
Smokestak
Dastardly handsome industrial interiors. Chefs doubled over the wood-burning smoker, retrieving charred hunks of 15-hour smoked brisket. Said brisket available to take away, whole, in its very own gift box. There are very few areas in which Smokestak could improve. Just go.
Details: 35 Sclater Street, E1 6LB | Book Smokestak
–
DF/Tacos
Sure, Mexican food might not be the first thing you think of when you think Brick Lane, but this casual spot from the Wahaca founders offers just enough intrigue to tease you away from a traditional curry. Taking over a brutish, industrial slice of the Old Truman Brewery site, it serves Mexican-via-California dishes like buttermilk chicken tacos; burger-styled ‘tortas’ filled with shredded pork and pink pickled onions; creamy feta sweetcorn; and more.
Details: The Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, E1 6QL | Book DF Tacos
–
Hawksmoor Spitalfields
Fresh from a reboot with art deco windows, racing green leather booths and olde worlde maps, the original Hawksmoor is back at the top of the pile. Refined without being fussy, warm without being casual, it’s still one of the best steakhouses in London, serving Ginger Pig-reared, dictionary-thick steaks accompanied by all the trimmings (triple-cooked chips, buttered English greens and bone marrow gravy). And it’s all just round the corner from Brick Lane.
Details: 157a Commercial Street, E1 6BJ | Book Hawksmoor
GREAT BARS NEAR BRICK LANE
Sitting on the fringes of Shoreditch, there’s a host of spots for late-night drinking around Brick Lane. A few choice highlights include:
–
The Cocktail Trading Company
Decked out with rustic stone flooring and seductive dark woods, this creative mixology lair is Brick Lane’s spot for an unusual tipple. From a bar stocked with over 400 different bottles (including ‘extraordinarily rare’ numbers like cola liqueur and German whisky) and their on-site distillery, the barkeeps here knock up intriguing concoctions like the Old Bae (buttered bourbon, vermouth and calvados served in a spice tin carried by a crab) for £12.50 a pop.
Details: 68 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6GQ | Book CTC
–
Oranj
Oranj isn’t your typical London wine bar – and not just because they spell orange the Romanian way. Having first built a rep as an online delivery service/lockdown saviour for those in need of their natural wine fix, they’re now tackling the offline world in an industrial 20,000sq warehouse where you can pair food from rotating kitchen residencies (so far guests have included Decatur, Sarap, and Ha’s Đặc Biệt) with juras, whites from Catalonia, lambic beers and orange wines. Naturally…
Details: 14 Bacon St, London E1 6LF | Book Oranj
–
The Buxton
A beautifully renovated tavern from the team behind Spitalfields stalwart, The Culpeper. The ground floor is a pub and restaurant, with craft beers on taps, a cellar of natural wines and plenty of expertly rendered signature cocktails. Upstairs, you’ll find boutique hotel rooms and the guest-only rooftop terrace… with a hot tub. All we’re saying is, if the night lingers on you definitely have options.
Details: 42 Osborn Street, E1 6TD | Book The Buxton
–
Well & Bucket
A crumbling drinking den and oyster house right at the head of Brick Lane, smattered with original features, patinated mirrors and peeling wallpaper. The bar’s well stocked with interesting beers and wines, and it’s a gloriously atmospheric spot for a drink at any time of day – easily one of our favourite Shoreditch pubs.
Details: 143 Bethnal Green Road, E2 7DG | Book The Well & Bucket
–
Apples & Pears
Your best bet for dancing, live music, and general silliness. Occupying a brick-walled, cavernous den filled with artwork (and an outdoor space round the back), it’s an unpretentious spot serving twists on classic cocktails, including a banana and chocolate-laced vodka concoction served in a glass smoking pipe. There’s live music sessions mid-week, and as the weekend rolls in a roster of guest DJs spin 80s and 90s classics.
Details: 26 Osborn Street, E1 6TD | Book Apples and Pears
–
Cave Cuvée
Cave Cuvée is one of London’s best natural wine bars, split between dedicated bottle shop (that also sells deli items like chilli oil from My Neighbours The Dumplings) and a stripped back, subterranean lounge where you can sip your Chin Chins, Aussie Pet Nats or perhaps a skin-contact pinot gris from Supernature, all alongside oysters and hot dogs. They also do masterclasses and tastings (hosted by the staff, who are absolute experts in the field) so by the time you leave, you’ll be a complete natural…
Details: 250a Bethnal Green Road, E2 0AA | Book Cave Cuvée
–
Ninety One Living Room
At Ninety One Living Room, you can get some work done during the day; ease into the night via small plates, burgers and cocktails; and then, later on in the night, let your hair down to jazz and live music when they fire up their world class sound systems, and clear the tables and chairs to make way for the dancefloor. The best part? No washing up.
Details: 91 Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL | See what’s on
Looking for more drinking spots nearby? Check out our guide to the best bars in Shoreditch
THINGS TO DO ON BRICK LANE
See Amazing Art at Whitechapel Gallery
Founded in 1901 as one of the first free public galleries with visiting exhibitions, the Whitechapel Gallery is still one of the most treasured art galleries in London. It’s housed the first major exhibitions of many now-famous artists, from David Hockney to Gilbert and George, and has frequent visits from the likes of Picasso, Kahlo, Rothko and more. A few years ago it expanded into the Passmore Edwards Library, doubling the exhibition space with vast, high-ceilinged, skylit rooms.
Details: (At the end of Brick Lane) 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, E1 7QX | What’s on at Whitechapel Gallery
–
Hit The Vintage Shops
Garry Knight/Flickr
On Sundays, the vintage shops lining Brick Lane spill out onto the streets, with stalls decked out with leather jackets and 80s ballgowns to silk ties and 40s braces, worn cowboy boots and dainty handbags. But you can still find a second-hand bargain on any other day of the week – Cheshire Street is lined with American-style thrift stores: vast warehouses of old clothes, shoes and accessories; while you’ll find cult store Rokit over on Brick Lane itself.
–
Hit That Craving at Dark Sugars
Tanya Krotovskaya
There’s very little to be said after a photo like that, but the Dark Sugars cocoa house is as good as it looks: the chocolate is sourced from founder Nyanga’s family farm in Ghana, roasted in the shop and turned into truffles with flavours like gin and lime; apricot brandy and cardamom & orange. Over in the café up the road, you can score hot chocolates topped with slowly melting shards of hand-shaved chocolate, by some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet.
Details: 124-126 Brick Lane, E1 6RU
–
Go on Strike at All Star Lanes
Swap Brick Lane for bowling lanes at Shoreditch’s preeminent purveyor of retro bowling, with glossy 50s American decor; a photo booth; a diner; karaoke rooms; cocktails; and – crucially – non-sweaty shoes.
Details: 95 Brick Lane, E1 6QL | Book All Star Lanes
–
Catch an Arthouse Film at Close-Up Cinema
Despite the name, Close-Up Cinema isn’t for the short sighted (it’s got 40 seats in its near blacked-out, 35mm-equipped theatre, and you can sit at the back row for a less intense view). Instead it’s a temple to arthouse film with a programme dedicated to covering early cinema, world cinema, rare movies and the classics. Besides the films themselves, directors and makers often drop-in to talk about their craft, and there’s also a café and bar on-site for the pre and post film entertainment.
Details: 97 Sclater Street, London E1 6HR | See what’s on
–
Get a Ride at Brick Lane Bikes
Yeah that handlebar moustache is impressive, and sure you’ve got a lot of outlandish, patterned socks, and that beanie collection is coming along nicely, but at the end of the day everyone knows to be a true member of the Shoreditch commuter community you need a single-speed bike. You can get one of those here, and you can also get it repaired at the workshop where they’ll try to get it back to you before the end of the day…
Details: 118 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 6DG
–
Get A Dose of Culture at Rich Mix
Craig Gibson
This massive arts hub just at the top of Brick Lane is a one-stop-shop for entertainment. Aside from being home to four permanent escape rooms and a cinema with regular screenings of all the latest releases, Rich Mix boasts an enviable events programme with the aim of platforming under-represented artists. Swing by for a gig, a spoken word night, an exhibition… or throw all three into the mix.
Details: 35 – 47 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA | See what’s on at Rich Mix
–
Secret Studio
Just off Brick Lane you’ll find one of the most stylish escape rooms in London. Housed behind an unassuming door, Secret Studio is a retro film production office filled with old-school equipment and amazingly detailed props, where you’ll be locked up until you’ve solved a colleague’s disappearance amid some very odd circumstances…
Details: Secret location just off Brick Lane | Make a booking
–
Explore The Old Truman Brewery
A huge complex of old brewing houses dating back to the 17th century, the Old Truman’s Brewery was once the biggest brewery in Europe. Since brewing closed down in 1989, it’s become a permanent home for indie businesses like the Rough Trade record store, as well as a rotating roster of events including sample sales, fashion shows, craft beer festivals, pop up exhibitions, and club nights at 93 Feet East and Café 1001.
Details: 91 Brick Lane, London E1 6QR
–
Mellow Out at the Brick Lane Jazz Festival
After a smash inaugural run in 2022, the Brick Lane Jazz Festival is set to become an annual occurrence, taking over seven stages at venues dotted along Brick Lane and filling them with some of the best rising jazz stars the city has to offer. And luckily, you won’t need to improvise any of your plans… because there’s also a load of afterparties that take place in local clubs like Village Underground.
Details: Every April | The Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, E1 6QL
BRICK LANE MARKETS
Brick Lane’s famous for its sprawling markets, which pop up all through the week. It’s a huge magnet for vintage magpies, with street stalls and covered markets to explore alongside the permanent vintage shops. And of course, as one of London’s most food-focussed streets, there’s a load of street food to sniff out most days as well. Here’s the run-down:
Ely’s Yard Street Food | Tucked round the back of the brewery is Ely’s Yard, a daily street food market with regular traders including Orange Buffalo, Mother Clucker, Kooky Bakes and Mama’s Jerk Station.
Details: Ely’s Yard, E1 6QR | Open daily
–
Upmarket
Going strong for two decades, the Upmarket has now evolved into a vast indoor food market with 40+ traders and dishes from around the world, from Korean dak-kkochi skewers to Ethiopian injera bread.
Details: Ely’s Yard, E1 6QR | Daily 11am-6pm, Sundays 10am-6pm
–
Backyard Market | Specialising in crafts, the Brewery’s weekend Backyard Market houses vintage clothing, jewellery, prints, grooming products, plants and more.
Details: 146 Brick Lane, E1 6RU | Saturdays 11am-6pm, Sundays 10am-6pm
–
James Moore/Unsplash
Open daily, this warehouse is filled with a sprawling array of stalls and boutiques touting vintage clothing from the 20s to the 90s. There’s other retro goods to be found, too – from homeware to vinyl.
Details: F Block, 85 Brick Lane, E1 6QL | Open weekdays 11am-6.30pm, Sat 11am-6pm, Sun 10am-6pm
–
Tea Rooms | Finally, there’s the Tea Rooms – an eclectic warren of second-hand and vintage homewares, antiques, letterpress prints, taxidermy, typewriters, handmade costume jewellery, antique china, and… ice jelly coffee.
Details: 91 Brick Lane, E1 6QL | Open Saturdays 11am-6pm and Sundays 10am-6pm
And once you’ve finished exploring Brick Lane?
You could hole up at one of the best restaurants in Spitalfields, pop into Spitalfields Market, or explore the rest of the neighbourhood with our Shoreditch guide…