Dudley’s

Dudley’s | A cool neighbourhood café-restaurant in Walthamstow

If you’ve wandered around the mean streets of Walthamstow before, in desperate need of any of the following: specialty coffee, brunch, small plates or natural wine…

…then we’ve got just the place for you.

It’s called Dudley’s (named after owner James Stephenson’s pet bulldog) and by virtue of being in Walthamstow, it’s something of a hidden gem. The building it inhabits on the corner of Wood Street is easily recognisable due its street art facade and the interior – of  pendant lighting, tiled floors, pot plants, pale woods and walls painted in that breezy Greek island shade of white – is instantly calming. Out the back, the zen factor is dialled up even further, courtesy of an open-air courtyard that’s fitted with a retractable canopy curtain. In short: it’s a really nice place to sit down in. 

Which is handy, because there’s a lot of inviting things to sit down with… starting with a brunch (coffee by the way, is from Assembly) that presents you with the difficult decision between an aptly cheesy – and greasy – three-cheese toastie (your cheeses are mature cheddar emmental and goat’s cheese, with chutney to balance it out); corn fritters adorned with a poached egg and scotch bonnet oil; and their entry into the city’s breakfast sandwich game, ‘The Dogfather’, which packs a sausage patty, bacon, scrambled eggs and a dose of Dudley’s special dogfather sauce (caution: slightly hot) between brioche buns. 

While it closes up shop daily at 3.30pm, for the 6pm crowd – specifically from Thursday to Saturday – Dudley’s gets a second wind. The candles come out, the lights dim and it shifts into small plates & low intervention wine restaurant mode, where their chef Michael Bagnall works with fresh, seasonal ingredients to create dishes like line caught mackerel in a zippy pool of salsa verde & a meringue with red wine and poached pears.

Keep your eyes (and ears) peeled as well for their occasional On Rotate events, when a guest chef comes in to borrow the kitchen and a DJ drops by to take over the decks with worldly vinyl grooves.

In case you were also wandering around Walthamstow on the lookout for an all-day party…

NOTE: Dudley’s is open daily for brunch and from Thursday- Saturday for dinner. You can make a booking for the latter here. 

Dudley’s | 145 Wood St, London E17 3LX

While you’re in the area… you could take a stroll along The Blackhorse Beer Mile