O perfil de spigot

This tea shop cum nik-nak store recently opened in Shoreditch. Homemade cakes, British lunches and proper tea are the order of the day. While you sip tea from bone-china tea sets you can browse the lamps, clothes, records, toys and other odds and ends, all for sale. It’s a charming place to take the weight off you feet.

I hear it also doubles as a cinema.

I love this place for lunch - the BBQ is pretty average but the salad bar is great value and the coffee and cakes are fresh. Come the evening it’s a great place to just hang out: bustling, friendly, vibrant, etc.

The food here is top notch, as you’d expect from somewhere associated with Raymond Blanc. The most enticing dishes are of course on the a la carte menu but there’s also a fixed menu offering two courses and a glass of wine for just £11.

On my visit, I pigged out on seafood, starting with some of the largest mussels I’ve ever eaten before tucking into a super-fresh squid and courgette salad. I also picked at a delicious lemon tart for dessert.

My only criticism is that the place looks like a branch of Zizzi. The furniture and fittings are bland and the cutlery and crockery boring. Still, I’ll forgive a lot when the food’s that good.

Come for the beer, stay for the crowd. INDO had mismatched, rickety tables and chairs long before it was fashionable. Which means they’re now REALLY mismatched and rickety.

Still, when this place pulls a good crowd (most Friday and Saturday nights) you’re in for a night of chatting to strangers, bumping into friends and staggering home with a smile on your face.

There’s often very good art (for sale) on the walls too.

You will get fed, presented with the bill and ‘encouraged’ to leave with almost obscene haste, but Tayyab’s can get away with it because the food is so fine, in particular the starters. The tikka paneer is out of this world, and the baby aubergine dish is consistently excellent. Don’t get me started on the meaty starters… my mouth’s watering already.

You can bring your own booze but don’t expect to be able to get through more than a bottle of beer.

One final touch which I like: tap water is provided as standard, and your jug will be topped up regularly.

If you’ve tired of Brick Lane’s identikit, meat-and-sauce curries, this is the place for you.

The best art shop I’ve found in London. It has a huge range of paints, papers and everything else you might need (three different thicknesses of masking tape?). It’s also the source of the cheapest canvases in the capital.

Only the ever-so-slightly surly staff stop this place from getting five stars.

A strip joint during the week (I can’t review that particular service), it turns into a rock’n’roll nightclub on Saturday nights. It’s only a fiver in and there’s a great vibe, with the crowd really up for a long night’s dancing. Keep going ‘til 6am if you dare.

Classy, but not overstyled joint near Brick Lane. There’s a massive Kray twins connection but this is no theme pub. It’s an honest boozer with a lively clientele, a good range of ales on tap, and an excellent smoking area. In a part of town where the bars can tend towards the wanky, this place is a breath of fesh air.