Five Restaurants to Try This Weekend

Italo

There’s a chaotic nobility to Charlie Boxer’s Italo, hidden just off the wheel of Vauxhall roundabout, in Bonnington Square. Find it opposite the community Pleasure Garden, psychedelic mess of palms and green tendrils where one can eat (ask for takeaway) if the outside seats are full. Then step inside and recalibrate, because Italo is the kind of domestic scene straight out of a Fielding novel. Children in aprons, massive cracked tureens of salads, a sprawling blackboard, the sense of being part of the last minute prep for a celebration. That’s lunch: a spur of the morning menu, spontaneous, easy pedigree. Fruit caprese salad edging into gazpacho; barely suspended gratins, thickly sauced pasta and mortadella rolls. Plates are under £10 and use the Italo-English produce the deli also sells. It’s primarily for lunch here, (closing at 2.45pm) but Friday has evening drinking hours. At the weekend there are richly-yolked breakfasts, and keep an eye on their supperclubs — next up is Hector Henderson, son of Margot (Rochelle Canteen) and Fergus (St. John). —Virginia Hartley
13 Bonnington Square, Vauxhall, SW8 1TE

Trangallan

Newington Green’s neighbourhood gems are not just for — admittedly phenomenal — romantic tasting menus that cost less than £100. A languid, dusky summer evening in this leafy, softly-spoken pocket of north London would profit from a visit to Trangallan, a “gastro-cultural” Iberian nook that deserves its billing as one of London’s best Spanish restaurants. Like the area, the food is quietly brilliant: plates of morcilla, chorizo and gossamer lomo alongside a tortilla to make the Hart Bros sweat manzanilla; Galician octopus and Iberico pork para meter el resuello para adentro that new gaff on Heddon Street. Trangallan is a reminder that quality food, proper wine and generous hospitality need pay no mind to modish bluster: sometimes food speaking for itself depends on people shutting up. —James Hansen
61 Newington Green, N16 9PX

Giant Steps

Waterside views, repurposed warehouse space, a distinctive smell on the breeze - at times, Hackney Wick feels like a direct transplant from the cooler districts of Copenhagen or Amsterdam. And there are few better representations of what this area can offer to the jaded central Londoner than Giant Steps, the live music venue slash bar slash rotating food concession overseen by Dalston also-multihyphenate restaurant Brilliant Corners. In terms of #eats, the pedigree of some of the names to have already set up temporary shop suggests diners will be in the safest of hands: this weekend, it’s the turn of trop-chic Pigalle natural wine bar l’Entrée des Artistes; next up, it’s beloved snack bar Snackbar, who will be turning out onigiri, tostadas, World Cup-themed hot dogs and, this being 2018, an ice cream sando. A genuinely legit bar offering — which includes some great-value wines and perhaps the best summer drink ever conceived, the rebujito — means many hours can be sort-of-profitably spent soaking up the post-industrial canal-view vibes; the presence of a big screen makes this an excellent candidate for whiling away a football- and Fino-fuelled Saturday. —George Reynolds
Dace Road, London E3 2NN

Hero of Maida

What used to be the Truscott Arms reopened earlier this year after being sprinkled with some of chef Henry Harris’s Franco-British magic — and a couple of months on it feels like it’s always been there. As at The Coach, this is a game of two halves: downstairs guest ales from the likes of Black Sheep and Dark Star come with Welsh rarebit or charcuterie, while upstairs things are a little — though not much — more formal. There’s an overlap with The Coach’s greatest hits (Kir Royale sharpeners, rabbit with bacon and mustard, *those* calves brains) but a few surprises too, like strawberries steeped in cognac with clotted cream. In its past life roasts were a big draw here, and that’s still the case: Sunday diners can sit down to seven-hour slow-roast shoulder of lamb rubbed with rosemary. Talk about a hero’s welcome. —Emma Hughes
55 Shirland Road, W9 2JD

Bernstein’s Bar

The slew of blue skies recently put Londoners in holiday spirit and nothing says carefree like indulging in the aperitivo tradition of an early evening drink and a light snack. Bernstein’s Bar in Clapton is built for such inbetween-ness, with big windows and pavement seating — perfect for people watching. Local beers, well chosen wines, great sharing plates such as baba ganoush with almond dukka, delicious chilli butter flatbread, and smoked mackerel with fennel, rhubarb, and toasted walnuts. It’s also dog-friendly and there are often cute puppies hanging out there, too. —Anna Sulan Masing
73 Chatsworth Road, E5 0LH