Where to dine in Hackney

Hackney’s rise in the 2000s from dangerous and affordable to cool, cooler and coolest eventually made it a kind of Chelsea of east London, with the expensive housing – house prices have grown 281 per cent between 2001 – and glamorous dining establishments to match. It may have become a magnet for Fullham exiles but Hackney never quite lost its aura of cool, and its transformation into one of the priciest areas of London has come not with a dumbing down but with the refinement of a distinctive, creative dazzle. The payoff? A proliferation of yummy, interesting restaurants. Having lost track of Hackney’s culinary scene in recent years as other foodie neighbourhoods blossomed, particularly Peckham, I decided to dip my toe back in and see what has survived – and thrived – in a difficult period. I was delighted to find that the answer is plenty. Here are five of the best.