Why you should visit Dalston Square
Café Route (Gaumont Tower, Dalston Square, E8, caferoute.co.uk) is the archetypal neighbourhood restaurant: it’s open 7am to 11pm seven days a week, is run by a husband-and-wife team and offers everything from Turkish Kurdish cuisine to full English brunches, artisan breads and burgers.
Nancy’s Pantry (Labyrinth Tower, Dalston Square, E8, nancyspantryrestaurant.com) gets the parents’ vote for being kid-friendly but not condescending. The interior looks like an idealised retro schoolroom. The menu is healthy and unfussy and it hosts regular family cinema clubs and comedy shows.
Coming soon is Le Ziz, an upmarket Turkish and sister restaurant to Havez in Canary Wharf. Also expected is Gremio de Dalston, a tapas bar by the proprieters behind Dogstar in Brixton and The White Hart in Stoke Newington.
If the prospect of sharing a restaurant packed to the exposed rafters with tots is unappealing, then stay outside: Dalston Square has a little green where small ones can kick loose without upending a tower of dishes. Or uncover the secret greenery of the Eastern Curve Garden, an oasis of trees, shrubs and vegetable patches with a café that serves bread from local favourite the E5 Bakery.
Taking a spa day in Dalston sounds as unlikely as swimming in the Thames but Smooth You Town Spa (Dalston Square, E8, smoothyou.co.uk) does all the trimmings, from waxing to tanning to hairstyling. You’ll emerge as glossy as the Square itself.
If you prefer to put your head in a book than a basin, go to Dalston CLR James Library (Dalston Square, E8, hackney.gov.uk/dalston-library), also on the square. It’s the first new library to be opened in Hackney for 20 years.
