Stoke Newington is the north London village that isn’t one, and it does a very good impression of somewhere that has its act together. This is a date for people who like to eat: a bakery queue, a long tapas lunch, a dinner you’ll still be talking about on the walk afterwards, and a last glass of wine if neither of you wants to call it.
Church Street gets slept on. It shouldn’t. While everyone else makes the pilgrimage to the obvious bits of east London, N16 has built one of the best streets for eating in the city – independent, walkable and stubbornly unfranchised. Everything up to dinner is within five minutes of the last stop. You’ll clock a few too many tote bags. Ignore them. Do this one on a Saturday: it’s the only day every stop is open when you need it.
Vibe: neighbourhood-cool, food-led, unhurried
Area: Stoke Newington Church Street to Newington Green
Best for: second dates, and couples who need a reason to leave the house
Budget: ££-£££
Length: 10-11 hours
The morning thing
Spence Bakery, Church Street
The Saturday queue is real and it moves at its own pace. Get in it anyway. Everything is baked in-house and there are only a handful of stools inside, which is fine, because you’re not staying.
Get two coffees, a cinnamon whirl and one of the cheese and tomato rolls people get oddly emotional about, then carry the lot to Clissold Park at the end of the street. Find a bench, look at the deer (there are deer) and don’t rush. The whole day works better if you start slowly.
Closest station: Stoke Newington Overground, about 12 minutes’ walk
Price: £
Best thing to have: the cinnamon whirl
The lunch thing
Escocesa, Church Street
Five minutes back down Church Street. Scottish seafood, Spanish treatment: the name is Spanish for Scottish, the fish comes down from Scotland, and the menu reads like a very good tapas bar. Grilled octopus on white bean purée, seabass ceviche, oysters, tortilla.
There’s a serious sherry list too, so ask them to pick you a glass of something you’ve never heard of. Sharing plates do half the flirting for you. Order one more thing every time you think you’re done. You won’t regret it.
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Price: ££-£££
Best thing to have: the octopus, with a sherry
Good to know: open from midday on Saturdays. Book.
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The afternoon thing
Church Street and Abney Park
You’ve got a couple of hours before dinner, and this is what the street is for. Drift east along Church Street, in and out of whatever takes your fancy, then duck through the gates of Abney Park, the overgrown Victorian cemetery turned nature reserve at the far end.
A cemetery sounds like a strange call on a date. It’s actually the most romantic bit of the day: winding paths, nobody about, plenty of time to talk. Go while it’s still light.
Price: free
The dinner thing
Calong, Church Street
Back on Church Street, a minute from where you had lunch. Korean techniques, European ingredients, 30 seats, and a Michelin Bib Gourmand picked up within a year of opening.
The fried chicken with sweet chilli and peanut is the crowd pleaser, but if there’s a sot bap (clay pot rice) on the menu, that’s the one that’ll do you in. Take the 6pm table so there’s time for what comes next. Book ahead or accept the consequences.
Price: ££
Best thing to have: the fried chicken
Good to know: dinner Wednesday to Saturday only. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
If it goes well
Jolene, Newington Green – or Primeur, Petherton Road
First, the walk: 20 minutes south down Albion Road to Newington Green. Residential, tree-lined, the sort of streets that explain why people move to this part of London and never leave. Use this bit to actually talk. You’ve been eating all day; the conversation should be good by now.
Option one is Jolene, right on the green. Bakery by day, candlelit restaurant by night, with a menu that changes weekly and a cellar full of natural wine. It’s open until 10pm on a Saturday, so this is a glass of something and whatever pudding is on.
Option two, for the committed, is its big sister Primeur, about nine minutes further on. A converted garage that has been one of the best restaurants in north London for years without making a fuss about it. Blackboard menu, communal tables, natural wine, open until 11pm. Two hours will pass and you won’t notice. Book a late table in advance. You won’t get in otherwise, and you’ll be annoyed with yourself.
Closest station home: Canonbury Overground, about ten minutes from either
Price: ££-£££
Wrap-up
You started in a bakery queue and finished over natural wine in a converted garage, having eaten most of N16 in between. Whether anyone has room for breakfast is between the two of you.
See you next time,
Nonchalant x
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Babs heads up Logistics and Product here at Nonchalant Magazine.
