The best places to eat and drink in Islington

Located on a corner near to the leafy Highbury Fields, The Highbury Barn pub combines the warmth and welcome of a traditional British boozer, with an exciting seasonal food offering, including brunch, Sunday lunch and a la carte menus. You can expect well-made classics like fish and chips alongside impressive crispy skinned, pan-fried sea bass, plus a generous and varied wine list. Regular events and live music make this spot particularly buzzy.

Islington is the home of the inaugural Noci, which endearingly means walnut in Italian! This much-loved pasta emporium overlooking Islington Green features laidback and airy interiors and signature terrazzo finishes. The menu changes seasonally, however you’ll always find irresistible handmade pasta dishes – the Genovese ragu with Tête de Moine cheese is now considered a staple. This spot also offers a brilliant lunch deal, which includes a drink, focaccia and pasta for £14 every Monday to Friday.

While it may have a slightly silly name, this eatery is unwaveringly serious about its seafood. Its London outpost (there’s also a restaurant in Padstow) opened 10 years ago as a fishmongers with just eight seats for those who wanted to dine in. It grew in popularity so much however, that it had to move to a larger premises just along the road. The ever-changing menu features small plates based around daily fish deliveries from Cornwall and Devon, but you can pretty much always expect plump mussels, prawns and oysters as well as some impressive slabs of meaty fish like tuna.

The Tamil Prince is a fairly new venture from the ex-Roti King chef Prince Durairaj, and those in the know will realise that such credentials are a very good sign… Down one of those lovely wide and leafy streets in Islington, you’ll find this hotspot in what looks to be a regular pub. There’s outdoor seating and daylight floods the space during the day, however at night, low lighting, flickering candles and cosy counter seats make this an excellent spot for a date. The menu offers plenty to talk about too, from imaginative signature cocktails to spicy, sizzling plates of lamb chops and grilled prawns.

Trullo is the sister restaurant of Padella, so you can fairly assume you’re going to get some quality fare in slick but unpretentious surrounds. The menu can change twice in one day, however it always revolves heavily around handmade pasta and the charcoal grill. You can expect hearty and comforting Italian-inspired dishes that may feature some elegant handkerchief pasta, a rich beef shin ragu, or some smoky grilled sardines. The wine list also changes regularly, and always features an abundant selection of vintages, including skin contact pours. 

There’s something thrilling about eating in a restaurant on a barge. It always tends to feel like an occasion, or like you could be somewhere very far away from London. Moored on Regent’s Canal, Caravel might offer an intimate setting, however its bistro-style small plates menu encourages a relaxed dining experience, one in which you can all get stuck into a smorgasbord of dishes, from zesty salads to indulgent croquettes or caviar. Don’t head home without popping into Bruno’s sultry cocktail bar and barge next door for a digestif or two…