2 friends and I have been making a real effort to try a lot of local Hackney restaurants to make the most of our area and, most importantly, to avoid getting on a tube. Next on our list was Elliot’s – another one that I’ve heard great things about through the grape vine but never got round to going. They have 2 locations, one in Hackney right by London Fields, and one in Borough. I’ve only visited the former, but I image the Borough counterpart is just as good. The restaurant feels very laid back and cool with a huge list of natural wines to choose from. Very Hackney in the best way!

Before choosing anything we spent a good 10 mins asking questions trying to work out which dishes we needed to try and what other dishes those went with. Our waitress was really helpful and helped us to pick out a really amazing meal. But first off, wine! We were feeling fancy so went for a sparkling – we asked for a recommendation of a dry wine that wasn’t too expensive (this left us with a lot to choose from!). Sadly I really cannot remember the wine but I know the words ‘tinc’ and ‘sec’ were in the name somewhere… Very unhelpful, I’m sorry.

The food menu is split into 4 sections: snacks, small plates, pizzas and wood fired oven (plus sides). We asked for a recommendation of numbers of plates from each section. We decided to skip the wood oven entirely as we found the other sections a bit more exciting. Snacks first! We went for the cheese puffs and Calabrian anchovy toast and these were both genuinely some of the top dishes of the nights. The cheese puffs are indescribable, like a croquette-ish type thing – a thin crust on the outside with a warm, gooey cheesy middle. I could eat these forever. No exaggeration! And the anchovy toast – high quality bread, some sweet fried onions, a big curl of quality butter and a salty, oily anchovy. The perfect bite. Both of these dishes are an absolute must.

From the small plates we chose the sea bass crudo; king oyster mushrooms with wild garlic and an egg yolk; smoked ox tongue with beans, capers and horseradish; and trout roe with a potato flatbread. We were also recommended to get some focaccia to soak up the sauce from the mushrooms and ox tongue. These were all exceptional! I think my top 2 were the super fresh and buttery sea bass, and the trout roe. The roe dish came with a little potato pizza type thing, with a separate bowl of roe and sour cream to spoon on top. The mushrooms were also very delicious – really rich and creamy owing to that egg. I loved the ox tongue too, but this was a bit more polarising in the group (I think the context of it being a tongue). We were really glad we got the focaccia so as not to waste all the yummy sauces.

Next up we got 2 pizzas: the brown butter, taleggio & sage, and the beef ragu with parmesan. We also got a size of fried maris pipers (aka the crispiest, fluffiest chips in the world) with a HUGE serving of alioli – great for those pizza crusts. Both pizzas were absolutely incredible. I was glad to have one white and one red as they balanced well. The taleggio pizza was very rich and nutty from the brown butter. The beef had a bit more tang from the tomato and that beef was absolutely perfectly cooked.

We were told they had great desserts, but sadly by this point we were just waaaay too full. Instead we headed across to Netil 360 for another bottle of sparkling wine… All in all we had an absolutely incredible meal, every dish was seriously impressive and delicious. I think my faves were the snacks, the roe, that beef pizza and the fries. I wholeheartedly recommend a visit to Elliot’s for some really high quality and exciting food. Next on my list is to visit the Borough location!

Find them at 121-123 Mare Street, Hackney, London E8 3RH

Or their borough location 12 Stoney Street, Borough Market, London SE1 9AD