Image by Phoebe Ferris-Rotman

During the day people bring their laptops or books and work, read and drink coffee sprawled over one of the many mismatched sofas or lounge chairs. At night tea candles are lit and hot drinks are swapped for alcoholic drinks as people unwind and meet friends in what was once the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane (check the Brick Lane article). In summertime, people swamp to the outside picnic benches and the alleyway, though there is always a lovely cosy feel inside.

The boho and versatile venue opens at a very early 06:00 for breakfast and soups, jacket potatoes and sandwiches are on offer for lunch and dinner. Live music attracts a younger crowd with indie bands on Tuesday and jazz on Wednesday. Bands play in the smaller room at the back on Sunday and a dj spins tunes on Friday and Saturday.

Cocktails made with fresh fruit are available on the weekend and all year round you can grab a burger or corn on the cob from the grill stand outside. Tables and benches outside in front are great for people watching or smoking.

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Café 1001 | Bars, Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks, Restaurants (intern.)
1 Dray walk, 91 Brick Lane | East | +442072479679
Mon – Sat 06:00 – 00:00, Sun 06:00 – 23:30

Image by Phoebe Ferris-Rotman

Brick Lane offers a multitude of choice in terms of bars and nightlife but Casa Blue sticks out, not least because of all the fairy lights and candles glowing from within.

A lacquered wooden panel of peacocks is hung next to a watercolour painting of a naval fleet. 50′s memorabilia is plastered wearily to the wall. While the predominantly red kitsch bric-a-brac decor means your eyes don’t know where to settle, the kooky collection of plastic chandeliers, hanging baubles and blinking strings of light make a unique setting.

Even though the music ranges anywhere from the Beatles to Manu Chau, the tunes are familiar and well-chosen. There are comfy plus sofas and yummy cocktails. Food is also available. While the menu is limited, the house specialty comes in platter form – international mezze for two or more people. For only £5 each, sharing platters come with a selection of hot and cold tapas and you can choose Mediterranean, Indian or Greek cuisine.

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Casa Blue | Bars, Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks | Cocktail £ 6.00
228 Brick Lane | East
Sun – Thu 12:00 – 01:00, Fri – Sat 12:00 – 03:00

Image by Phoebe Ferris-Rotman

This Brick Lane (check Brick Lane article) staple has been around for years, and serves as a remnant of the area’s Jewish past. While the bakery is not somewhere you would want to hang out long for – the bright white lights give it a clinical feel – the bagels are ridiculously cheap and very tasty, so it’s worth a visit.

A bagel and cream cheese will only set you back a mere £1 and they are made the proper way, by boiling then baking, creating the dense chewy consistency which is so more-ish. This makes a much welcomed change from most bagel store chains, who essentially serve bread rolls with a hole in the middle. Other fillings include smoked salmon, chopped herring and hot salt beef. Donuts and pastries are also made fresh daily.

Service is super quick and it’s open 24 hours, so after a night out on Brick Lane you can wander in for a bite, and find throngs of like-minded party-goers doing the same.

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Beigel Bake | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Bagel cream cheese £ 1.00
159 Brick Lane | East
24 hours daily

Image by Sébastien Cevey / theefer

Oto means ‘noise’ or ‘music’ in Japanese and that is exactly what you get at this amazing, innovative venue.

By day it is a mild-mannered café serving a selection of teas, coffees, organic fruit juices, Devon and Breton cider, wines, Japanese snacks, Sake, Plum Wine and Japanese Whisky but then, when the lights go out and the cafe closes for a couple of house for the soundchecks, Oto turns into the home of the experimental musician and easily fulfills its stated aim of ‘providing a home for creative new music that exists outside of the mainstream’.

Past performers include Yoko Ono, London Improvisors Orchestra, Joe McPhee, Marshall Allen, Matthew Herbert and, amazingly and thrillingly, The Sun Ra Arkestra who consider Cafe Oto to be their spiritual London home. The Wire magazine hold a monthly series of events here, called ‘The Wire Salon’, which consist of talks, panel discussions, film screenings and DJ sets. 

Some of the bigger names mean larger fees, but most gigs are around £10 entrance fee, but check the website first as the venue is small and gigs regularly sell out in advance.

Cafe Oto forms one point of the Dalston Jazz Triangle. The other two points being filled by the jazz daddy The Vortex and the newcomer Servant Jazz Quarters. These three venues are only about 500 yards apart and between them they cover everything from the folky side of jazz (SJQ), to the more traditional approach (Vortex) and into the avant garde (Oto). Jazz has definitely found a home (or three) in E8.

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Cafe Oto | Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks | Entrance from € 7
18-22 Ashwin Street,E8 3DL | East
Mon – Fri 09:30 – 17:30, Sat – Sun 10:30 – 17:30, gigs from 20:00

Image by Tommy / Violet

Violet has had a stall on Broadway Market for along as I have known it and the stall invariably sells out every week. Luckily, that success has meant that alongside the weekly stall Violet now has a permanent home just around the corner from the market on Wilton Way.

Wilton Way is itself an interesting place. The sort of non-high street that usually and unfortunately ends up with as a row of closed shops. Not here though. Wilton Way is now home to a thriving community thanks to The Wilton Way Cafe (go and try the fabulous avocado on sourdough toast with lemon and chilli), the recently opened branch of Borough Wines, Toppers of Hackney, the other side of the pillow and, of course, Violet itself. 

Violet are famous for their cupcakes – and rightly so, they are delicious – but the new home has meant there is time to sit, relax and watch the world go by as you have a coffee or tea and indulge in a piece of the great flour-less chocolate cake or the sticky treat that is the fresh ginger and molasses cake. But if there isn’t time for that, a friend of mine swears by the Salted Caramel cupcakes

In addition to making cakes, Violet herself (Claire Ptak) is a food stylist and food writer and she has recently written and had published ‘The Whoopie Pie Book‘. It can only be onwards and upwards for Violet from now on.

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Violet | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Cupcake € 0.90
47 Wilton Way,E8 3ED | East
Tue – Fri 07:30 – 18:00, Sat 09:30 – 18:00, Sun 09:30 – 17:00