East – Local tips (snacks)

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 90p 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 | Snacks | Bagel & cream cheese £ 0.90
159 Brick Lane | East
24 hours daily

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). Now that it’s wintertime, people who swamped to the outside picnic benches and the alleyway still venture out, but there is a much more 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

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, Snacks | Cocktail £ 6.00
228 Brick Lane | East
Sun – Thu 12:00 – 01:00, Fri – Sat 12:00 – 03:00

Enter a world of wonder at Montezuma’s in Spitalfields, where you can take a bite from brightly coloured stacks of chocolate bars called Surf Nut, Whoopee, Jungle Fever, Space Hopper and Gourmet Gorrilla to name a few.  Mr Wonka would be proud to rest his top-hat here.

If calories are not an option, then how about one of their 1kg slabs of hunking great chunks of chocolate stuffed variously with nuts, marzipan and cocoa bits?  No? Ok, how about foot-high jars of big chocolate buttons, in white, milk or dark chocolate?

I’ve found the girls in the office are quite partial to the geranium Dainty Dollops. That’s right, you read it, geranium oil scented discs of chocolate that smell of flowers.

If you’re looking for something a bit more traditional they do their own large-size chocolate bars that you would associate with brands such as Green & Blacks and Lindt.  There’s also truffles in the cabinet and little bags of somethings lining the walls of the shop.

If you’re gonna fall off the wagon, make sure you fall outside Montezuma’s sweet-smelling doors.

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Montezuma’s | Shopping, Snacks | Single chocolate bar £ 1.25
51 Brushfield Street | East | +442075399208
Mon 11:00 – 16:00, Tue – Sun 10:00 – 18:00