Penny Blood's Black Book – My Independent Guide to London - Penny Blood's eclectic collection of favourite places in London to drink coffee, eat cake, have tea, eat out, buy clothes, watch movies, kill time, read Voltaire, quote Baudelaire and write this blog.

Hackney Wick is clearly on the up and the Hackney Pearl is definitely a symbol of that. Oh don’t worry the area still looks like a deserted wasteland fit only for amateur fashion shoots, but salvaged Formica tables, school chairs and copies of the Observer are a slap across the face reminder of where we’re at now over in the Wick. For quite a while people seemed reluctant to open any kind of business as the area was rife with gypsies who’d been kicked out of (sorry re-housed), Stratford due to the upcoming Olympics. However so far so good as the Hackney Pearl looks to be attracting all the RIGHT KINDS of people. The staff here look like either extras from a music video but are really friendly all the same. The food is good but expensive and the carrot cake is off-the-scale delicious. It’s the kind of place where they cook muffins there and then and leave them on the counter as if your grandmother just made them. The spacious interior is styled so perfectly it rivals any established café in London. I stuck it in breakfast but it’s also a bar and does lunch and dinner too, all good, if somewhat a little too pricey.

http://thehackneypearl.com/

Hackney Pearl, 11 Prince Edward Road, Hackney Wick, London, E9 5LX
0208 510 3605
Tuesday – Saturday: 10am until 11pm Sunday: 10am until 6pm

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