Eat at the Hackney Pearl

Any sane person making a visit to the Olympic Park will surely want to avoid exiting through the big shopping centre by which they probably arrived, and though exit points are limited one not-so-hateful route takes walkers on a bridge over the river to Hackney Wick. Hackney Wick and Fish Island are the sorts of places which seem to be an almost constant source of opaque but fashionable and exciting sounding reports, but can at first sight have very little to offer the aimless visitor. The Hackney Pearl is one thing it does have to offer, a café and bar and a welcome place to sit down, with food, drink and a chance to get a sense of your surroundings and plan your further explorations.


Sure, it's not perfect. This is fashionable Hackney and when your author dropped in on Saturday a light breakfast was £7.50 and there were four types of coffee on the menu and no tea (On further questioning, it was revealed that there "might" be some Assam somewhere, which was good when it came). The surroundings were comfortable and it offered a great place for some enjoyable conversation and a chance to watch the world go by.  Clearly, however, not everyone agrees, as on a shelf above the table a book on London's best coffee shops revealed a passive-aggressive customer's rants on the page reviewing the Hackney Pearl, with complaints underlined in red ink of slow service and poor wine. This was not your author's experience, however, and the food and single-choice fancy tea were served quickly by attentive staff, without wine.

For more, see http://www.thehackneypearl.com/