Bistrotheque

Bistrotheque has run from a converted commercial building on Wadeson Street in Bethnal Green since 2005, one of east London's original trendy dining rooms. The food sits in a bright white restaurant upstairs, but the drinking happens at the big oval bar, the Manchichi, where walk-ins eat, drink and order good cocktails. A live pianist plays pop covers across the room.

This is a bar for a stylish east London evening, a long weekend brunch or a date with a soundtrack, not a quiet pint. The cocktails are well made and the room has held its cool for two decades. If you want a no-frills local, this is not it. If you want polish with a sense of fun in Bethnal Green, Bistrotheque still delivers.

The Manchichi is a large oval bar set in a pared-back white space, with the pianist a fixture of the experience. The Infatuation has long covered Bistrotheque as a Hackney original, and the bar is where its sense of occasion lives. Pull up a stool at the oval if you are drinking rather than sitting down to a full dinner.

It sits on a quiet side street near Cambridge Heath, slightly off the main Bethnal Green drag, which is part of the appeal. The discreet entrance has kept it feeling like a known address rather than a passing-trade spot. As a first or last stop on an east London evening it pairs cleanly with the area's other bars.

The cocktails are the bar's calling card, mixed at the oval Manchichi and rated consistently well across two decades. The list runs classic and seasonal rather than gimmicky, and the kitchen is close enough that bar snacks and full plates both work alongside. The move is a cocktail at the oval with the piano going, before or instead of a table upstairs.

A stylish east London crowd fills the room, mixing long-time regulars with daters and weekend brunchers. Evenings bring the pre-dinner and cocktail set, weekends the busy piano brunch. The dress leans creative-smart and the mood stays warm and a little theatrical.

Explore more with our London cocktail bars guide and the London bar guide. For an east London night, pair Bistrotheque with Nightjar in Shoreditch, Bar Termini in Soho, or Swift in Soho. Searching nearby? Use our cocktail bars near me hub.