london

The Light Bar

• Modern European• Shoreditch

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About the restaurant

While its unassuming name might suggest a small space, The Light Bar is anything but. Taking over the site that was home to The Light – a bar, club and events space – in the early 2010s, the former power station been reinvented as a multi-floored venue with subtly different approaches to each floor. The top-floor restaurant up in the rafters is a casual but smart affair, while the huge downstairs space is all post-industrial chic. The wraparound mezzanine bar is great for people-watching.

The Light Bar’s owners have a background in events before restaurants, while chef Johnnie Collins is the one in the kitchen. He takes inspiration from a supply chain that’s as self-sufficient as he can make it, with many vegetables and herbs grown on-site or in his garden.

This is classic Shoreditch: small plates, served to share, with influences from all over. Crab cappelletti has emerged as a standout dish in the short time the restaurant’s been open, while a chip butty, slathered with beetroot curry sauce, is also a must-order.

Reviews from the Web

Critic reviews

The Guardian

Here is a chef who refuses to be bland, and who bombards his diners with flavour; sometimes delicious, sometimes offputting, but never forgettable.

Standard

There is an adventurousness, craft and committed seasonality here that, especially given its location (perfectly placed to capitalise on the weekend hordes steaming in from Liverpool Street) is to be admired.