Every year, long running restaurant guide Harden’s polls its readers to compile the coveted list of the nation’s best restaurants.
This year, more than 2,500 ordinary diners submitted 30,000 reports for inclusion in the 2026 guide – which is published this week.
Restaurants at all price levels are included – from street food vendors to Michelin star establishments.
And three of them are in East London.
Da Terra which is based in the historic Town Hall Hotel in Bethnal Green came in 9th on the list, with Behind near London Fields Hackney ranked 18th.
And at 21 is Plates in Old Street, Shoreditch which was opened in July 2024 by siblings Kirk and Keeley Haworth after launching as a series of pop-ups and residencies.
In February 2025 it became the UK’s first vegan restaurant to earn a Michelin star for dishes such as barbecued maitake mushroom with black bean mole and caramelised lions mane, wild garlic soup with potato dumplings, and slow-cooked leeks with chestnut cream.
At Behind chef Andy Benyon also holds one Michelin star for his unique fish-focused tasting menu which serves just 18 dinners at a time, seated around a horseshoe-shaped counter where the chefs are on full view.
Dishes at the Sidworth Street restaurant include fried squid with trout and oyster, lobster tortellini with quince, smoked pike and trout roe mousse, and Scottish crab with white garlic sauce and gazpacho.
Da Terra in Patriot Square regularly makes it into lists of the world’s best restaurants. The restaurant opened under the watchful eye of Brazilian chef Rafael Cagali in January 2019 – gaining its first Michelin star within eight months.
The second star came in 2021 for dishes inspired by the flavours of his origins and culinary experiences.
The tasting menu costs £260 per person and might include the likes of quail tortellini with black truffle, chalk stream trout with nashi pear and daikon, and aged turbot with beans and farofa.
The latest edition of the Harden’s guide is now available in print price £20 and also available as apps for Apple or Android.
