Great Eastern Dining Room is one of those places that fulfils what it sets out to achieve with consummate style. Set among Hackney’s brutalist chic, it’s easily as cool as its surroundings but boasts the polish a lot of its near neighbours lack.

The Venue
Set on the corner of Great Eastern Street and Charlotte Road, its generous frontage and high windows anchor you firmly in Old Street’s trendy environs as you watch the comings and goings in the street outside. Both the bar and restaurant area share the same dark, beautifully polished floor and retro chandeliers, but where the bar is all Eames-style chairs and leather sofas, the vibe in the restaurant is much more restrained, with crisp white linen, dark furniture and just a little flock wallpaper to hint at its East London provenance.

The Atmosphere
Great Eastern Dining Room is almost always close to capacity and there’s certainly a buzzy feel to an evening spent here; having said that, despite the imminent second sittings there’s still a chance you won’t be hurried from your table. The service here is exceptional for its responsiveness, tact, knowledgeability and sheer good humour.

The Food
The menus at Great Eastern Dining Room are pan-Asian and borrow from a range of culinary traditions, taking in dim sum, sushi, sashimi, curries, salads, pad thai, noodles, fish and roast dishes. Food is served on a sharing principle – dishes are simply brought when they are ready, so one main may arrive before another, though only a cynical reviewer would suspect that this benefits a busy kitchen more than the diners.

With main courses topping out at £17.50 the food should be excellent, and it is. A starter of pork belly is almost unimaginably decadent; the sushi and sashimi plate is delicate and beautifully presented, although the sashimi could have been a little more generous. The char siu pork is mild and tender, the bok choi perfectly al dente, while the cod (Alaskan line-caught, not North Sea) is complex, fragrant and beautifully fresh.

Desserts, though imaginative, would perhaps benefit from a greater sophistication in their execution. A delicious apple tart tatin is overwhelmed by too-intense star anise ice cream; the warm chocolate pudding is slightly gauche, crying out for a darker, bitterer twist, and the pannacotta, though rich, is blander than it deserves to be.

The Drink
An excellent house red (a Sangiovese-Merlot Daunia) bodes well for the overall quality of the wine list, which demonstrates a good range of prices and regions, and seems to have been chosen carefully to complement the style of cuisine on offer. The table water (Llanllyr Source) is organic and comes with an impeccable provenance, and excellent cocktails are available from the bar next door.

The Last Word
Great Eastern Dining Room is an accomplished and surprisingly sophisticated pan-Asian restaurant set in one of London’s coolest areas. With an excellent bar next door and a rather beautiful club, Below 54, downstairs, it’s no wonder this chic, reliable eaterie continues to be a big draw out east.

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