The London Fields — Restaurant in London

As my closest local ( Pizzas on the pricey side at c£10-12. Well Street Pizza or Bella Vita on Broadway are £8-10 (both v good), or I can go to Franco’s for even less. I wouldn’t mind if they were especially good… but last week when me and my GF ordered two; we found them sloppy, soggy, with zero crisp factor. To make matters worse, the pizza chef left them standing on the pass with no waiter in sight to serve them (even though it was mid-week and quiet), leaving me in the end having to get up and pick them up myself. The rest of the food menu seems confused. Not sure why there’s an underlying Italian theme. The Sunday roast options in the area for example are v strong (Empress, Hemingway, Pub on the Park) – not sure MH’s offering stacks up. Seeing bottomless brunch advertised also made me cringe, and conjures images of drunken yobettes throwing up over the pavement on a weekend afternoon. Please don’t do this to us!

2. The drinks = Having only one lager on tap, and making that Moretti, is an unforgivable sin in our craft beer obsessed borough! My GF liked the wine, but again the prices are on the expensive side: £13.10 for a large glass of red and a beer. To put into local context, the (excellent) brewery next door serves pints for £4-5, or Pub on The Park offers large glasses of wine for £6. On a separate occasion we also tried the cocktails – the barman didn’t give the impression he knew what he was doing and kept looking at what appeared to be a recipe. They lacked. At c£10 the prices are inline with other cocktail bars in the area such as Off Broadway or Helgis. But ideally I would like to see some more competitively priced drinks ie the £7.50 mark advertised on the boards (as is the case for example, in The Empress).

3. The vibe & atmosphere = What’s with the aprons? This isn’t Milk & Honey, or Soho House. I can’t help but find it chain-y, unnecessarily formal, and at odds with the areas’ more casual and independent vibe. The décor is annoying – why the nautical ropes tied around the pillars? Why the ceiling fan with all the unnecessary pulley bits? It didn’t quite seem to come together. I also found the bar hard to access, given so many of the stools were packed so densely next to eachother. Personally I like propping up the bar and engaging the barman. During one of my recent visits to Helgi’s for example, we wound up having a good chat with the barmaid, who ended up giving us free shots. It’s such little personal touches that define a “local” and help differentiate from mainstream Zone 1 venues. I sincerely hope MH can pull through this teething cycle, and...

If you are looking for brunch in East London packed with character, great music and a vibrant atmosphere, then Martello Hall is the place! We arrived on Saturday afternoon around midday and by 1pm the place was packed. Everyone was having a great time – friends catching up, and celebrations going on! It feels like a place where you can chill out and let your hair down at the same time!

Looking round this rustic and super cool venue, I found that Martello Hall has it all. It has (i) a great little bar serving some awesome gins and creative cocktails (ii) a back area where you can watch the chefs in action (iii) upstairs is a cute snug area which you can hire out for parties and (iv) outside is a sweet little terrace! To top it off we met some of the loveliest, friendliest staff and it really made our day!

I heard about Martello Hall through Brunchable which really helped me in my search to find great places that offer brunch. I was so pleased I used them because I couldn’t have been happier with my choice of brunch in East London! The menu at Martello Hall is varied so there certainly something for everyone. From hot and spicy pizza to avocado on toast – this place has it all! There is also a great selection of sides and a dessert choice of doughnuts for those extra hungry! Everything is individually priced so you can really mix and match. To top it off for just £25 per person you can make it boozy and bottomless!

As we were very excited to come here, we made sure we were extra hungry so we could try as much as possible! We opted for the London Field Pizza (Chef’s meatballs, coppa, taleggio, gremolata, oregano – £14) and the Slow Beef Rigatoni (12 hour slow beef ragu, parmesan, flat leaf parsley – £14) for main. We also ordered sides of the Pecorino and Mint Crocchettas with hot mustard sauce (£6) and the Rocket, Fennel and Roast Garlic Salad (£4). Obviously we had to go bottomless so we also ordered the Mimosa and the Martello Rum Punch (above).

We were very impressed with the food here! The pizza was incredible with a crust to die for! The toppings were fantastic and it was one of the best pizzas we have had. As the kitchen had run out of rigatoni pasta they made our Slow Beef dish with tagliatelle pasta instead. This dish was awesome – the beef so tender and there was a great helping of parmesan cheese. The side dishes really complimented our main meals. The salad was light and refreshing and the crocchettas were ridiculously fluffy on the inside with a great crunchy outside. The hot mustard sauce may be a little overpowering for some, but I thought it worked well.

The cocktails were crisp and light – exactly what you need when you are eating a hearty meal! They were pretty boozy too and the second your glass is empty the waiters are over with another. You really feel like you get your £££’s worth!

Forgetting that our eyes were probably bigger than our bellies at this point, we finished with the doughnuts (Baby Bombolini £5 for one person, £8 for a sharing portion, £10 for the table)! Thirteen beautiful little balls which were dense on the inside and super crispy on the out. We were given two pots – one with local jam and one with Nutella. Although we couldn’t finish them they were so tasty but very indulgent!

We loved it so much that we are planning our next trip back! Martello Hall is an awesome place for brunch in East London and really does tick all the boxes – great venue, fab atmosphere, awesome music, delicious food and lovely staff. What more could you ask for? So if you are currently planning a special occasion or a general meetup with some friends then book Martello Hall through Brunchable and you won’t be...

Really really poor, avoid! I was so excited to come here for my bday but am so let down with this place. I'll summarise the main issues below: Emailed that one of my party is in a wheelchair and telephoned over a week in advance to confirm so surprised that we were given a high table with stools to sit on (with my wife in a wheelchair next to me). I had to explain why that was not suitable for someone in a wheelchair, it was surprising the staff seemed so unsure about different accessibility needs. Took about 30 mins to order a drink then 70 mins to order food with it turning up 90 mins into our booking (for this entire time there were 4 other people in the bar). When I explained to the waiter that we only have the table for 2 hours but have only just been given our food with 30 mins left he said he will see what he can do and if there isnt a booking afterwards we can stay to finish our drinks even if the 2 hours is up which seemed meaningless. Our second drinks turned up about 10 minutes before the end of the booking. So many items were missing, the waiter had to come back 3 times to take one of my guests orders as they didnt have the ingredients. Then when her meal finally arrived it was missing a lot of the items (although we all had a laugh that a 'three tomato salad' would be served with only two tomatoes on it!). Same for the £8 triple cooked chips with 'nduja ketchup' which were just bog standard oven chips served with cheap vinegary ketchup. Ditto for the jalapeno cheese dip and other items which just didnt arrive (but were on the bill). The buttermilk chicken was awful too, just 3 burnt chicken goujons and some watermelon for £15! The drinks were nice, I had a mezcal negroni which (despite the very long wait) was nice. It was disappointing to order another and just get a standard negroni, when I managed to find a member of staff to ask about this I was told that they had used a different type of mezcal which, regardless of whether its true, is a shame as it just tasted like a standard negroni and nothing like the first one. The staff seemed very disinterested and I dont think anyone apologised for the whole time we were there and the majority of the time there were no members of staff to be seen. Overall, this is probably the worst bar / restaurant Ive been to in Hackney and one of the worst I've been to in London. One of the issues above would have been disappointing but all of those issues ruined what should have been a celebratory birthday meal and left me quite embarrassed in front of my guests. This business is clearly trying to run before it can walk, the menu looks nice but until you can do the basics like serve guests in a timely manner and provide the items on the menu I'd rather go to a wetherspoons! This is the first time ever that I have not paid service in a restaurant and still feel like we were ripped off. Avoid, go to anywhere else in...