Hackney Central

Hackney Central is one of East London's coolest areas at the moment. It offers hipsters, multicultural atmosphere, music, art, parks, good value restaurants and cinema. You can still see poverty here though. It has all you need for a great night out or for a good dinner and a drink. This is definitely one of my favourite areas in London. Hackney used to be a village of its own just outside London and you can still see that history in services and buildings.

Entertainment:

• Hackney Empire is a  culture venue offering music, comedy, dance and theatre. The building is a beautiful old theatre. The tickets are sort of expensive, but then again, you get some big names performing here. Back in the day, The Beatles played here. In the mean time there was a darker period when the building was used as a bingo hall, but now it has been restored to its former glory.
• Hackney Picturehouse is one of the few good value cinemas in London. They have quite a good selection of the films they are showing and the screens are fairly good sized. They also have good bars and you can even get food from downstairs restaurants. In the attack, they sometimes host club nights, stand-up comedy etc.
• Moth Club is a great music venue for hip indie music, including lots of psychedelic rock. It's set in an old veterans' club with a golden ceiling.
• Oslo is a restaurant and a club. They host lots of indie gigs. The venue is quite small, but there's a good atmosphere there and a surprisingly good beer selection for a music venue. 

Art:

• Every month's first Thursday galleries open their exhibitions and often offer free drinks as well.  The best bet near Hackney is to head to Vyner Street. There are a lot of galleries in a really small area. Some of the venues are really great.

Parks:

• In the summertime, London Fields is full of young hipsters drinking, eating street food from the close by Broadway Market and looking 'hip'. The park itself is really nice middle-sized park. As the name suggests, it's mostly fields here.
• In the heart of Hackney Central lay St. John's Gardens. A small park area with an old church, old tower and some gravestones. The park is really beautiful and it's a good place to rest your feet for a while. 

Drinking:

• Pub on the Park near London Fields is a great pub with hipsters, quite good beer selection and a real fireplace. It even has quite a big beer garden. In the weekends the music is a bit loud. 
• Platform is an excellent trendy bar & café. There's a great view to the railway lines. There's also a nice balcony for warm summer nights. Absolutely brilliant place.
• London Fields Brewery's Tap Room has some of the best beers in London. The pub is cozy and they host acoustic music nights from time to time. You can also taste three small glasses of beer with a price of one pint. Delicious stuff!
• The Dove is an atmospheric pub with great pub food or Thai food if you prefer that. Eat or drink here in the candle light with dark wooden furniture.  They also serve a variety of Belgian and English microbrewery beers and you can even get fantastic mussels to go with that.
  
• Market Café is a nice wood-furnished atmospheric pub with an impressive menu and Camden brewery's beers on tap. Great!
• The Cock Tavern is a fantastic pub right next to the Hackney Central station. This funnily named pub works as a taproom for a microbrewery, Howling Hops. Those are some tasty beers! There's also the smallest beer garden in London (It's basically just an outdoor closet).
  
• The Penbury Tavern is a large pub with wood-fired pizzas. There's also a pool table and great Milton brewery real ales from Cambridge. This is a great place to hang out with friends over a pint, since there's no music on the background.

Markets:

• Broadway Market is probably my favourite market. Stalls with excellent food, Vietnamese coffee, vinyl records and all sorts of treats. Hipsters are plentiful. In the summertime you can enjoy your street food in the nearby London Fields.

Eating:

• Hackney Central is full of Vietnamese restaurants and one of them outstands them all. Green Papaya's back room's atmosphere is similar to Hanoi's restaurants. Simple walls and few plants make a simple but authentic look for the place. The food has good value and it's really delicious. 
• Tre-Viet is also worth visiting. Here you can get vegetarian pho!
• Tonkotsu is a nice modern place with authentic Japanese ramen. They also serve Japanese microbrewery beers in a clean and swanky atmosphere.
• Temple of Seitan makes amazing vegan versions of fast food like fried chicken and wings. If you're a vegetarian or vegan but want to eat unhealthy things, this is a place for you. There's not much room inside, so prepare to take your food with you.

 Areas around Hackney Central: Homerton, Dalston, South Hackney, Clapton, Haggerston