Hawksmoor Spitalfields

Hawksmoor Spitalfields is the original and spiritual home of the Hawksmoor group, the restaurant that launched in 2006 and changed the British steakhouse for ever. Founded by Will Beckett and Huw Gott on a then-unfashionable stretch of Commercial Street, the restaurant takes its name from Nicholas Hawksmoor, the brilliant 18th-century architect whose masterwork Christ Church stands just yards away. Listed in the Michelin Guide, this is the site where the Hawksmoor spirit is considered by staff and regulars to be most purely expressed.

The menu focuses on native breed beef, dry-aged on the bone and carved at the pass: prime rib, porterhouse, T-bone, chateaubriand and rib-eye, alongside exceptional seafood, Sunday roasts and the legendary sticky toffee pudding. The cocktail bar in the basement -- once a strip club, now one of the finest cocktail bars in East London -- is also open independently. Open Monday to Saturday for lunch and dinner; Sunday lunch and early dinner. Booking strongly advised.