Hospitality guru Xavier Padovani’s guide to east London

This article is part of a guide to London from FT Globetrotter

In lockdown, you are lucky if you are in a place you love.

I grew up in the south of France and made London my home 20 years ago. My plan was to stay for six months to study English but I fell in love with the city, its cosmopolitan values and culture. 

I’ve mostly lived on the east side of the capital, testing the waters in Bethnal Green, Hoxton and across the river in Greenwich. I finally settled on Lower Clapton, a hip, vibrant and diverse neighbourhood in the borough of Hackney, and where I’ve lived for the past four years. 

During normal times, my life is spent on the road travelling to Menorca, Ibiza, Paris, Venice, Verbier and New York, where my business partners and I have our hotels and restaurants. When I touch back down in London, I’m a creature of habit.

Most weekends now are spent catching up with local friends for a morning coffee along Chatsworth Road, one of the first planned high streets in London and home to an excellent weekly food market. We’ll often walk east through Millfields Park onto Hackney Marshes, a conservation area and green space bordered by Hackney, Walthamstow and Leyton. 

Throughout the pandemic, my family and I have spent hours getting lost along its pathways, soaking up any ounce of sunshine and watching boats ease their way down the canals. Lockdown restrictions permitting, picnic lunches have come with us, packed with bits we’ve picked up the day before from our favourite shops on nearby Broadway Market. The butcher Hill & Szrok does an amazing merguez (North African lamb sausage), as well as prime cuts of beef or pork. Additional provisions come from Bright, a celebrated neighbourhood restaurant, alongside cakes and pastries from E5 Bakehouse, Violet and Pophams. 

It’d be rude not to crack open a bottle of wine, which I usually collect from P Franco, on Lower Clapton Road, on the off-chance I’ve not been to our West End wine bar La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels to stock up on some of my favourites (see below).

On weekends I also like to set off on one of my motorcycles. My current favourite is a Norton P52 Commander, which I’ll take for an easy cruise around east London. In normal times I might stop at Son of a Stag shop in Shoreditch for new denim and a pair of Red Wing boots, or its sibling store, the denim-restoration atelier Soldier Blue to have a pair of ONI jeans repaired. When I have more time and the kids allow it, I’ll take a trip through Hackney Wick to Riverbank Motorcycles to see the chap who has built and rebuilt my collection of vintage bikes. 

Evenings are, of course, spent at home these days, and are made better with bottled cocktails from some of our favourite local bars: Tayēr + Elementary’s Vetiver Negronis and Old Fashioneds from Happiness Forgets. We’ll order takeaway from Lucky & Joy (its braised pork belly is killer) to help ease the pain of being unable to sit at a restaurant or bar. My nightcap to finish is sipping Mount Gay Port Cask Expression rum and listening to “Bam Bam” by Sister Nancy through my 1970s Goodman speakers (from the best audio store for vintage sound systems, Audio Gold in Muswell Hill).

Quieter moments are spent with my wife scouring interior design sites like Dyke & Dean, Swtch and Pluck for ideas for our next house near Millfields Park, which we will hopefully be renovating this spring.

In normal times, I would be spending my evenings having an early apéro at La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels or drinks at the Henrietta Hotel. My absolute favourite cocktail there is Cloud of Witness, a mix of Yaguara cachaça, cognac, coconut water, pear, jasmine syrup and clarified milk. I might have dinner at Da Henrietta for Italian food prepared by my good friend and Lower Clapton neighbour Toto dell’Arringa (one half of Italian Supper Club) and a St Germain des Prés to cap off the night at Experimental Cocktail Club Chinatown. One day I’ll be back and, like everyone, I’m hoping it’s a not-too-distant dream. 

Xavier Padovani is partner and director of the Experimental Group, a hospitality group with more than two dozen boutique hotels, restaurants and bars across the UK, Europe and the US

Where are your favourite spots in east London? Share your tips in the comments

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