London,

The Empress Of India

Description: A handsome addition to the area, The Empress Of India serves gastropub/restaurant fare. Owners Ed and Tom Martin have previous form, with other successful gastropubs in Canary Wharf and the City, and The Empress Of India should prove a hit. The Empress is open 7 days a week for breakfast, morning coffee and pastries, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner.

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130 Lauriston Road, E9 7LH

Phone: +44 (0) 20 8533 5123

Website: http://www.theempressofindia.com

Transport: London Fields

Empress of India

Brought to you by the people behind the Well, The Prince Arthur and The Gun etc, the Empress of India is a familiar experience for those of you who have visited any of these sister venues.

And, if you haven't ever been to these places, you can expect an upmarket experience, with a strong focus on dining. The Empress is one of the earlier pubs to be subsumed into this chain and is so familiar to us that we thought we'd already reviewed it - apologies for the omission.

You can indeed roll up here just for a drink - there are a couple of decent real ales, good wines, Aspall's cider etc - and enjoy them at the bar, on one of the squashy settees or the tables outside. But you'll soon feel that, really, the pressure's on to order food. In our experience about half of the pubs in the chain are like this, the others having a more relaxed attitude to a solely liquid sojourn. The food is actually jolly good, although a little pricey and the fully-booked restaurant at the weekends is testament to its quality and popularity. During the week, if you book online, you can get 25% off your food bill - which seems to us the perfect time to visit this place.

NEAREST STATION: London Fields station
FEATURES: function room available, outdoor seating, separate restaurant

Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.