Madame Pigg

"See, now the difficult thing about this arguably great restaurant is that every time we go there we think ‘I wish my garden looked like this’. Actually, in all honesty we think ‘I wish I had a garden’. But anyway, garden envy aside, it’s hard to fault this little secret-garden spot on Kingsland Road that’s a proper crowd-pleaser of a restaurant. The food here is strictly seasonal so the menu changes regularly but you can expect things like chestnut mushroom pappardelle, swordfish, and lamb rump, as well as plenty of light bites if you want to opt for a sharing situation. Will the night end with you using distraction techniques on your sibling and legging it with the remnants of the salted caramel tart? Probably, but at least you’ll be legging it through a very lovely garden. Mind the flower pots." - heidi lauth beasley

"Madame Pigg has a secret. If that’s not the best first line of a potential detective novel, then we don’t know what is. Anyway, Madame Pigg’s secret is this: they have one of the most charming back gardens in London. There are six-person booths, foliage, and fairylights people, it’s lovely. But importantly, so is the food here. The menu changes regularly but you can expect aioli-covered snacks, a quality pasta dish, and plenty of knockout seafood. Thanks to their garden this makes for one of the best al fresco date nights in London, but it’ll work just as well for a lowkey birthday party involving a round of oysters and several glasses of rosé." - Heidi Lauth Beasley