London Fields Brewery

I love this brewery — not much more I can say; I attended one of their homebrewing tours, which I found to be hugely insightful and I was able to employ a few tips later on in my own brew making. (yet to be released We were treated to food and beer throughout the day and thoroughly enjoyed the music entertainment in the taproom later. I recommend the Shoreditch Triangle if you like IPA’s. :)

I just spent a lovely afternoon here. The coffee was decent, the cider was good and the staff was friendly. There wasn’t one standout feature of this establishment, but it had a laid-​back and nice atmosphere, perfect for a Sunday afternoon. Around 6 it started getting busy and we left, but all in all, this seems like a solid hangout.

Asian street food is all the range right now — here in London, in Australia and every other non Asian country. You literally cannot visit a hospitality website or magazine without someone spouting on about a new restaurant opening that week doing some version of Asian Fusion. And that’s where the fun ends — with that word ‘fusion’. Very rarely do you find someone cooking the same way that you would find should you go and visit a particular Asian country. But then sometimes you find a gem of a place under a set of railroad tracks doing the rare dishes you would travel thousands of miles to eat.
Som Saa is exactly that — and you will find them in London Fields. But you will also find a massive queue. Rather than wait in the courtyard with a cocktail or beer for a table I would suggest putting your name down, getting an approximate wait time and head over to London Fields Brewery which is about 45 seconds walk from the restaurant.
London Fields Brewery is a warm space with a relaxed after work crowd and a top selection of beers on tap and from the cask. There’s usually a resident band or musician pumping out some tunes and you’re encouraged to spill out onto the footpath to lap up the sun during the summer months.
What sets these guys apart from the rest of the craft beer crowd is that with most of the beers available — you have the option of drinking them from either the cask of from tap. This is the first time I’ve encountered this option — usually the brewers decide that a particular beer tastes better from one of them and that’s as far as your choice goes — no so here.
When the time calls it’s time to head to Som Saa and make yourself at home. The space is cosy and the room on your table is even smaller. Expect to be bumping elbows with your neighbours if you need to go communal with another group. But all that’s to be expected when you go pop-​up in London. Housed in a rail arch which is home to Climpson & Sons roastery during the day it has a quaint feel even while rammed with punters.
A table of four we decided to see how much of the menu we could chew through and I think we did ourselves proud. The menu features a hit list of lesser known dishes from Northern Thailand that utilises charcoal grills and wood-​fired ovens to give the food a proper smoky flavour. We started with grilled octopus salad with salted duck egg, asian celery and and peanut ‘nam jim’. Flavours that punch you in the face — that’s what I was expecting and boy do they deliver.
My favourite Thai ‘salad’ is most definitely som tam — a green papaya mash up featuring the four S’s of Thai cooking in perfect harmony. I used to have this dish for lunch every single day at BangPop in Melbourne and most recently in the head chef’s new gaff Botherambo.
If the man has to grill then you better let him use it — gai yaang, grilled chicken leg with jaew dipping sauce was the picture of success. A bit tricky to share between four, we would get an extra portion next time. So not complaining here.
The simplicity of neua yang — grilled onglet with laotian ‘jaew bong’ chilli paste really came together perfectly.
A small but pungent bowl of gaeng hung lay — Northern style pork curry with pickled garlic and ginger mad the medicine go down like a treat. This is how a curry should be — a nice thick sauce that you would drink if given the option and perfectly tender pork.
Instagram dish of the night nam dtok pla thort — deep fried seabass with Isaan herbs and roasted rice powder put a smile on our faces plus all those that were watching as it dropped onto the table. This sealed the deal for me that Som Saa and Smoking Goat were two of the best restaurants in London with the addition of both restaurants specialising in my favourite cuisine.
I love that they haven’t shied away from doing proper sticky rice — and unlimited at that. My one tip is that you don’t use utensils when eating the rice. Instead pick the rice from the basket with your hands, roll it in your fingers into a ball and then use it to pick up the food or dab it in the sauce.
Stopping my tourettes and exclaiming that there never has or ever will be a decent Asian dessert, the salted palm sugar ice cream with turmeric grilled banana and sesame did move me but I didn’t feel that it all came together. The rest of the table snaffled it away so I deem they disagree and loved it all.
The wait and the queuing system at Som Saa may be frustrating, the food is anything but. Head early or late, gorge on some of the best Thai food around and leave laughing.
Contact: Som Saa — 374 Helmsley Place, London, E8 3SB. Website. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram.
Trading Hours: Thu — Fri 6pm-​11pm Sat — Sun 11am — 3pm 6pm — 11pm

We went to a corporate event here and were really pleasantly surprised.
The venue is beautiful.
The kind of place you’d want to have a low-​key reception with a kind of rustic feel.
The food provided was a hog-​roast along with vegetarian and vegan options and was absolutely fantastic; I really felt they had put a lot of thought into providing good food options for people with all kinds of tastes. Really yummy and definitely recommend their battered halloumi!
The staff were truly fantastic, despite the huge amount of people they were efficient and friendly, and quickly got through the queue.
There’s a small courtyard area for smokers, which has a few tables and chairs, though not quite enough to meet demand for our event (however they DID have a bunch of back rooms which they opened up.
Really lovely atmosphere, effortlessly transformed from rustic restaurant into evening dance space. Fantastic night, definitely recommend!

Very cool tasting room, great atmosphere, but horrible waitstaff. No customer service.
There were no tables available when we arrived, on a busy weekend, so my wife and I sat at the bar. We finally snagged a table, and were almost immediately asked to move by an employee doing some sort of tasting tour for guys wearing Peter Pan hats (seriously). She told us that everyone was super friendly so we should try sharing a table with someone else, even though there was nowhere else to sit. The loud group took over our table, so we moved back to the bar. Looking on the back side of the bar, there was a half finished plate of food, chips and candy wrappers, amongst dirty dishes.
The group of guys finally left to the brewery’s other building, after about 10 minutes (not sure why I had to give up my seat as a paying customer, especially to a group that wasn’t staying, but I obliged nonetheless). The last straw was when I came back to order another round of tasters, my bartender, no joke, was chewing her fingernails as she poured my beer. None of the bartenders looked like they wanted to be there, and the one who asked us to move has the worst attitude.
Despite all this, the beer is pretty decent. I tried six tasters, the Texan Tea was fantastic, as was the Three Weiss Monkeys, nothing else was anything spectacular.
All in all, nice place to hang out and get affordable beer, just hope they work on training their staff in customer service and basic hygiene.

Nice brewpub just a few steps away from London Fields. I tried a white IPA, a belgian wit mixed with an IPA: nice try but not that amazing. Brewery tour available.

I went there for a launch of Texan tea beer, and the atmosphere was lovely at around 6 pm on Thursday, but then we went on a brewery tour, and returned at 8 pm and the place was absolutely packed. There wasn’t even a chance of making your way to the bar…
The beers seem reasonably priced (same prices as in nearby off-​licences, and are great for someone tired of boring beers and with urge to explore.
It was quite fascinating to see the actual brewery, as the place is tiny, and it is hard to believe they are producing quite high quantities. It is quite obvious that they really need to expand…

I purchased two tickets for a brewery tour and meal at London Fields brewery as an anniversary gift for my boyfriend. We were booked on the 15:00 tour on Saturday the 8 November and had not previously visited the Tap Room, despite drinking the beer and living in East London. It was a dreary, rainy afternoon and the bar was bustling when we arrived– it was very comfortable and buzzing with crowds of people both eating and drinking. Staff members at the bar were enthusiastic and extremely helpful, although it was very busy and they were out of some of the beers that we wanted to sample on tap (the black IPA in particular). They sold their regular and seasonal offerings in half and full pints and also had an affordable house wine by the glass with some spirits behind the bar.
We were gathered up at the bar for our brewery tour– it was very relaxed and the group size was about 20 people. The group did vary in age, but the highest contingency were noticeably young professional 30-​somethings who had a penchant for craft beer (as most of them had been to Meantime, Camden, Kernel and other local breweries). We were led into the brewery, which is very bijoux and we had several brewers trying to work around us. The tour lasted about 30 minutes; it was very informal and the tour guide was an enthusiastic brewer herself, so she was able to explain some of the chemistry and science behind the various stages of the brewing process. She was happy to take questions throughout and we got the impression that the tour was bespoke and based on the interests of the group. We spend some time differentiating cask ales versus keg ales, for instance. There is not much to actually see in the brewery, but you do get a sense of the small scale of the operation and how hands-​on the brewers are with every batch that they brew– aside from this, it isn’t a walking tour and we were kept in the same spot throughout (but you can see some of the machines used to carbonate the beer from windows in the Tap Room).
We were taken back to the Tap Room and invited to taste some of the beers that we had discussed– in particular, it was very elucidating to compare Hackney Hopster in both cask and keg forms. I was surprised to find that the keg variation was much more flavoursome and the cask did taste very flat and bland in comparison. We also tried Love not War, an ale, which was pleasant and their wheat beer, which I particularly liked.
We opted to add food to our brewery tour and this was served with the beer tasting portion of the tour– only a couple of patrons on the tour had food tickets, so it was slightly awkward to interact with others in our group (but they were looking on with envy). The food comprised of a meat and cheese sharing board with bread and a selection of one of their burgers/​rolls– this ranged from a pulled pork, jerk chicken, halloumi or rarebit sandwich. I actually bought a vegetarian ticket because I wasn’t sure what the food selection would be in advance and I don’t eat most red meat, so I was a bit surprised to find that they did not have an alternative for the meat and cheese platter (i.e. perhaps meze instead of meat); I asked our guide and she was very happy to offer us a larger cheese board, but my partner does eat meat, so we declined. They had also run out of their halloumi burger, which was a disappointment, but I was swayed by the pulled pork instead. The burgers were good and arrived with apple sauce, pickles and slaw, but no chips or any sides.
Before leaving, I wanted to try the pumpkin spice seasonal beer and it was delicious! I had already tried Camden Brewery’s pumpkin ale and the former had a more pronounced taste, more like pumpkin pie– it was very balanced and the sweetness was more of an aftertaste, but I thought it a successful and extremely quaffable attempt!
I would recommend going on the London Fields tour for beer aficionados– it’s laid-​back and informal compared to most brewery tours that I have been on, but we enjoyed it. The groups seem to get very busy and they do several tours a day on the weekends, but in spite of this, I didn’t feel too rushed. The food at the Tap Room is perfect for lunch, but I would have preferred ordering after the tour and relaxing with our lunch to soak up the atmosphere in the bar– I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the combo ticket, but I would stay and eat there. The burgers that we were offered ranged in price on the menu from about £6-£7 each.
I think that we will definitely be visiting the Tap Room again for a few cheeky drinks and I’m glad that we had the opportunity to scope it out and put it on our East London radar.

Been here twice now. Once to experience the brewery tour and once for a party with You Are We. The tour guide was fantastic and really knew his stuff although I’ve had better craft beers in London and the space that they used for the party with the terrace was perfect. Definitely a place I’d like to visit again

The beer was good but I’m really interested in how well the bathroom was kept. Wowee, what a clean bathroom! I’ve never seen such a thing.

Tasty beers, good service, they would really benefit from having a open area

Unilocal has an unrivalled ability to place a metaphorical mirror in front of one, and make one realise how one spends one’s life. Just for good measure, let me say ‘one’ again; I’m not sure I’ve made that opening gambit sound pretentious enough.
My spiritual awakening was the realisation that I am not so much an ‘Elite’ of London and Sydney’s finest businesses, just of one particular type. A connoisseur of trans-​global boozers. The Oscar Wilde of starting dance-​offs with bouncers. The Tim Berners-​Lee of ‘am-I-going-to-vo…-no-I’m-ok-oh-Jesus.’ So it is with suitable self-​awareness that I would implore you to visit London Fields Brewery.
A friend of mine held his birthday here — the day of a commendable event supporting Macmillan Cancer Research — and the staff were excellent. Everyone was exceptionally helpful in shedding light on the brewing process, giving out beer samples like some sort of tipsy oompah-​loompahs. The brewery’s environment is as refreshing as what it offers; trendy without being stand-​offish.
You’ll hone an ability to make up different excuses to try every single beer there; a valuable life lesson.
Take it from me — the king of keeping appalling company.

décor épuré. ça sent bon le bois et la bière. des londoniens en chemise à carreaux et petits bonnets. la bière est brassée dans la pièce à côté. un bel endroit où se réfugier quand il fait –3 dehors et certainement un paradis quand la terrasse est installée à l’extérieur l’été. on la voudrait bien à Paris…

It’s all beer and burgers at the brewery through the summer; perfectly British except for the pulled pork wraps. The brewery is open every weekend through the summer with the last weekend of each month being a bit of a big deal There’s bands, meat, and ale, what else could you want?

They’ve been opening every Saturday for the past few weeks and they’ve even been selling their beer at the Long Table in Dalston. I can’t believe they manage to replenish their stocks so quickly in this small brewery.
Since the weather stopped being so sunny, the beer garden out the front has a massive gazebo over it with some heating. The food stalls seem to be different everytime I go but are always tasty and they have lots of bands who play inside as well.
If you’re in Broadway market and feel like a pint, don’t go to the boring pub, go here instead. It’s way cooler.

Not as difficult to find as you might suspect, using your Unilocal App Map, this place is very lovely.
I arrived on a cold November eve and was able to help myself to Mulled Wine and delicious bbq treats. Its like a mini-​festival with its own beer. Which as it happens is right up my street.
I love the simplicity of the décor, palette-​benches and a simple but huge gazebo.
There was even some great musical entertainment on the Saturday evening I was there, a jazzy covers band of sorts, sorry to say I didn’t get the name. But I will definitely be returning!

Why go to Munich when you can bring Oktoberfest to you? At least, that was the idea when Tristan forwarded the deets on London Fields Brewery’s ‘Ocktoberfest’ day.
Greeted by a few fellow Unilocalers, some delightful brew, a guest appearance by the German bratwurst stand (typically located at Broadway Market) and bountiful warm sunshine, the afternoon couldn’t have been more pleasant. On this particular occasion, there was even live music to thrill the audience.
As to the brewery itself, the staff is knowledgeable and friendly, offering me some advice on a brew I might like. As it turns out, their Love Not War fit the bill just fine; a pint of it was enough to have me feeling quite fine.
Though the majority of the seating here is outside under massive umbrellas, there’s a good amount of room inside as well. Hopefully this brewery will continue to open its doors to the public throughout the colder months of the year. It’s too great a find to have unavailable for the upcoming winter!

I kind of got lost getting here. I strolled up in the right direction but couldn’t see anything around me. Then I took my headphones off and just listened for the music and voices. Found it!
You walk up to a sort of tented area, not completely enclosed. Lots of tables and places to sit. Lots of beer to drink. It was busy but we were still able to find a place to sit.
Check the website for times because I don’t think its regularly open.
Came here for an Oktoberfest celebration and had a warmed, and mustarded pretzel. Tasty. And I enjoyed the larger actually. Am I warming up to beer? or do they just brew a really good beer here. I shall have to experiment some more and see.