The Lacy Nook, Stoke Newington, restaurant review: no need to balk at this fine Balkan cuisine

Nooks and crannies: upstairs at The Lacy Nook. Photograph: The Lacy Nook

The Lacy Nook? It’s a name that has baffled those I’ve told about this assignment – is it a tea room? An upmarket boutique? A rather twee euphemism for the gusset?

Actually, it’s a Stoke Newington Balkan-meets-Asian joint providing fusion dinners (as well as brunches from Thursday to Sunday.)

For the area, it’s comparatively easily missed: sitting on Cazenove Road rather than within the bustle of Church Street or the high street.

Their owners have added to this mystique with a ‘soft-launch’ – one of those marketing terms which, to be honest, I reckon nobody actually knows the meaning of (or at least I don’t.) Now the restaurant is properly open, I’ve been summoned to try their newly refreshed menu.

If the name suggests a quaint tea-room, the decor is almost that of a wine bar – not the City of London brand, but one you actually wouldn’t mind sitting in without wanting to trigger a class war.

That said, it was a beer order, for one of the darker brews from Bermondsey’s Kernel Brewery, that I put in as me and my partner took a seat in the Nook’s spacious garden. She on the other hand did opt for wine, and the glass of red, from the Stobi winery in Macedonia’s Tikves wine region, was revelatory even for a vino-skeptic like me in its rich, cinnamony body and dark intensity.

The “secret” beer garden

Be it from the continent or right here in East London, the Nook-sters clearly care about their sourcing, and a chat with Macedonian owners Elena Smileva and Jana Miseva about honey (they get theirs from Walthamstow’s Local Honey Man) reveals that this is no mere hip conceit – they know their stuff.

The aroma of the next table’s beef cevapi, resplendent with thick ajvar (a Serbian sauce derived from red peppers) and bread from Dalston’s The Dusty Knuckle, earns them the standard evil glares of a hungry man, from yours truly.

My blind rage fades when the first of my main plates arrives – they recommend two each. The flamed pork rib is hugely tender despite its fiery origins, and is coated in a dark, treacly sauce redolent of teriyaki sauce, along with heaps of chillies that further emphasise head chef Tom Catley’s (ex of Ottolenghi and Nobu) Asian influences. It’s a touch on the sweet side, but the meatiness is there to be found, and peanuts add further complexity in taste and texture.

Flamed pork rib, apple cider, treacle, peanuts & coriander. Photograph: Jade King

My squid fares slightly less well – the tubes are a bit too tough and the abundance of smoked paprika is a little sickly. That said, the tentacles are faultlessly cooked, and go well with the herby mayo.

Contrary to the stereotypical view of Eastern European cuisine as being all about flesh in all its forms, vegetarians are well catered for at The Lacy Nook.

Lengths of roasted aubergine with jalapeno sauce and miso and tahini yogurt provide gorgeous, creamy umami flavours that pair excellently with the separate quinoa salad – a dish that throws in some paprika-y halloumi on top as a smoky extra.

The aubergine and quinoa dishes. Photograph: Jade King

But the best vegetarian dish is the also the best overall dish of the evening – the dessert.

My notes just say “best baklava ever”, followed embarrassingly by three exclamation marks.

The Lacy Nook’s take on this most authentic pud (the recipe comes from co-owner Elena’s mother) situates sublime raspberry puree inside a pastry ram-packed with luxurious butteryness.

The fruit tastes fresh off the bush and packs a zing, but it’s still baklava, sweet and honeyed but not overly sugary, and certainly not some fruity bastardisation. I could eat twenty helpings. It’s not just worth coming here for this dish alone, it’s worth going anywhere this dish happens to exist. So, so good.

“Best baklava ever”: the impressive dessert. Photograph: Jade King

I’ll be coming back to The Lacy Nook, to finally try the cevapi and for more of that absolutely bonkers baklava. And if they ever run out, I’ll be off to Macedonia to deplete their raspberry resources. On the strength of this very likeable outing, I’ll find plenty of main courses to be getting on with out there too.

The Lacy Nook
8 Cazenove Rd, N16 6BD