9 a.m. Head to Columbia Road
Columbia Road Flower Market is perhaps one of the most popular attractions in East London. On any given Sunday, people can be seen walking the streets with a bouquet tucked under their arm or wrestling onto a train with a monstera plant. A warning: it gets incredibly busy. Arrive within an hour of its 8 a.m. opening for a less overwhelming experience. Though you may not be able to take any plants home with you if you’re visiting from abroad, Columbia Road is quaint and the homeware and gift shops that line the edge of the market are worth a visit. Do a little shop crawl and don’t miss Hackney Essentials, a grocery and homeware shop, or Idle Moments, a wine and record shop. If you have time to sit down for a sweet treat, head to the back of Vintage Heaven, an antiques shop, for a scone with jam and clotted cream (£3) or a plum and almond cake (£3.50).
11:30 a.m. Try the brunch of the Irish
“Irish cuisine is beginning to establish itself at last,” the writer Karl McDonald declared in Vittles, a popular food Substack, last month. One of the restaurants at this particular vanguard is Inis, in the Fish Island neighborhood. Head here for a full Irish breakfast (£18.50) that includes impressively thick-cut slices of bacon, a deeply flavorful black pudding and an egg atop a roast potato farl. Or, since it’s almost midday, order a pork belly roast with the trimmings (£25). Whatever you order, two things are critical: First, get seated outside for views of the water and optimal people-watching. Second, end your meal with a Guinness cake with custard (£9.50).
1:30 p.m. Peek inside a museum storehouse
Walk by the River Lea and head toward Stratford, a neighborhood that has undergone an impressive — and sometimes divisive — transformation since hosting the Olympics in 2012. The Olympic Park is emerging as a cultural heart of the city. The dance theater Sadler’s Wells opened an outpost there in February. And last month, the Victoria and Albert Museum opened the V&A East Storehouse, an ambitious project that allows visitors to walk among thousands of objects in the museum’s archives, unimpeded by glass cases and close enough to touch. Below your feet, you can see the museum’s employees at work. More is yet to come for Stratford: The V&A plans to open a museum here next year and the BBC is set to operate a music studio that will serve as the home of its symphony orchestra.
