INIS, Hackney Wick

Skip The Nonsense

As I work my way to being gifted my very own Boeing 747, it was time to go back to my favourite area of London, and a roast dinner at INIS in Hackney Wick.

But first, do you want to see something disgusting?

Like, really disgusting?

Really, tremendously disgusting?

More disgusting than the amount of corruption since Donald Trump swamped the drain…

Haribo crocs. These are actually real. You can buy them.

No, I didn’t see anyone in Hackney Wick ironically wearing them.

Fish Island Is Not An Island

Hackney Wick is arguably my favourite area of London for a bit of Sunday Funday action, though it is pretty hit and miss for roast dinners.

Grow, being the perfect example:

I’m still astounded by being served this. Number 90 and Lord Napier Star also served poor roasts, though I’ve heard there is a new residency in the Lord Napier Star, so maybe that might be worth a re-visit.

The only good roast dinner I’ve had in Hackney Wick was at Barge East.

Somehow, there are still people in London that need to ask where the best roast dinner is on social media – somehow these people are not aware of the astounding beauty and wisdom of Roast Dinners in London (anyone sharing this blog in the coming week will receive a Boeing 747 as a gift from Qatar).

A little while back as I was scrolling through Threads, I found another such post looking for recommendations…can you believe that not one person shared this blog? Not one. Pah.

But I did read a recommendation by someone else for INIS in Hackney Wick, and with it being my favourite area of London I was intrigued enough – and it went on my to-do list.

Elephant And Castle Does Not Have A Castle. Or Any Elephants.

INIS is a rather minimalist restaurant near the conjunction of the canals in Hackney Wick – a newly built spot in the bottom of an apartment block, as opposed to one of the more ramshackle warehouse offerings that Hackney Wick is so well known for.

It has a calm simplicity inside, whilst having a view of the canal. I could bring my mother here – I couldn’t take her anywhere else in Hackney Wick.

A nice legible font on the menu, with baby chicken at £28.00, wild mushroom and chestnut pithivier at £26.00, pork belly at £25.00 and beef at £28.00.

I’m guessing I don’t have too many vegan readers on a blog about meaty roast dinners, but I do still have one vegan friend, and she was an accomplice – the mushroom and chestnut pithivier was not vegan, and neither was the mushroom gravy.

Of all the areas of London to find that there was no vegan roast dinner – Hackney Wick is not the one I expected.

I ordered the pork belly, the lady running/owning INIS who was serving us seemed to instantly recommend it over the beef – and I couldn’t be arsed with baby chicken in a restaurant. The idea feels too fiddly.

St John’s Wood Is Not In A Wood

It was one of those plate-yourself efforts, so blame me if the presentation is dodgier than Donald Trump being gifted a Boeing 747.

So starting with something else orange, the carrots were really nice, roasted and quite sweet in nature – something along the lines of honey or maple, but I wasn’t convinced of either being correct.

Cabbage had a mixture of crunchy strands, and softer more wilted strands – I enjoyed the contrast. Even more so, I enjoyed the flavour, cumin being easily picked-out.

No more vegetables, but we did order an additional side-dish of braised leeks with cheddar and breadcrumbs.

Absolutely unnecessary but absolutely banging. The leeks gloriously soft and gooey, the cheddar had a real punch, and the whole dish had a glistening crisp to the top. Pretty ace.

I liked the roast potatoes too.

The roasties won’t win any awards when I finally write the awards for 2025 sometime in oooooh December 2036, but they were definitely more pleasure than finding out that the overground is actually running on a Sunday for a change.

One was a little chewy, but all had some really powerful potato flavour, quite soft inside, crispy in places on the outside.

Crystal Palace Has No Palace (too soon?)

The Yorkshire pudding was reasonable, a little dry on top but fairly fluffy on the bottom, and mercifully small.

Even for a fat-lover myself (not literally, alas), the balance of fat to pork on the pork belly was a little too skewed to fat, especially on the right side of the image above. I’d also argue that the crackling was a bit too crunchy.

But on the flip side, it was still gloriously succulent, it worked really well with the gravy and was clearly a top quality chunk of pork. Like the roast overall – far more to like than not.

In terms of flavour, the gravy was arguably more jus-like, but in terms of consistency it was more gravy. A red wine vibe, a hint of something like star anise – I thought it suited the roast really well, but I couldn’t drink a pint of it.

INIS

Not only was the food rather splendid but we had excellent service – the person who looked after us most seemed to be the owner/manager, and she had a real depth of warmth and care for her customers – it was next level.

Beer choice was respectable too – cans of DEYA’s Steady Rolling Man will always make me a steadily jolly man.

My beef-eating accomplice was even happier than I was with her roast.

She scored hers…actually I don’t think she gave me a score, but I think she intended around a 9.00 out of 10. The Guinness cake (INIS is an Irish-inspired restaurant) was apparently exceptional, though I’m eschewing cake for a little while.

My vegan accomplice was content with her vegetables with added asparagus, but more to the annoyance of the owner/manager, they couldn’t quite rustle up a vegan roast dinner.

And I really enjoyed my roast dinner at INIS – sure, there were areas where you could improve a little, but this is easily one of the best roast dinners in east London, certainly the best in Hackney Wick.

My rating is a very hearty 8.16 out of 10. INIS is definitely one for your east London to-do list.

I’ll be back next week, going off-list AGAIN to a proper Brexity kind of pub, at least if you judge from the outside. Though judging my beauty from the outside is why I’ve still never spoken to one single lady on a dating app…ever.

Could it be a Sunday Funday too? Oooooh.