our Story

We started Enola’s Kitchen in 2005 because we felt that there were not many places near us that served simple home-cooked food, old fashioned desserts, cakes and great coffee. There were and still are, some amazing local places in and around this delicious city of ours, but we couldn’t find one that was near enough to satisfy our cravings for good home cooked food on a regular basis.

So once the opportunity came our way, we opened up and started doing what we have been doing, until today. It was nothing fancy, just simple home cooked dishes, made well, at a fair price and served with a smile. It was hard in the beginning. We had experience as chefs, as we had completed our formal training five years earlier and had worked in a range of kitchens all over the country, from church fetes to music festivals and everything in between, but we had little experience in running an actual bricks & mortar business. We soon discovered that being a chef and being a restaurant owner are two totally different roles. Here we were, trying to do both…at the same time!

We made a lot of mistakes in the beginning, which won’t come as a surprise, but we learnt from every single one of them and used it as our reference as we went on our journey, but to be honest, we wouldn’t change a thing. As time went on, we moved a few times as we wanted to test out new areas and markets and were still trying to find our essence, but more importantly, somewhere we could lay down roots.

We finally returned to London, as we felt that this was the city that we felt most comfortable with and though many other places around the country have superb offerings, cultures and people that appreciate food in general, the food scene in London calls to us the most. That said, Doncaster will always have a place in our hearts.

We have spent the last five years in North London and when Covid-19 hit, we, like so many businesses, had to close our doors. This coincided with the end of our lease, so we evaluated our new situation and decided to look for a larger space. And when the opportunity to open here in Hoxton came to us, it was all our dreams realised, as East London has long been our original area of choice.

We want to be a local favourite and a place where the community and visitors alike can enjoy, whenever they feel the need for a home made meal, tea and cake, a glass of wine and nibbles or one of the other nice things we have on the menu. All our food is prepared daily on site and we source from local ingredients and suppliers wherever possible. We aim to work with our neighbours, supporting local community functions, Seniors lunch club, free hot drinks for the homeless in the area, kids cookery classes and discounts for local residents.

Environmental sustainability is one of our top priorities. All our takeaway food packaging is bio-degradable and fully compostable. We offer free coffee or tea in the mornings (8am - 9am) for those that bring their own reusable cups and 25% of profits from our monthly Supper Club will go to charities that support a wide range of causes including, Domestic Abuse, Homeless Shelters (Winter) and Kids Breakfast Clubs.

We would like to keep in touch by sending a monthly newsletter which lets you know of any events we have coming up, exclusive special offers for mailing list subscribers as well as recipes and our head chef’s (Kwaks) monthly blog post. We promise to not misuse or sell your information and will only send you relevant information (not SPAM!!!) so please sign up to our mailing list before you leave.

We would appreciate it if you could follow us on our social media channels and thank you in advance for your support.

We look forward to serving you soon.:o)

home cooked food, served with a smile…

LEAD STAFF

Siobhan - FOH

Charlie - Kitchen

Eva - Office