RE:1996

Walk up Upper Street past the usual suspects and you'll find yourself in somewhere that actually feels different. RE:1996 sits quietly on this strip, but inside it's doing something proper interesting: taking Korean flavours and ideas, then running them through a proper kitchen's lens. The space has that effortless cool thing going on—not trying too hard, but clearly thought through. You're getting plates that are considered and precise without being fussy, and the kind of service that feels warm rather than starched. It's the sort of place Islington locals have actually claimed as their own, which tells you everything.