Toconoco, Ridley Road Market, and Miss Pem [8/9 2025]
Recommendations from Me
In this letter, I want to highlight four places in my local area of London, a city I've learned to love very much.
I must have visited the library of the Photobook Cafe in Shoreditch dozens of times. It’s incredibly immersive, and I can easily spend hours leafing through the collection. There’s often a zine section downstairs, and the main section has a focus on independent photobooks, though they also have classic retrospectives by photographers like Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson, as well as some very large-format books.
Toconoco is a Japanese café close to my house. It has a calm, homely atmosphere. It sits next to a basin off Regent’s Canal, and feels especially nice in a storm, with rain falling on the water, or in the bright sunlight.
The Museum of the Home is dedicated to the changing shapes of homes in the UK over the past 300 or so years. It documents not just interiors and styles, but different communities and ways of living. There are sections reflecting the local area, including a British-Vietnamese home that sits very naturally in Hoxton. There’s also a wonderful winter exhibition on showing how Christmas has been celebrated in different contexts.
Ridley Road Market in Dalston is always full of energy. It’s a good place to buy fresh food and groceries from across West Africa, especially Nigeria. I especially love the 50p akara at Blessing’s stall (close to Ararat bread). With enough asking around, I’ve been able to find any West African or Caribbean ingredient I’ve looked for there.
Recommendations from Others
Andrea 2025
‘Go to the Prince Charles Cinema on your own and watch an old classic film.’
Mansi 2025
‘If you like Indo-Chinese food, you have to try Fatt Pundit (they have 2 locations in London) and have a vegan menu! The veg. Manchurian is good.’
Gail 2025
‘Places to go buy flowers in London: i) Miss Pem, Blackstock Road, ii) Dansk Flowers, Islington, iii) Jen’s Plants and Florist, Brick Lane.’
Diya 2025
‘Two great pottery courses in London: SkandiHus (6 weeks) and Turning Earth in Hoxton (4 weeks).’
Cover photo - Dalston, London, UK
