Shoreditch’s hottest creperie and bar: Shutterbug
By
Carolyn Owlett
Shutterbug is a cocktail bar and creperie hidden in the heart of Shoreditch. Serving traditional French crepes by day and fast becoming one of East London’s hottest nightspots thanks to it’s bespoke cocktails, large private courtyard and killer sound system.
The brainchild of Cath Radjocin, a marketing manager and her partner, Sam Davis, an events specialist who met 10 years ago whilst working at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Restaurant.
Shutterbug is into its second year and business is booming.
Located just off Rivington Street, Shutterbug’s décor is understated and classy. Its not huge, but holds up to 30 for sit down dinners and 80 – 130 for drinks and dancing. It’s cosy without being cramped. Apart from several uber cool prints hanging in light boxes around the wall courtesy of livincool.com the venue has been kept simple and rustic. Midweek the place buzzes with creative types and city folk alike, tucking into delicious smelling dishes and washing them down with colourful cocktails. At weekends the venue transforms into swanky cocktail bar mode complete with big name DJ’s and club nights on rotation.
With such a wealth of industry experience between them I knew Shutterbug would be good but I have family who live in Brittany, France (the home of crepes and galette’s) so I wanted to see just how authentic the dishes would taste.
The menu is updated regularly and offers a selection of galettes, sweet crepes and delicious salads served up until 10:30pm. Everything looks amazing so choosing took longer than expected but I opted for a galette with Soignon goat cheese, baby spinach, toasted walnuts and fig relish. All the ingredients were fresh and cooked in the open kitchen to perfection and best of all the buckwheat batter was light, authentic and not at all greasy. For desert I went for a sweet crepe with blueberries and maple syrup. It was amazing! Cath has managed to re create an exact replica of the taste I would expect at my families local creperie.
The majority of the alcohol is sourced locally in order to ensure they offer a boutique service to clientele and East London Liquor Company currently provides the house pours. The cocktail list is extensive and changes regularly however for those who enjoy surprises, highly experienced bar staff are more than happy to whip something up using your favorite spirit as a base. The cocktails are potent without being difficult to drink and very reasonably priced between £7 and £9 in the evening and £6.50 to £9 during the day.
Another plus is that they now offer a full breakfast service everyday until 3pm except Sunday, meaning if like me you overindulged in the moreish cocktails the night before, you can eat away your hangover sat outside in the fresh air!
Venues with outdoor space are hard to come by in Shoreditch so one of my favorite things about Shutterbug is the enormous courtyard area. To add to it’s East London credibility the main wall is covered with a huge graffiti piece courtesy of Camille Walala. Throughout summer they regularly use this area to host yard parties and outdoor film screenings, complete with BBQ pit. In winter they pop up a large heated and carpeted marquee as an extension to the venue. Having attended a private party which spilled into the marquee last winter I can vouch for the fact that it firmly cemented Shutterbug as the perfect party venue in my mind. In fact if you are looking for somewhere to host a party this Xmas I would thoroughly recommend looking into Shutterbug. Weather its for a sit down meal or simply drinks and dancing Cath and Sam’s team go out of their way to make your event special.
If you are after a delicious quick fix lunch, cosy dinner or simply somewhere to drink and dance the night away then look no further, this little bolt hole ticks all the right boxes.
NB: If you are planning a night out at Shutterbug I would advise arriving early, the ques have been known to reach down the road on big nights!
Check the site for event listings;
1 Rivington Place,
London
EC2A 3BA
Open hours;
Mon & Tues: 9 am – 6pm
Wed & Thursday: 9am – 11pm
Friday: Sat 9am – 1am
