One of a cluster of jazz venues within walking distance of Kingsland station, Dalston Jazz Bar has been steadily growing in popularity since going viral on TikTok last year thanks to its intriguing pricing structure.
Book a table at one of two nightly dinner servings at the ramshackle spot and you’ll be treated to live jazz from the house band, while waiters flit between crammed tables delivering platters of huge tiger prawns, mussels cooked in white wine, bubbling fish stew and more specials from the daily-changing menu to a lively and diverse clientele. The twist? There are no prices on the menu, with guests encouraged to pay what they think the food is worth (with a minimum donation of £20 per head to cover the musicians’ fees).
At 10pm, dinner service ends, the tables are stripped and the place transforms into a nightclub of sorts, with 62-year-old head chef and owner Robert Beckford often stepping behind the decks alongside his son Duke, and live jazz replaced by old-school hip-hop and RnB.
The place is especially rammed on weekends, when it stays open til 3am and a significant proportion of Hackney’s under-30 population queue up to get inside.