There are few things we like more than a good East London combination, and smokehouse + brewery is a pretty hard one to beat. At From The Ashes, tucked into The Five Points Brewery, you get exactly that: meat cooking over fire, plenty of smoky aromas, big sharing plates and fresh pints brewed pretty much next door.
It’s relaxed, unfussy and gloriously sociable – the kind of place where you arrive intending to have “a little something” and suddenly find yourself surrounded by enough food to feed half of Hackney.
The signature pork doughnut was the curveball we didn’t know we needed. It sounds slightly bonkers on the menu – pork and doughnut – but the sweet-and-savoury thing absolutely works. Crispy, rich and moreish, it’s one of those dishes that you order out of curiosity and then immediately wish you’d ordered two.
If you’re hungry, go straight for the Chef’s Platter. This is not the time for restraint. A proper smokehouse spread of BBQ meats, sides and sauces, it’s made for passing around the table and picking at everything. There’s plenty of smoky, sticky, juicy goodness to get through, and enough variety to keep every forkful interesting.
Naturally, there’s beer. And this is Five Points beer, brewed on site, so you’re drinking a pint within metres of where it was made. Which feels like exactly the right thing to be doing while eating a plate of BBQ.
The smokehouse itself is part of the fun, too. You can see the action, with the meat slowly doing its thing over the fire. From The Ashes doesn’t overcomplicate things. It’s fire, meat, beer and good company, with a few unexpected twists thrown in. And frankly, sometimes that’s all you need.
Come hungry. Bring friends. Order the pork doughnut. Get the platter. And definitely have a pint while you’re at it.
From the Ashes
61 Mare St, London E8 4RG
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