Upscale kitsch chic: The Good Front Room is open for business in Dalston
Caribbean-style fine dining has returned to London, and is just a short train ride away, as PALOMA LACY explains
Mentored: Dom Taylor had the help of celebrity chef Michel Roux Jr on C4’s Five Star Kitchen
There is a risk that loyal Croydon residents are overlooking one of the great benefits of having the Windrush line running through Norwood Junction and into the town centre. It offers us all a host of possibilities as a gateway to east London.
What we used to call the Overground takes just 46 minutes from West Croydon to Dalston Junction. Last week I was dining at The Good Front Room, next door to Dalston Tube station. South to east in under an hour – the connection is unbeatable.
The Good Front Room is the long-awaited comeback from chef Dom Taylor. He’s once again trying to bring Caribbean fine dining to London. Let’s hope it’s for good this time, because this man can really cook.
Three years ago, Taylor won Channel 4’s Five Star Kitchen: Britain’s Next Great Chef, with Michel Roux Junior as a judge and mentor. A nine-month residency at The Langham followed, bringing a Caribbean restaurant to a five-star London hotel for the first time.
Like you’ve never seen before: ackee and saltfish at The Good Front Room
Diners loved it and the reservation book was permanently full. Strangely, and sadly, the decision was taken not to extend the restaurant’s tenure.
Fast forward to 2026 and Chef Taylor is going it alone, ever more passionate about elevating and modernising Caribbean cooking in London. “There’s no one else doing it,” he says. He’s right.
The Good Front Room has an upscale air about it, but it isn’t stuffy.
The cool east London location certainly helps.
My immediate thoughts on the interior were 1970s vibes, bordering on kitsch. To my eye, tasteful, and in-keeping with the theme.
For those who don’t get the reference, the good front room, or best room, was one of the living room spaces within a 1970s Caribbean home, reserved for special guests. Visiting relatives were welcomed in with open arms, while children who actually lived in the home were generally kept out.
The menu is familiar, with comforting dishes loved by many, but the execution is oh-so different. Caribbean cuisine has a big eats reputation. Lots of meat, and rice piled higher still. That is not The Good Front Room experience.
Here, it is small sharing plates. Thoughtful plates arrive to table looking quite beautiful. Seabream was served with an escovitch accompaniment, taking an already fresh dish to dizzy citrus-infused heights.
Small sharing plates: the Good Front Room’s seabass, rice and peas, and plantain
Perhaps that most famous of Caribbean dishes, jerk chicken, has undergone something of more gentle treatment than the usual oil-drum affair. Delicately spiced, carefully charred, and layered with other select ingredients, like corn ribs, and seared on hot coals. Its minimalist presentation and crown of paper thin plantain crisps didn’t make it instantly recognisable.
Fear not, traditionalists, plantain also made an appearance in the more usual form – chunky pieces fried off and salted. This isn’t modernity gone mad. Typical sides associated with Caribbean food, including coleslaw and baked mac three cheese were not forgotten. The latter was presented in a saucer-sized dish, which given the amount of cheese in this unctuous version was no bad thing.
I love being surprised in a restaurant and ackee and saltfish cake provided one. I ate the croquette and then poked around looking for the ackee. Upon further investigation, ackee and saltfish were mashed together, and served inside a crunchy golden crumb shell.
It was delicious, but I’m glad no one warned me. I had previously thought that ackee, Jamaica’s national fruit, was not for me. I found its brain-like appearance unappealing. Here, with no sight of it, it was incredibly tasty.
Now for some hard cold reality. Three courses at The Good Front Room will set you back £85 (plus your Windrush line return train fare, of course). But this is fine dining. If the numbers are a bit rich for your blood, there is a three-course weekend brunch option, at £55 per head.
Unique: chef Dom Taylor
The weekend brunch menu differs to the a la carte hugely, taking classics from other parts of the world and putting a Caribbean spin on things.
In a world of homogenised brunch menus, the Good Front Room’s stands out head and shoulders above the rest. Dishes include pork belly benedict – rum and raisin-glazed pork, sourdough muffins and poached eggs – and chicken festival waffle – smoky bacon, bourbon hot sauce and fried egg.
Loyal to Caribbean ingredients, the sausages served with beans on toast are made using goat meat. Lobster French toast is served with a coconut rum bisque, green papaya and scallion oil, illustrating Dom Taylor’s desire to showcase his work at a level previously unseen.
Like so many restaurants in the capital, The Good Front Room is not open Mondays through to Wednesdays.
Paloma Lacy dined at The Good Front Room courtesy of the restaurant
- The Good Front Room, Thomas Tower, Dalston Square E8 3GU. Nearest station: Dalston Junction, served by the Windrush line.
- Opening times: Thu and Fri 5pm-11pm; Sat noon-2pm and 5pm-11pm; Sun noon-7pm (latest booking at 5pm).
- Book via the website: www.thegoodfrontroom.co.uk
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