INIS to open on Hackney Wick’s Fish Island next month

Lynsey Coughlan is launching INIS with her partner Lindsay Lewis and chef Craig Johnson, whose CV includes Arbutus and The Corner Room. 

The canal towpath restaurant will serve seasonal British and Irish food alongside a wine list penned by Clara Rubin (Hawksmoor, The Draper’s Arms, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay) and a cocktail menu by Liam Davy (Hawksmoor, Bad Sports). 

Dishes will include full Irish breakfast with hand cut belly bacon, sausages, roast potato farls, black and white pudding and roasted tomatoes, with potato sourdough; whiskey smoked salmon with crème fraiche and pickled onion on Irish brown bread; and French toast with mascarpone, stewed rhubarb and brown butter crumble. 

Suppliers will mainly be local, including meat from The Ginger Pig, seasonal veg from Shrub and coffee from nearby roastery Bad Coffee.

The name INIS (meaning island in Irish) comes from a soft longing for home and a desire to build something in the local community where the couple have lived for the past decade. 

The interior design is inspired by the industrial heritage of the local area and the couple’s hometowns of Dublin and Manchester.

INIS will be open initially from 7am-4pm weekdays, offering breakfast and lunch for 50 covers inside, with an extended brunch menu on Saturday, and roasts on Sunday. They have plans to open for dinner from the summer, with further outdoor seating for an additional 50 covers overlooking the canal.

INIS will be part of The Trampery Fish Island campus, a social enterprise centred around the fashion industry at this site. 

“It has always been our dream to open an eatery on Fish Island, the neighbourhood we love and have made our home, and we’re excited to grow further ties with the local community,” the pair say.