They’ve wanted AA Gill to try Berber & Q for ages, but he’s indisposed and won’t come to Hackney (chicken), so they got me instead. I understand his hesitation. West London doesn’t want for excellent Moroccan food or great cocktails. Why schlep east for a restaurant where you can’t even book a table, and you might find yourself queuing outside for an hour surrounded by lumbersexuals? I think Gill also balked at a restaurant playing house music that tweets menu updates punctuated by camel emojis. But if, like me, you live east, like east, and are wooed by the promise of lush cocktails and skilled chefs, Berber & Q sounds very appealing.

Berber & Q is in Haggerston, which until now has been a no-man’s land where Shoreditch leaks into Dalston. It’s not Shoreditch, which resembles a hipster’s Magaluf, an East Berlin theme park for kids who buy Ramones T-shirts from Topshop and consider Vice magazine alternative. Nor is it Dalston, where Jewish and Turkish immigrants rub along with neon LGBT club nights. Haggerston, located geographically between them, in terms of gentrification is behind both.

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