E. Pellicci

Priamo Pellicci came from Tuscany and opened the café in 1900; his wife Elide is the E over the door; and their grandchildren Anna and Nev run the room today with their mother Maria — second generation, sixty years' service, still in most days in her eighties. The interior went up in 1946 and went on the national list in 2005: primrose vitrolite, marquetry panelling, a room so complete English Heritage protects it like a church. The menu is the East End's greatest hits — fry-ups, chips, the Italian specials the family never let go of — and the banter is structural. The hygiene inspectors gave it very-good marks in October 2025, a formality; a century and a quarter of Bethnal Green mornings is the real certification.