Dinner above the docks: the handful of E14 tables with real height

Why a skyline of towers has so few tables at the top

Stand in Canada Square and it is natural to assume the best dinners in E14 happen on the fortieth floor. They do not. The towers of the estate were built for trading floors, law firms and banks, and their upper storeys belong to the tenants. The public can go up very few of them. Most of the Wharf's good restaurants sit at dock level or one floor above it, where the terraces are.

That makes the short list of genuinely high tables valuable, and it means the view has to be planned rather than stumbled upon. The good news is that a first-floor table on the right side of the dock can look better at night than a thirtieth-floor room facing the wrong way.

Bōkan, at the top of Marsh Wall

The highest dining room on this side of the river is Bōkan, which fills the top three floors of the Novotel on Marsh Wall. The restaurant takes the lowest of the three, the bar sits above it, and at the very top a roof terrace opens in fair weather. From the north windows you see the whole estate across the dock; from the east, the river swinging round the Peninsula and the white dome of the O2.

Access is by lift from the hotel lobby, and like most venues perched on a hotel it is managed: expect to give the name on the reservation before you go up, and do not count on walking in on a busy night. For dinner, book. For the bar, reserving a table is still wise from Thursday onwards.

First-floor rooms that outperform their height

Around the squares, the rooms that matter are one level up. Roka sits on the upper floor of the pavilion at the edge of Canada Square Park, with its robata grill in the middle of the room and the towers framing the windows; on a summer evening, when the terrace is open, it is one of the best seats on the estate. Boisdale, upstairs in Cabot Place, has a terrace of its own and a stage indoors. Ibérica on Cabot Square keeps tables that look out at the fountains.

None of these is high. All of them put glass, water and light in front of you, which is what most people really mean when they ask for a view.

Looking back at the towers from outside

The Wharf looks better from outside than from within, and a few addresses exploit that. The InterContinental London The O2, out on the Greenwich Peninsula, keeps a bar high in the building that faces the estate across the river, one stop away on the Jubilee line. Further east, the restaurants and bars around Royal Victoria Dock see the towers over the water from the ExCeL side, with cable car cabins crossing in front of them.

And the most famous view of all costs nothing. From the top of Greenwich Park, just below the Royal Observatory, the whole cluster rises beyond the Queen's House and the twin domes of the old naval college. Ten minutes on that hill before a dinner in Greenwich is worth more than any window seat.

Getting past the lift

The practical question with any high venue is the arrival. Most are reached by a dedicated lift, and a host at the bottom or the top checks the reservation. If you are meeting a companion there rather than arriving together, tell the desk the name the table is booked under. She gives that name at the lift, is shown to the table and waits for you with a drink, or arrives a few minutes after you if you prefer to be seated first.

It sounds like a small detail. It is the difference between a smooth start and a conversation at a lift door, and it is exactly the kind of thing the desk asks about before confirming anything.

Going down is easier. A hotel-top bar delivers you back into a hotel lobby, so if you are staying in the same building the evening can finish without either of you setting foot outside. If you are staying elsewhere, ask the desk to time the car for the moment you leave the lift rather than the moment you ask for the bill.

Timing the view

A high table changes more with the clock than with the menu. In winter the estate is fully lit by half past five, and dinner at seven is dinner in the dark with every window glowing. In summer the light lasts past nine, so the best table is booked for the hour before sunset, and the room turns from gold to blue while you eat.

The day of the week matters too. Midweek, the offices stay lit late and the towers look busy and alive. By Friday night many floors are dark, and the view becomes the river more than the buildings. Choose accordingly.

Who to take up

Jasmin is the obvious match for Bōkan: she heads for the corner seat, orders something off-menu purely to see what comes back across the bar, and maintains that watching the towers dim floor by floor after eleven is the finest view in London. Thea prefers the counter at Roka, where she chats with the chefs almost as much as with you. Luna, with her deep auburn hair and a serious interest in wine, suits Ibérica and a flight of sherry on Cabot Square.

Jasmin is on the brunettes page and Luna on auburn and red. A high table is usually the first half of a dinner date by the dock; the hotels around Marsh Wall are listed on the Isle of Dogs page, and every length is priced on rates. Send booking the venue, the hour and whose name the table is under.