Eating & Drinking

The 20 best South London restaurants

The crème de la crème of South London's food scene – some have even made it to our best London restaurants list
The dining room at Kudu in Peckham

South London restaurants are undoubtedly some of the best in London. At first glance, this area might not strike as a foodie destination but a whole host of new openings alongside local favourites, it's become more exciting. Teams of chefs are taking on South London's restaurant scene, with inspiration coming from southern Italy, northern Portugal – and even their own home-grown allotments. This is the ultimate guide to the best restaurants in South London.

  • Joia Battersea
    Matt Russell

    Joia, Battersea

    Topping the Art’otel at Battersea Power Station, the 15th-floor views at JOIA are worth the trip south of the river alone. But the reason this slick, salmon pink spot has been buzzing since its recent opening is down to Portuguese chef Henrique Sá Pessoa. His Lisbon restaurant Alma earned him two Michelin stars, making him the third chef in the country to receive the accolade. For his first London venture, JOIA, which means jewel in Portuguese, the menu aptly mines Sá Pessoa’s impressive culinary heritage as well as Catalonian and Portuguese cooking techniques. Everything is made to share, and the portions are generous, particularly the recommended Bacalhau à brás. The salted cod with shoestring potatoes dish arrives looking perfectly pretty (even David Guetta couldn’t resist snapping a photo when he dined the previous week) before the waiter mixes it up at the table into a crunchy yet gooey delicious mess. It does come with a serious salt warning – the sharp side green salad with apple balances it out beautifully. Wash it down with a glass of Portuguese wine, enthusiastically recommended by the endearing sommelier, simply known as Ab. There’s plenty to feast on (don’t sleep on the deliciously tangy wild British mushrooms escabeche), but do save room for pudding. Especially if you’re adventurous – the unusual options include raspberry ganache with red pepper and olive oil sorbet and dark chocolate mousse with chorizo ice cream. The one to try though is the Pão de Ló, a traditional fluffy yet moist Portuguese sponge cake served warm and wrapped in brown paper with a genius dollop of goat’s cheese ice cream on top.

    Address: 15th Floor, 1 Electric Boulevard, Nine Elms, London SW11 8BJ

    Price: £££ 
    Book online

  • Matt Russell

    Lulu's, Herne Hill

    Lulu’s is the new outpost from the team behind Herne Hill’s much-loved Llewelyn’s. This tiny eatery is a deli and shop during the day, but at night transforms into an intimate (and stellar) wine bar with dishes created by executive chef Lasse Petersen. This is the place for a cosy winter evening, with low lighting, candles burning and walls laden with quality produce and considered wines. Petersen’s time at Amass, Westerns Laundry and Moro makes for a tantalising and unique experience, with nods to European, Nordic and Middle Eastern flavours.

    We started off with a tart Marmalade Martini paired with a Gilda, which had us enjoying a string of pickled olives and capers wrapped with a fresh anchovy. Next were the devilled eggs garnished with a trout roe, which added a lovely balance to the creamy flavours. And lastly, we enjoyed the most unique squid dish I have ever encountered; imagine a chicken noodle soup – but make it chicken with squid noodle soup. It’s delicious, but you have to taste it to believe it.

    Lulu’s is sure to have Herne Hill locals flocking to its doors for an evening spent catching up with friends while enjoying a lovely glass of wine. Amber Port

    Address: 291 Railton Road, London SE24 0JP, United Kingdom
    Website: lulus.london

  • Rarebit, Elephant and Castle

    Whether you're on the hunt for morning coffee and pastries, a leisurely weekend brunch, supper with friends or a drink somewhere a little more special than your local pub, head for the green awning of Rarebit in Elephant and Castle. Opened in June 2022, this deli-restaurant bar has quickly become a neighbourhood hotspot for relaxed dining. Interiors are industrial without feeling sterile, transforming from bright and cheery by day to dimly lit and intimate as evening falls but equally welcoming any time of day while resident mini-Schnauzer Herman can occasionally be found snoozing in a cosy corner.

    We came for supper, where head chef Liv Lionel's menu of modern British cuisine shows a definite London bias. Tangy sourdough comes from family-run Wandsworth joint the Lockdown Bakehouse, the delicately draped rosettes of bresaola and fiery chunks of chorizo on the meat board come courtesy of Streatham's award-winning London Smoke and Cure and coffee is sourced from Broadway Market's Climpson and Sons. There's a well-rounded cocktail list (including a negroni sbagliato for all the Emma D'arcy fans) but the star of the show is undoubtedly the Welsh negroni, dyed a deep crimson with Afon Mêl cherry mead. Food-wise, there are few constants among the seasonal dishes – the namesake rarebit, served with a refreshing lack of pretension and a bottle of Worcestershire sauce on the side, is a can't-miss. Another must-order is the Rarebit burger, an absolute behemoth of native breed beef and bone marrow patties with maple bacon, a crispy disc of deep-fried ‘nduja and Montgomery’s Cheddar, and bacon salt fries so moreish that a whole bucketful wouldn't feel like enough. Luckily, what you're given at Rarebit isn't far off; portions here are exceedingly generous and surprisingly affordable, a virtue that's all too rare in London's restaurants and so seems doubly exciting when you do find it. Cassie Doney

    Address: Rarebit, 11 Sayer St, London SE17 1FY
    Website: rarebitfood.co.uk

  • Seabird at The Hoxton

    South London’s rooftop to know about

    Read the full review in our round-up of the best restaurants in London

    Address: Seabird, The Hoxton, Southwark, 40 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8PB
    Website: thehoxton.com

  • Native, Borough Market

    A celebration of all things wild and British near Borough Market

    Read the full review in our round-up of the best restaurants in London

    Address: Native, 32 Southwark Street, London SE1 1TU
    Website: eatnative.co.uk

  • Jack Lewis Williams

    The Laundry, Brixton

    An Edwardian laundry house swaps sheets for small plates

    A red-brick period beauty, Walton Lodge Laundry still proudly touts the services it provided for 110 years – ‘shirt and collar, dressing and dyeing and cleaning works’ – until 2014. Its trading days are now over but the building still buzzes with activity, suits and sheets replaced by zeitgeisty seasonal small plates from NZ/Aussie duo Melanie Brown and head chef Dylan Cashman. With creative cooking and Antipodean flair, The Laundry has attracted a cool crowd of Brixtonites to its candlelit industrial space, where exposed-brick walls have been left untouched, juxtaposed with duck-egg blue booths, marble tables, dark wood and statement lamps.

    Food

    Locally sourced produce turns into pretty plates of food that arrive in a staggered sequence: the smoked fish bacalhau is an eruption of smooth salty goodness to be piled high onto the thinnest homemade potato crisps. Pumpkin is served every way – roasted, puréed and burnt – a mix of different textures and flavours, while light and crispy ham hock and roasted carrot croquettes are flavourful bites. It’s the roasted cauliflower in curry leaf, ricotta whey and grains that really ups the game though – best enjoyed with the pink fir potatoes that are baked in a salt pastry crust and served with a delicious garlic and rosemary cream. The puddings, warm chocolate chip cookies, baked to order, and a rich chocolate, almond and orange torte, also get our stamp of approval.

    Drink

    Brown’s first endeavour was Specialist Cellars, a Pop Brixton store, bar and online shop that imports New World wine to the UK. It’s no surprise then, that wine is the focus here, carefully curated to include heralded New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs alongside Old World favourites and emerging regions. The cocktail list is also short and sweet, with twists on classic cocktails such as the gin and prosecco-based Brixton 75, and a Market Spritz made from Earl Grey-infused gin and peach with soda, garnished with shrub of the day. Filtered still and sparkling water is offered for a voluntary contribution of £1 that goes to the Belu Filter Initiative, which gives its profits to WaterAid.

    Verdict

    Brown and Cashman are worthy custodians of a building with so much history. Emma Russell

    Address: The Laundry, 374 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, London SW9 8PL
    Website: thelaundrybrixton.com

  • Kudu, Peckham

    This is an exciting South African small-plates menu with a Bib Gourmand. The space has a grand, old-fashioned charm alongside contemporary touches of pale-pink concrete, bright marine velvet banquettes, sleek pendant lampshades, and cherry-red stools with a view of the open kitchen where the team are coolly doing their thing.

    Food

    A beer-and-onion tarte tatin (which any French pastry chef would be proud of) is topped with a goats-curd quenelle. And a dish of lamb’s neck braaied over an open fire is well matched with smoked yogurt, lettuce and brussel tops. Three plates per person should suffice – but don’t skip over pudding in this count. The pumpkin tart drizzled with salted caramel and served with charcoal-almond ice cream is quite special. The weekend brunch menu also includes a couple of impressive sweat treats; tuck into the chocolate babka with miso caramel and candied kumquat after your sourdough waffles with fried duck eggs and maple bacon.

    Drink

    Start with a Smoky Kudu, made from Bain’s Cape Mountain whisky and wormwood bitters and infused with smoked woodchips. Then move on to the short wine list, which has a solid South African showing. Round things off with a rooibos tea.

    Verdict

    Taking notes from the restaurant hype about Peckham, Kudu marks Queens Road as a neighbourhood-on-the-up. Tabitha Joyce

    Address: Kudu, 119 Queens Road, London SE15 2EZ
    Website: kudu-restaurant.com

  • Donnelly's, Bermondsey

    The latest best-of-British pop-up from a young-gun chef

    A few years back, London Bridge’s restaurant scene was dominated by a drab clutch of chain restaurants – but now the area has transformed into a fully fledged foodie destination. To one side, there’s Borough Market, with sell-out pasta joint Padella and tacos at El Pastor; to the other, trendy Bermondsey Street, with its independent coffee shops and tapas bar José (always so packed it’s often standing room only). And it’s here, on Bermondsey Street, that chef James Donnelly has found the latest home for his eponymous pop-up, after a hugely successful stint at The Sun and 13 Cantons in Soho . A champion of small, independent suppliers, Donnelly trained at the River Café and then under Tom Aikens. His cooking focuses on sustainable, seasonable produce, so everything on the menu, from meat and cheese to vegetables, is reared and sourced from top-notch British ingredients. The space has a laid-back, industrial feel: exposed brick walls, simple wooden tables and young smiling staff dashing back and forth to the open kitchen.

    Food

    The clever thing about the menu is that while it’s designed for sharing, you don’t have to. Every plate comes in both full and half-sized portions, meaning starters and mains can be mixed and matched. We’d advise trying as many different dishes as you can – nibble on gooey croquettes stuffed with cured meat from Islington’s Cobble Lane butcher while you decide. Fish arrives from day-boats in Brixham each morning; there’s a light salmon and scallop tartare served with buttery toasted brioche, and flaky cod with green lentils and a zingy herby salsa. Slow-cooked pork belly comes from a farm in Gloucestershire, served with apple sauce and sour cabbage, and ox cheek braised overnight in red wine is packed with smoky flavour, and falls apart on the fork. Vegetables are made main stars too; one of the standout dishes is a deceptively simple whole-roasted cauliflower with a caper and lemon dressing. Save room for lemon-meringue pie for pudding – each one is cooked to order with wibbly-wobbly peaks.

    Drink

    Much of the loud, good-time atmosphere is due to the bar, which stretches along one side of the room and is a venue in its own right (there’s a pretty, fairy-light-strewn terrace for warmer evenings too). Start with a cocktail here – such as the very drinkable gin and elderflower Mint Julep – and then move on to the short, unpretentious wine list once you are at your table. There’s a strong European focus, and most are available by the glass too.

    Verdict

    Top-notch British food in a refreshingly informal setting. This may only be a pop-up for now, but we hear Donnelly has already been asked to extend his residency. Teddy Woltstenholme

    Address: Donnelly’s, Bermondsey Bar & Kitchen, 40 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3UD
    Website: donnellysrestaurant.co.uk

  • Coal Rooms, Peckham

    The South London neighbourhood's hottest new restaurant

    Chef Sam Bryant (of barbecue restaurant Smokehouse in Islington) has teamed up with Peckham-based social enterprise Old Spike Roastery to reinvent almost certainly the coolest building in this hipster hotspot. Old Spike are behind coffee-based charity Change Please, and on a mission to provide jobs and housing for people experiencing homelessness across the UK. So far, they're responsible for three great neighbourhood joints: Old Spike, Aside and Spike + Earl. Their fourth venture, Coal Rooms, can be found inside Peckham Rye station's Grade II-listed ticket office (and coal storage yard), and has been kitted out with deep blue walls in the bar and an open kitchen for those who want eyes on the charcoal grill and coal ovens. But for the smartest seat in the house, book one of the velvet banquettes in the bright white dining room out back. And don't miss a trip to the loos, to appreciate the original 1930s mosaic flooring, gleaming white tiles and Victorian ceramic urinals.

    Food

    With an on-site butchery and a menu created around unusual cuts of meat this isn't a menu for millennial vegans. Beef and pork are from Charles Ashbridge in Yorkshire, sustainable meat-of-the-moment goat from Cabrito, and Welsh lamb from Daphne's. And the menu is definitely rich: to start, sourdough baked on-site, is served with smalec, a sort of bacon lard; aubergine in a marinara sauce is topped with a phenomenal disc of crispy Bermondsey Frier cheese; a truffle and leek oatmeal is dusted with grits. Meat is the principal feature on the mains menu, and comes with an imaginative list of house sauce: there's Red eye gravy (using coffee to deglaze the pan), a crab-apple jelly, jerk caramel and a mead ketchup. We recommend you go for the slow-cooked heap of lamb shoulder with Fatboy roast potatoes and a greengage hot sauce. For a little bit of green relief try the grilled courgettes which come with yogurt and burnt rosemary. For pudding, a take-away coffee cup is the vehicle of choice for the waste-barista-milk ice-cream tiramisu.

    Drink

    Start with a seasonal damson Bellini and move on to the reasonably priced wine list. There's also craft beer from local brewery Fourpure and not-so-local Magic Rock Brewery in Huddersfield – we liked the High Wire Grapefruit. Do finish with a coffee: Old Spike roasts our favourite in the city.

    Verdict

    An exciting, and smart addition to Peckham's already jam-packed foodie scene and a sign that this south London neighbourhood is continuing to raise its game. We're going back for the coffee-cured bacon breakfast sarni. Tabitha Joyce

    Address: Coal Rooms, 11a Station Way, Station, 4RX, Peckham Rye, London SE15
    Website: coalroomspeckham.com

  • Canova Hall, Brixton

    A hipster Italian joint with history

    Canova Hall is a lot of things at once. An all-day restaurant, just around the corner from Brixton station, with a cool young crowd occupying every booth, bar stool and long, communal table. A hot-desking haven for freelancing millennials Monday to Friday (complete with free WiFi and bottomless coffee), then, as the afternoon rolls into evening, a DJ appears and the laptop-wielding pack are replaced by lively groups meeting for cocktails at the striking white-tiled island bar. At weekends, bottomless brunch is served, while pizza from the Italian-imported wood-fire oven is on the menu all week long. The building itself has a varied past: in the late 19th century this funny corner space was a canteen for the workers of Bon Marché, the UK’s first department store that once stood just across the road. After a stint as Brixton’s post office, it has been restored by architects Red Deer, also responsible for the plant-filled Bourne & Hollingsworth Buildings, Smokestak in Islington and Magpie in Mayfair. They were inspired by Europe’s grand food markets, and the result is an old-school, utilitarian, largely Edwardian aesthetic with pared back floors and wooden features.

    Food

    The all-day menu is as unfussy as the space – there’s no starters, so dive straight in to the pizza list which includes the tasty London Field: meatballs, coppa, taleggio, gremolata and oregano and The Green Goddess, which sounds like a trap for wellness fanatics but is, in actual fact, delicious: roast squash, beetroot, broccoli, Gorgonzola, sunflower seeds, pistachio pesto and thyme. Pastas include the vibrant tricolore orecchiette (smoky tomatoes, spinach, salsa verde and Parmesan with a salami crumb) and 12-hour-beef-ragu rigatoni. If you’re a group – or even if you’re not – the list of smaller plates is tempting: beetroot gnocci; Padrón peppers, almost black from the oven and served with chunky sea salt; zucchini fries with aioli. For pudding, there’s just one item on the menu: bomboloni(tiny, fat donuts smothered in sugar) served with jam and Nutella.

    Drink

    Canova Hall is into gin – there are 15 on the menu. Try The Brixton made with orange bitters, Fever Tree tonic, rosemary and lemon mixed with Jenson Old Tom gin, or a classic cucumber and elderflower Collins. There are also brilliant sharing punches to split between a group (we liked the look of a blueberry and sage gin punch as well as the mandarin vodka punch).

    Verdict

    The coolest new space in this already jam-packed neighbourhood. Sarah James

    Address: Canova Hall, 250 Ferndale Road, Brixton, London SW9 8BQ
    Website: canovahall.com

  • Dunja Opalko

    Plot, Tooting

    British seasonal sharing plates in South London's newest foodie neighbourhood

    In an area of South London known for its excellent budget-priced South Indian, Sri Lankan and Pakistani restaurants, Plot is doing something brilliantly different. At the slick 15-seat restaurant (marble counters, white tiles) former Roux at Parliament Square chef Giles Elstob is serving up small plates with the best seasonal British ingredients. Alongside a craft beer shop and gin distillery, it's part of an indie-food revolution in Broadway Market, which – until now – was the far less appealing of the neighbourhood's indoor destinations (next door, Tooting Market is home to Franco Manca and Honest Burger).

    Food

    Produce is sourced nationally and locally where possible: to start, there are olives from the UK's first olive grove, and cured meats and pickled beets from West Dorset. Pork belly is from local butcher Chadwick's and Clapham favourite Moxons supplies the fish. Vegetarians will be happy, too, with charred cauliflower steaks topped with a cheesy béchamel and roast hispi cabbage sprinkled with grilled hazelnuts. The menu changes depending on what is available: smoked-haddock croquettes might come with buttered leeks one week and Jerusalem artichokes the next. Be sure to try the burnt-marmalade Bakewell tart with clotted cream if it's on offer.

    Drink

    The locavore approach to the food carries over into the drinks menu: bottles of craft beer from South London brewers Gypsy Hill and Belleville, and Nyetimber sparkling wine from West Sussex. Excess poaching liquid from the rhubarb and burnt-cream pudding is used to make a liqueur, which is served with prosecco in a Ruby Fizz. And organic Graveney gin, handcrafted in the market, is the boozy kick in the knockout grapefruit G&T. Tabitha Joyce

    Address: Plot, 70-72 Broadway Market, 29 Tooting High Street, London SW17
    Website: plotkitchen.com

  • Helen Cathcart

    El Pastór, Borough Market

    A colourful Mexican restaurant from the brothers behind Barrafina

    London Bridge has really improved its foodie credentials recently, with new Borough Market restaurants such as Padella, and Bar Douro in nearby street-food hub Flat Iron Square. El Pastór, the area's latest opening, is a bare-brick bunker of a restaurant in Borough Market that would feel top-secret if it wasn't for the huddle of people outside. Walking through the fairy-lit entrance, though, things liven up, with Mexican-market-bright tables and chairs and young, cheeky staff. This is somewhere to really have fun – wiggle your hips as you scoop up tacos with your fingers (you can download the restaurant's Latino playlist on Spotify).

    Food

    El Pastór is the first Mexican restaurant from the Hart Brothers, whose tapas restaurant chain Barrafina has a cult following. The food here has the same authenticity and spot-on flavour. Just-made tortillas are filled by chefs watching over the restaurant from the mezzanine at the back, while waiters zip around with bowls of guacamole and blackened tortillas. The best way to eat here is to share: prawn ceviche; quesadilla with wild mushrooms and smoky garlic dip; and pinto beans with chorizo and pancetta.

    Drink

    Uno, dos, tres – slam tequila, knock back a shot of zingy carrot-and-orange juice and chase with a bottle of Mexico's finest beer. And if you have started as you mean to go on, next order a round of frozen Margaritas and finish with a knock-your-socks-off smoky mezcal Negroni. Hazel Lubbock

    Address: El Pastór, 6 Stoney Street, London Bridge, London SE1
    Website:tacoselpastor.co.uk

  • Bar Douro, Southwark

    Portuguese with a twist in a new foodie destination

    The blocks in the shadow of the Shard have been growing their restaurant credentials of late: constant queues for homemade pasta at Padella in Borough Market; critics going wild for seawater-based pizza at O'Ver. And now a new Portuguese restaurant inspired by the cervejarias of Porto and Lisbon is further adding to its appeal. Bar Douro is located in Flat Iron Square, a foodie hub under fairy-lit railway arches where an after-work crowd sinks pitchers of beer. Adding to the buzz is live music venue Omeara, opened by Mumford and Sons' Ben Lovett.

    Bar Douro has been dreamt up by young-gun duo Max Graham, Porto-raised and from the family behind Churchill's Port, and chef Sean Marsh , who sharpened his knives at Michelin-starred restaurants Mugaritz, Vila Joya and Bon Bon Restaurant. The cosy, low-lit space is a mash-up of traditional Portuguese design (beautiful blue-and-white tiles hand-painted in Lisbon; curving marble counters) and modern industrial touches in bare bulbs and exposed pipes, all set against a funky brass soundtrack.

    Food

    Sit at the main bar to marvel at how Sean keeps his cool while working the smoking Josper grill. This is hearty Portuguese cooking with refined touches: intense sweet-potato puree beneath a curl of charred octopus; a single blush-pink langoustine to top melting beef cheeks; suckling pig with briny clams. Pork ribs sticky with a boozy port glaze are a standout dish, and don't leave without trying the creamy, citrus-spiked abade de priscos pudding – '30 egg yolks to make one batch!' the chef will tell you proudly.

    Drink

    This is also the place to come for a tasting tour of Portugal's little-guy wine producers, of whom Max is a big champion. Start with a glass of fat and fruity Antao Vaz da Peceguina, a white from Alentejo, followed by a delicious Vinha Paz red from Dão. Finish it all off with a 1997 Churchill's vintage port – big and bold and just the tipple to match with the creamy (and slightly stinky) Serra da Estrela cheese, which you scoop out with a spoon to slather on crumbly biscuits. Best of all, Bar Douro is open until midnight. One more port for the road? Grainne McBride

    Address: Bar Douro, Arch 35b, Union Street, Flat Iron Square, London Bridge, London SE1
    Website: bardouro.co.uk

  • Getty Images for Tate Catering

    Tate Modern Restaurant, South Bank

    Modern-art champion curating the best of British food producers

    Well, the big reveal has happened: the vast new Tate Modern extension, London's hottest grand project for 20 years. Solange Knowles has even devised a dance show for the opening. With its cavernous spaces, curving stairs and slanting raw concrete walls, the sheer scale of Herzog & de Meuron's building is incredible. From the outside it resembles a formidable ziggurat, the lattice-work brickwork (336,000 bricks, count 'em) creating an almost fabric-like texture. Inside are galleries devoted to Louise Bourgeois, with Warhol and the Guerilla Girls, and performance and video art showcased in the former oil tanks. You can take some of this kinetic energy up to the ninth-floor restaurant, a minimal wooden-floored space with dangling bulbs and windows that aren't as large as some may expect, but form a continuous celluloid-like strip. Up above is the viewing gallery with a wraparound, wind-proof terrace to eye up the Shard, Thames and St Paul's.

    Food

    Affable staff in sharp denim outfits and brown leather aprons bring over artfully composed starters of Cornish red crab with spatters of avocado, and crunchy-soft pulled-pork croquettes with piccalilli that are wolfed down in a flash. Mains include wild sea bass with morels and a sparkling-wine sauce, and (an early favourite) grilled Yorkshire Wolds chicken in a wonderfully luscious sauce with pancetta and chestnut fricassee. The Josper grill fires up a mean 35-day-aged fillet of beef. Puddings include a zesty lemon tart and a chocolate praline with real bite. What really shines through is the Tate's foodie philanthropy – the team make a real effort to support the little guy who does things well (rare-breed meat from Yorkshire, marmalade hams from Suffolk), without making a big show of it. Eating here feels a more egalitarian experience than at some of London's other lofty restaurants.

    Drink

    Hamish Anderson, who created the inspired wine list at Tate Britain's Rex Whistler restaurant, has discovered a few new names for the menu here, including a herby red from Crete, a Canadian Gamay and a rich Western Cape white, Moment of Silence, with plenty of fruity depth. Look out for the excellent Cloudwater craft ale from Manchester, and Square Root sodas from Hackney. Highgate's small-batch Sacred is on gin duty. Rick Jordan

    Address: Tate Modern Restaurant, Switch House Level 9, Bankside, London SE1 9TG
    Website: tate.org.uk

  • Darby’s, Vauxhall

    The Dairy’s Robin Gill opens a super-size grill restaurant, oyster bar and bakery just south of the river

    Irish-born Robin Gill has made a bit of a splash in South London over the past couple of years, turning Clapham’s restaurant scene into not just a destination, but one people are prepared to return to. First there was cool tasting-menu joint the Dairy, then came Counter Culture, the cute wine bar next door. Italian-inspired Sorella, which was one of our favourite restaurants of 2019, nabbed itself a Bib Gourmand too. Next up, in a slightly unexpected spot – next to the grand, moated US Embassy, a 10-minute stroll from Vauxhall station – is this glitzy grill restaurant with an oyster-bar centrepiece. It’s at least three times the size of Gill’s other spots, with a glass-walled meat room – spot it en route to the coral-walled, terrazzo-floored loos – and a huge baking area that’s already churning out heritage-wheat sourdough to supply the rest of Gill’s restaurant stable. Splashier still, a rooftop pool is expected later this year, with a bar that will be run by Gill and his team.

    Food

    Going back to Gill’s roots, the influence here is Irish, with Connemara oysters and smoked eel on cocktail sticks to start. But there are no firm and fast rules – the aim was to create a neighbourhood restaurant serving comforting food that everyone wants to eat. The bread really is next level, and comes with a creamy homemade butter, while the truffle arancini arrive sizzling, straight out of the frier. Darby’s has hit the sweet spot with its pappardelle and veal ragu, silky and rich; and the Jersey milk ricotta agnolotti – a favourite at Sorella – with Grezzina courgette and Nocellara olives. For those going big, the grill menu that lists turbot and monkfish, as well as various cuts of beef – the short rib with crispy cubes of layered beef-fat potatoes is a winner. To finish, try the burnt-honey cake filled with crème pat, which is available at breakfast but comes into its own for pudding, served with a reduced-milk ice cream.

    Drink

    Gill himself would recommend pairing your oysters with a pint of Guinness. But the cocktails are good too – there’s a Daiquiri made with Plantation Pineapple Stiggins’ Fancy rum and a Gin Rickey with East London Liquor gin, fresh lime juice and soda. The Guinness Old Fashioned is an interesting take on a classic, made with a Guinness reduction and malt. There’s also a good Champagne list as well as wine served by the carafe.

    Verdict

    It’s not an obvious destination, but Darby’s (and that rooftop pool) might just be able to pull an excitable foodie crowd to Vauxhall’s Nine Elms development this summer. By Tabitha Joyce

    Address: Darby’s, 3 Viaduct Gardens, Nine Elms, London SW11
    Website: darbys-london.com

  • Richard Southall

    Oblix at The Shard

    An elevated experience in one of London's landmarks

    Oblix, on the 32nd floor, was the first bar-plus-restaurant to open in the Shard after that much-ballyhooed behemoth threw open its airport-style security scanners to the general public in 2012. Oblix is divided into two bits, east and west, east for the bar, west for the restaurant. The two bits are united by the view they share, a vast sweeping arc of London, close to 200 degrees’ worth, I would guess, from Hammersmith to Greenwich, or vice versa. There are bigger cities, more beautiful cities, more dramatic-looking cities, but there is only one London. Gazing out in slack-jawed wonder across the seemingly endless jolie-laide sprawl the other evening, your reviewer felt an overwhelming surge of affection for the great grubby old metropolis.

    Food

    Executive chef Marcus Eaves oversees an uncomplicated but impeccably presented menu of top-notch surf and turf with seasonal wingdings: soft-shell crab and chilli; steak tartare; suckling pig and gremolata; wagyu tenderloin; rotisserie duck with mango and chutney; spiced rump of lamb with heritage tomatoes and oregano; roasted sea bass with saffron and mussels. Although I chatted to him between courses, the only sensible question I could think of did not come to me until I was in the Tube on my way home. I wished I had asked him at what point does such a gawp-worthy view as you get from the upper storeys of the Shard become not merely distracting but, in a curious way, counterproductive? If you are a restaurateur and people come to your joint as much to feast their eyes as to stuff their face, are you on a winner or a loser? Is that staggering spectacle your superpower or your kryptonite, your special sauce or your salmonella? I remain unsure. But my sense is that the grub at Oblix would seem equally palatable if it were dished up in a windowless basement – but you are likely to be grateful that it is not.

    Drink

    I started, as I recommend you do, too, in the bar on the eastern side. A brief delay in preparing my table provided an opportunity to study both the crowd and the thoughtfully designed cocktail menu. The crowd was a predictable but nonetheless amusing assortment of locals, out-of-towners, suits and lovebirds. The cocktail menu is arranged according to flavours or keynotes rather than silly made-up drinks names. If you want something peachy, for example, you will find it under PEACHY. The menu also has sections devoted to two of the fundamental building blocks of the eternal cocktail cathedral, the Martini and the Manhattan. The gist of it is that, because the bar stocks so many exotic gins, vermouths, bourbons and ryes, you can order highly specific versions of those cocktails, made from ingredients you might struggle to find under one roof elsewhere. This is the sort of thing that turns a cocktail bore into a kid in candy store. I opted for a Manhattan with an obscure rye I had never heard of. It was, drop for drop, quite simply one of the best Manhattans I have ever had anywhere, at any time, under any circumstances. Really a very, very good Manhattan. Then, to celebrate my own good fortune, I ordered a Sidecar, another old-school staple, which was quite simply one of the worst Sidecars I have ever had. I hardly knew whether to look east or west. I will give the house the benefit of the doubt and chalk this one up to the ‘Case Unsolved’ or ‘Odd Socks’ or ‘WTF’ column.

    Verdict

    If, as I prefer to think must be the case, the Sidecar was, so to speak, an outlier, the rest of the occasion was an unmitigated pleasure. And did I mention the view? By Steve King

    Address: Oblix at The Shard, 31 St Thomas Street, London SE1 9RY
    Website: oblixrestaurant.com

  • Restaurant Story, Bermondsey

    A Michelin-starred tasting menu that’s paired to the playlist

    Aged just 26, chef Tom Sellers (who has trained under René Redzepi) famously won a Michelin star at Restaurant Story within five months of opening in 2013. Five years on, the Tooley Street restaurant reopened in 2018 after a full refurb. While there are still white tablecloths and (at times white-glove) Michelin-standard service, there are also the quirks that we have come to expect from the young, outspoken chef. You won’t see a menu until after you’ve finished eating, because it’s adjusted especially for you on arrival based on any special requests, likes and dislikes. And the new interiors feature a striking ceiling installation of more than 400 feathered swallows, polished concrete floors and exposed-brick walls as well as dramatic, garden-patterned wallpaper. A real highlight though, is the playlist, curated by Rudimental, and featuring tracks picked by chefs from around the world ranging from Daniel Humm’s choice of ‘Little Lies’ by Of Monsters and Men, to Ashley Palmer-Watts’ ‘Kids’ by MGMT.

    Food

    In another sign that this isn’t your standard south London restaurants, the kitchen, although not open, isn’t hidden either: it’s got glass walls on two sides which means you get a real sense of the action. The only choice is whether to go for the nine-, or 11-course tasting menu. And, bearing in mind that there will be additional bites (cod skin that glitters gold, topped with cod’s roe; Oreo cookies made from hay-ash charcoal and goat’s cheese), we’d recommend you opt for nine. Everything is wonderfully fun, almost childlike: there’s a dish based on Sellers’ love for cheese-and-onion crisps, which came in the form of a cheesy potato emulsion piled with crispy onions and black truffle. More truffle (white, from Piedmont) is grated onto a celeriac risotto at the table. But almost as much thought has gone into the presentation as to the ingredients, with homemade sourdough that comes, still warm, with a Wee Willie Winkie beef-dripping candle and Orkney scallops served with balls of squid-ink-dyed cucumber add to the pattern of an already-marbled ceramic plate. Our favourite pudding is an apricot-marmalade mouthful of French toast titled Paddington Bear, but we were also wooed by the post-supper treats: jars of homemade honeycomb, chocolates and elderflower toffees that don’t even need unwrapping because the whole thing crinkles and dissolves on the tongue.

    Drink

    Proceedings start with the delivery of a heavy bound story-book drinks list which, truth be told, is pretty difficult to make head or tail of. Sellers has his own beer, The Story Saison, but when it comes to wine, the list has roughly 350 bins, so opt for sommelier Alessia Ferrarello’s paired selection to go with the tasting menu. And if you don’t need a glass for every course (we didn’t) then she can pair one or two glasses that match the courses accordingly, starting with Davenport sparkling wine from Sussex.

    Verdict

    In what could be considered an oxymoron by some, this is a fun tasting menu that feels kind of cool. There’s no way to do this half-heartedly: book Restaurant Story for a seriously special occasion, and come hungry. Tabitha Joyce

    Address: Restaurant Story, 199 Tooley Street, London SE1 2JX
    Website: restaurantstory.co.uk

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