London Bermondsey Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: With a “taster menu that’s second to none”, Robin and Sarah Gill’s crack kitchen team have settled in well to their new home in a Bermondsey ‘aparthotel’. They moved over from Clapham’s The Dairy, which did not survive the pandemic, but a taste of the latter’s “imaginative, skillful small-plate cooking” using carefully sourced seasonal ingredients is still available here.

Firmly established after more than a decade, highly rated chef Steve Williams’s no-frills canteen is attached to a biodynamic wine warehouse in a railway arch behind London Bridge station. It’s “always busy, but the trek is worth it for the food” – seasonal ingredients transformed in a basic-looking open kitchen and served “with a smile and a laugh”.

These funky (and noisy) ‘rock ’n’ roll ramen’ bars shook up the capital’s Japanese fast-food scene when the first outlet opened in Soho 11 years ago, spawning a small group now reaching as far as Richmond. Their “super ramen” is served with 20-hour pork bone broth cooked these days at a kitchen on Bermondsey’s ‘beer mile’. But the business has not been immune to the industry’s difficulties: a Putney spin-off only lasted a year before closing, and a long-touted outlet in the old Eurostar terminal at Waterloo has yet to eventuate.

2022 Review: “You will literally not get a better toasted cheese and onion sandwich in this world!” – so say fans of Bill Oglethorpe’s market stall, which is a mainstay of Borough Market. On Saturday mornings and lunchtime, you can also eat-in at their dairy in nearby Bermondsey.

This new-wave Italian in Bermondsey is “deservedly packed at all times” with fans of its “very moreish” pasta-only dishes in “generous servings”. “Not being able to book is a bit of a gamble”, but you can queue in the downstairs cocktail bar, ‘Two One Four’.

“Stunning and authentic” Spanish food in a “beautiful, always-convivial setting, and with a wine list to die for” is the attractive proposition at José Pizarro’s massively popular Bermondsey restaurant. Its ratings are a shade below those of José, its older sister (by a few months) tapas bar across the road, due to a minority sentiment that it’s “good rather than great”.

2021 Review: “A wonderful location off Bermondsey Street” – a “quirky”, ancient, tiny shelter originally built for watchmen guarding the graves of nearby St Mary Magdalene Church – helps win fans for this small coffee house (which has since spawned a couple of spin-offs at Tower Bridge and Fetter Lane). It wins many nominations for its “top coffee” too (supplied by Shoreditch roasters, Ozone) and “delicious food”. One quibble: service can be “so laid back, it’s almost horizontal”.

Converted from a building in Tanner Street Park, this Gallic fixture in Bermondsey is sibling to nearby Casse-Croûte and known as a culinary bright spark in the area. It can be a tad “inconsistent” though (“three servings of the same dish (saddle of lamb) produced one that was very good; one that was reasonable; and one that had to be returned to the kitchen!”)

“Still a very good gastropub”, this green-tiled ex-boozer was a leading light in Bermondsey’s emergence as a foodie destination when it opened 21 years ago, and remains in the gastronomic high ground with its commitment to ethically sourced ingredients.

“Visited with French friends. Their verdict: better than Paris! They loved it” – this “proper Gallic bistro” in Bermondsey is “very popular for good reasons”, including “impeccable food” and a “delightful” atmosphere. It offers “a simple daily changing menu of three starters, three mains, and three desserts all done well, plus classic Gallic service”.

2022 Review: Italian seafood and wine (available by the glass) is the simple but high-quality format of this November 2019 opening – a bar, restaurant and shop next door to the area’s long-established ‘Pizarro’. Ex-Four Seasons chef Moreno Polverini presides over an offering ranging from a conventional if modernised Italian à la carte to a five-course ‘seafood feast’ for £85. It’s rated on limited early feedback, all of it positive.

“Reliably good Italian food at fair prices” and particularly “switched-on service” won revitalised support this year for Angela Hartnett’s “very serviceable” mini-chain, which is generally a “very safe choice”, and – at its best – “memorable” in the level of “very confident” cooking it can achieve. Even fans, though, concede the “atmosphere can be a bit low key”, in particular at the “rather gloomy” WC2 branch (and the best reports are at St James’s).

“For maybe a decade now, José has been London’s most reliable and enjoyable restaurant”, assert fans of the tiny tapas bar José Pizarro opened on Bermondsey Street in 2011, now the spiritual home of a growing culinary empire. “Whether it’s a quick lunch or hours spent at the bar, it simply never misses”. “Always incredibly fun, always worth the queue, always get the croquetas”.

“Decent croissants and the best brews”, delivered by “unfailingly lovely service, however long the queues”, still win legions of fans for London’s original cool coffee shop group, even if it has real competition these days from more Antipodean-style challengers. “They’ve been my top choice for over 35 years, but I can no longer cope with the uncomfortable seating at the OG Covent Garden outlet, so SE1 it is”, which is “perfect to combine with a Borough Market visit”. There’s also a third branch at Bermondsey’s Spa Terminus.

Opening summer 2024 in Bermondsey Street, an all-day restaurant from José Pizarro – his first to offer breakfast. Marking the Spanish chef’s 25th year in London, it is his third venue in the same street, following tapas bar José and restaurant Pizarro, and his seventh overall in London.