Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in London Balham
Hardens guides have spent 25 years compiling reviews of the best Balham restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 16 restaurants in Balham and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Balham restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Balham Restaurants
1. Chez Bruce
British, Modern restaurant in Balham
2 Bellevue Rd - SW17
“Still peerless as a neighbourhood restaurant delivering exquisite, modern French cuisine” – Bruce Poole’s immaculate “mainstay of South West London”, by distant Wandsworth Common, is – for the 15th year in succession – the survey’s No. 1 favourite restaurant, and “well worth the trip south of the river”. “Whether you are going for a celebratory meal, or just a casual lunch or supper”, “its consistency is astonishing, and comes at fabulously reasonable prices” (especially given the “little extra touches like Parmesan biscuits at the beginning of a meal, and chocolate truffles and palmiers at the end”). “What’s brilliant about the seasonal cooking is its perfect, pure – not gastronomic – tastes and palate: classics are flawlessly cooked, and there is innovation without it being bound in any way to the latest fads and fashions”. And “although there must be heaps going on behind the scenes, the set-up manages to be effortlessly elegant in an unpretentious style that feels like it comes easy to them”, with “engaging” staff who are “professional without being obsequious”. IF there’s a gripe, it’s that the “bright and compact” room that most reporters feel is “delightful” and “fitting for pretty much any occasion” (especially a romantic one) is, for a small minority, too “cramped” and un-fancy.
2. The Avalon
British, Modern restaurant in Balham
16 Balham Hill - SW12
“A great pub!” (part of the Three Cheers Pub Co) down Balham way, with smart interior and gorgeous, big outside garden, and where steaks and ‘artisan pizzas’ are mainstays of a comprehensive menu: “even if the pub was boring, I’d come back time and again for the fantastic food!”
4. Dynamo
Pizza restaurant in Balham
16-18 Ritherdon Road - SW17
“Lovely wood-fired pizzas and imaginative salads” make this “friendly cycle-themed coffee shop” in Putney (and its Balham sibling) a “great place for brunch on the way back from a cycle round Richmond Park”. Early rouleurs will find breakfast from 7.30am, and there’s “ample bike parking”.
5. Haché
Burgers, etc restaurant in Balham
37 Bedford Hill - SW12
“Still some of the best burgers around”, say fans of this French group, whose Gallic je ne sais quoi lends a certain superiority to the offering, while service is “friendly and speedy”. Its seventh outlet opened in Kingston early in 2019, at a time when rival mid-market operators were struggling.
6. Megan’s on the Hill
British, Modern restaurant in Balham
43 Bedford Hill - SW12
“Affordable and with a nice vibe” – these good-looking, all-day hang-outs major in brunch, but make reasonably-priced options for a relaxed meal at any time. This year, they added Wimbledon, Battersea Power Station and Clapham branches to the fast-growing stable.
7. Good Earth
Chinese restaurant in Balham
11 Bellevue Rd - SW17
“A huge cut-above a ‘regular’ Chinese!” – this “well-run”, well-established family-run chain in Knightsbridge, Balham and Mill Hill (and Esher) offers an “upmarket” experience that’s “always reliable”: “not cheap but worth it”. “If feels like a bit of a 1990s throwback and I like it for that!”
8. Chicken Shop & Dirty Burger Balham
Chicken restaurant in Balham
7a Chestnut Grove - SW12
“High-quality burgers” hit the spot at this funky small chain which “does the simple things well”. The outlets are “fab for families and kids – there’s something for everyone and puddings are a great crowd-pleaser”.
9. Milk
Sandwiches, cakes, etc restaurant in LONDON
20 Bedford Hill - SW12
For a top breakfast or brunch, a good number of Balham residents still tip their favourite Antipodean café as the best way to go locally; no bookings, you just rock up (and expect to queue at the weekend).
10. Arlo's
Steaks & grills restaurant in Balham
1 Ramsden Road - SW12
“Top-quality steaks” – “cooked to perfection” – and at “reasonable prices” make this three-year-old Balham steakhouse and its Battersea satellite “great for carnivores”. Non-meat-eaters are catered for on a daily brunch menu.
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