Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in London Clapham
Hardens guides have spent 25 years compiling reviews of the best Clapham restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 44 restaurants in Clapham and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Clapham restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Clapham Restaurants
1. Knife
Steaks & grills restaurant in Clapham
160 Clapham Park Road - SW4
“Stonking steaks are the draw” at this small three-year-old, “on a rather bleak stretch of ‘Claxton’ (CLApham/BriXTON) highway”. “The room is pretty basic” (and “intimate to the point of cramped”) but fans like its “warm and slightly rustic” charm as enlivened by “the friendliest staff”. “Sunday roasts are top notch” too – “you get complimentary mini Yorkshires and gravy to start; and the veg is superb”.
2. The Abbeville
British, Modern restaurant in Clapham
67-69 Abbeville Rd - SW4
“Reliable local with better-than-pub fare”; an attractive, and well-established gastropub (which looks more like a wine bar – complete with opening frontage in summer – than a trad boozer), which sits at the heart of ‘Abbeville Village’ life.
3. The Stonhouse
International restaurant in Clapham
165 Stonhouse St - SW4
“Bright and airy”, traditional-ish gastroboozer (plus garden), off Clapham High Street, “reliably serving good food” (if not of a particularly ‘gourmet’ variety).
5. Trinity
British, Modern restaurant in Clapham
4 The Polygon - SW4
Adam Byatt’s “classy” Clapham star is “at the top of its game” and there are only a few restaurants south of the river that give it a run for its money: “a trip always feels special, no matter what the occasion”. “Outstanding”, contemporary cuisine (from a three-course, or four-course menu) is at the heart of a “wonderful”, straightforward formula incorporating “service that’s always on point”, plus the “relaxing atmosphere” of a room whose “exterior view is much improved now the public WC has been demolished and the area landscaped!”. “Really good cocktails” and a “diverse and interesting wine list” complete the picture – look out for vintages marked ‘Chef’s Cellar’. See also Trinity Upstairs and Charlie’s at Browns.
6. The Dairy
British, Modern restaurant in Clapham
15 The Pavement - SW4
“One of south west London’s best restaurants with a great team and food ethos” – Robin Gill’s “very casual and hipster” haunt provides “imaginative, skilful small-plate cooking in the heart of Clapham, with good use of seasonal ingredients and information on their sourcing”. A “trendy and stripped” space, “it’s a bit long and thin, so some tables feel cramped”; and “the menu could be slightly more varied for the regular customer”; but “it’s still a lovely meal on any occasion”.
7. Trinity Upstairs
British, Modern restaurant in Clapham
4 The Polygon - SW4
The “buzzy, relaxed sibling of the fancier place downstairs”; some fans of chef Adam Byatt’s modern British cuisine may even prefer Upstairs for its “informal atmosphere” and “keen prices”, which means they can visit more often than down below. There are “delightful small plates to share” with “food of the same quality as the main restaurant”, along with “the same wine list”. Byatt is very much a man of the moment, having added the role of chef-director at Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair in September 2019 (see also).
8. Tsunami
Japanese restaurant in Clapham
5-7 Voltaire Rd - SW4
“Exquisite Japanese fusion food as well as fabulously creative cocktails” have made this slick Clapham operation “a perennial favourite” for two decades; and it still gives West End names a run for their money. Top Tip – “gin dara – black cod with sweet miso. I know it’s a Nobu original but this is the best version in town”.
9. Sorella
Italian restaurant in Clapham
148 Clapham Manor Street - SW4
“A great local addition that’s worth travelling to”: Robin Gill’s small, neighbourhood two-year-old, near his Clapham HQ, The Dairy, takes its inspiration from the Amalfi coast, and its traditionally presented Italian dishes (cicchetti, antipasti, primi, secondi and dolci) are consistently “wonderful”; and it’s “good fun” too.
10. Counter Culture
British, Modern restaurant in Clapham
16 The Pavement - SW4
“Fun, buzzy, hipster, and tiny” – Robin Gill’s 16-seater in Clapham (an offshoot of his Dairy, next door) is known for its “novel and ever-changing”, small-plates cuisine based around ‘pickling, fermenting, curing and bottling the best of the season’s produce’. “You don’t go for comfort though!”, given its bum-numbing stools. It won high ratings this year, but may be about to get even better: star ex-Stem chef Sam Ashton Booth joined in July 2019 and is set to introduce a new menu ‘The Allotment’, with produce supplied by Bedfordshire-based co-collaborator, Jake ‘Wiggo’ Ball (who does the growing).
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