London Parsons Green Restaurant Guide

2019 Review: Claude Compton has won an enthusiastic following for his “excellent and inventive” cooking, deployed in a quirky dining room above the Amuse Bouche fizz bar opposite Parsons Green station. But the food level has dropped a notch this year – “sometimes it misses, and when it does it misses badly”.

With its inviting décor, this fast-expanding group has been a big “winner” since the pandemic, mushrooming to 18 sites, all of which have generally proved useful additions to their respective areas. But while “it certainly looks the part, and the staff look after you well enough”, the brunch-friendly fare can be hit ’n’ miss, with reports ranging from “surprisingly good” to “formulaic and really abysmal”. Top Tip – “always a top option for feeding the family”.

“It can be very crowded so get there early” if you visit this well-known Cantonese chain: still a top choice for “very tasty dim sum”. With the famous Queensway branch closing a couple of years ago, you now have to go to Baker Street, Canary Wharf or Fulham for your fix (although the latter is little commented on). “Whatever else keeps people coming back here, though, it’s certainly not the service!”

“Delicious roast chicken, with sides such as potato purée and root veggies” – as well, of course, as fries and salads – have won a growing fanclub for Romain Bourrillon’s upbeat French-rotisserie chain, whose most popular branches in our annual diners’ poll are in Bayswater, Queen’s Park and Parsons’s Green.

This “very friendly family-owned restaurant” near Parsons Green offers a small menu of “reliable Italian food”, at “very good value for money”.

“Delicious Thai food, served with charm” has won a very loyal local following and something of a wider reputation for this long-established café-style venture in a Fulham shop conversion. Arguably “tables are too close together”, but most feel “even if it’s cramped, it’s still worth it”.

This flexible and well-run New Zealand-inspired spot just off Parson’s Green is an equally “dependable” option “for Chelsea pre-match brunches” and “candlelit dinners”.

Overlooking Eel Brook Common in Fulham, this “great (although rather pricey for a pub)” rustic-chic Fulham gastroboozer offers “fast service from attentive staff”, and is the follow-up from former royal equerry Mark Dwyer and his partner Eamonn Manson, who sold their local trio the Sands End (Prince Harry’s occasional watering hole), Cross Keys and Brown Cow for a reported £10m six years ago.

A wide range of Anatolian grilled meat including “superb lamb doner made in-house, fresh every day”, earns consistent high praise for these “welcoming” and “good value” venues in Fulham and West Kensington.

2021 Review: “The best pizza in the area” – “thin, very tasty” and in “large” portions – wins fans for this “friendly” family-owned trio that has built a solid following in Fulham and Putney over two decades. SW15 is primarily take-out and delivery (but has some outside seating).

2021 Review: “A nice, laid-back American buzz” has helped win a loyal following over the years for this small chain of Kansas City-style diners: one of the first in London to bring BBQ indoors. “It’s a fun place” (in the right mood) and the food is “decent” and in man-sized portions, but “not particularly special”.

2021 Review: A “wealth of wines by the glass” and “tasty nibbles”, help make this growing group of self-service wine bars a “fun way to try a selection of vintages from a multitude of small producers”. At the Battersea Power Station branch’s school you can educate your palate towards Wine & Spirit Education Trust certification and watch wine being made from grapes grown in Oxfordshire and Surrey.

“Pizza of similar quality to those you’d find in a Naples basement” (with “authentic slow fermentation of the dough”) inspire followers of this growing, twelve-year-old group, which they say is “second-to-none for texture and flavour”. But the relocated original site in Ealing is “cramped” and seems “really dull” compared to the old one: “the pizza remains good, but it’s lost the sense that you were part of something special and secret”. (In recent times, they’ve also added an Islington branch and one in Brentford – not listed – that’s part of a car showroom!)

Ace Aussie chef Scott Hallsworth has revived his raved-about Freak Scene pan-Asian restaurant once again – this time off Parson’s Green in Fulham. The new venture follows his Double Dragon pop-up, which ran for several months in 2022 in Clerkenwell and also generated much enthusiasm. Freak Scene itself started out as a pop-up in Farringdon, and was followed by mark II in Soho

This Parson’s Green yearling is a tribute to the Canadian West Coast, and is named after the Vancouver street where founders Livia Boumeester and Louisa Stevenson-Hamilton hung out when they lived there. “Don’t expect stars; do expect earthy comfort food.” Poutine – the chips, cheese curds and gravy combo that is Canada’s gift to a hungry world – is on the menu, along with “the best mac ’n’ cheese around”.