London Peckham Restaurant Guide

The pandemic has changed plans here - originally called Little Kudu, the space is now branded as "Curious Kudu" and is a boutique gallery with a small private dining room.

From the team behind Streatham's Bravi Ragazzi, this new spot in Peckham Levels offers Neapolitan pizza and tapas.

A fifth branch for the growing south London tapas chain, in an atmospheric corner site in Peckham.

On the old Babette site, the Kudu team are bringing live fire cooking to Peckham, with this braai restaurant, which opened in August 2021.

“Just wow: bags and bags of flavour in every dish” – this “consistently interesting” Peckham three-year-old from chef Patrick Williams and front of house Amy Corbin (daughter of Chris) is hitting an ever-more impressive stride with its “modern and intelligent” South African-influenced cooking, service that’s “gracefully informal and knowledgeable” and an interior that’s “charming and relaxed, with subdued lighting”. It’s “generous, too – bread served with whole frying pans full of flavoured butter, for goodness sake!”. “A real treat and worth the (in my case) 350-mile round trip”, enthused one satisfied reporter.

For “ace food” and “an upbeat local boho vibe” – “Ganapati does it every time”. Chef Claire Fisher opened this small Peckham venue 15 years ago after travelling around South India. “Everything is home-made from the pickles to the parathas and you can even buy jars of pickle to take home” – and there’s a “fantastic choice for veggies and vegans too”. Top Tip – “great lunchtime thali for £8.50”.

For a “cheap ’n’ cheerful” scran-fest, Frank Yeung’s small Peckham café comes highly recommended by reporters as distant as Gloucester! It’s all about the tasty Taiwanese bao – a total wow!

“A must-visit, right by Peckham station” – whose converted Grade II ticket office houses this “excellent” three-year-old: a stand-out even by the area’s lofty standards. “Robust, even macho” dishes, from the smoker and robata grills, are central both to the open kitchen and the menu. Top Tip – “worth a visit for the WC alone” – beautifully restored, old, Victorian bogs.

Spicy scoff “continues to impress at this authentic and very busy Peckham fixture” – a corner site with terrace, which has been a well-known feature of the local food scene since 2012 (and was refurbed in December 2018). It’s not Thai-run: chef and co-owner Jane Alty worked at David Thompson’s much-vaunted Nahm (long RIP) back in the dim and distant past.

“All the dishes deliver bags of flavour and something different to the usual” at this “really interesting Balkan restaurant”, “well off-the-beaten-path (even by Peckham standards)”. Much is cooked on a charcoal grill so “there’s a happy smoky vibe to the place”, although it’s “always busy” and “can feel cramped”.