London Putney Restaurant Guide

“So VERY French in every way” – this southwest London trio (Clapham, Wandsworth and Putney, plus a Holborn branch) “has worked so hard to keep going with style and panache” over the years, and is recommended unreservedly by many reporters. For quite a few sceptics, though, it’s “a great concept”, but the execution “needs sharpening up”. Top Tip: “the best steak tartare in town”.

“Consistently good home-style Goan cuisine” has paid off handsomely for the Kapoor family, whose “Putney stalwart” celebrates its 30th anniversary next year. A well-known sight on the South Circular, the facade changed dramatically a few years ago to reflect a relaunch in a stripped-back street food style, complete with a wall of craft beers.

2021 Review: This yearling all-day brasserie near East Putney tube “has succeeded where several other restaurants have failed”, by following a formula of “good food and value for money”. “It knocks the socks off the Bill’s or Brew and their wannabes”.

These pan-Asian pitstops can knock up anything from “reliable Japanese” dishes to “amazing curry laksa” with great speed and efficiency. Launched in Bloomsbury, the chain has expanded slowly over 25 years and now has branches in Ealing, Putney, Kensington and Chiswick.

A “unique menu” – billed as the first specialist Kashmiri in Britain – and “always delicious” food have established Rohit and Shweta Razdan’s five-year-old as a local favourite in Putney. The couple developed their skills in New Delhi and Singapore before alighting in southwest London.

2021 Review: “When all you want is an old-school burger”, these US-based arrivals of recent years really “hit the spot” – you can “build your own”, with “tons of accessories”; plus “seriously addictive fries”, “thick milkshakes”, and “more soda flavours than is reasonable”. “The eat-in experience is as depressing as McDonald’s”, though, in fact perhaps more so – “some branches have a strangely gloomy ambience” – but fans feel that “if you don’t mind 1980s-rock, a trip can still be surprisingly fun”.

2019 Review: This 10-year-old Antipodean café (with an in-house roastery) in Putney serves “better coffee than many of the more self-conscious central London coffee shops”. It’s also a “great family breakfast/ brunch destination”, and is “popular with Sunday morning cyclists”.