London Vauxhall Restaurant Guide

This once-thriving burger brand from Nick Jones’s Soho House group has been reduced to a single branch, under the arches in Vauxhall, and a supporting role at stablemate Chicken Shop in St John’s Wood. Fans reckon it’s “good for when you’re in a hurry” – perhaps they should hurry, while it’s still there.

2021 Review: “Grab a seat outside either at the counter shelf or at one of the tables” of this eleven-year-old deli “in an off-the-beaten track, verdant garden square in Vauxhall” for an authentic lunchtime treat from a short Italian menu. In colder weather you eat inside at a few closely-packed tables surrounded by shelves of produce.

2018 Review: Mark Hix’s wilfully “sterile” dining room in Damien Hirst’s Vauxhall art gallery splits reporters – sometimes in the same sentence! “Tiny portions make for a disappointing and overpriced experience – but the food is lovely and the room is amazing” is one example. Another is: “this could be a disastrous concept, but in fact it seems to work quite well”.

“Housed in an architectural antiques emporium” in a Georgian mansion overlooking the traffic of Vauxhall Cross, with a dining room “full of chandeliers and vintage finds”, this “quirky” venue has a “one-of-a-kind atmosphere” that makes it “one of the most fun places to eat”. “The food is always interesting”, too, courtesy chef Jackson Boxer (also behind Orasay in Kensington) – “even if the odd dish is a little bonkers”. Overall it’s a “unique restaurant punching way above its weight”, and “a jolly night out is always guaranteed” (especially if, as from September 2021, you enjoy some of the wine evenings or live jazz recently introduced in the cellars of the building).

This high-profile but “reliable” Kennington curry house has become a local institution under owner Kowsar Hoque, an entrepreneurial vascular surgeon whose father founded it 37 years ago. “It’s a bit of a club but anyone can join and will feel welcome among the politicians and media people” (former PMs Gordon Brown and David Cameron have both dined here). “Prices are a little above average but this is not your standard curry house”.

Off a “beautiful open courtyard”, the ambitious café of Lambeth’s Garden Museum is “well worth a trip”. The “fresh, seasonal cooking” – both “well-executed classics and more unusual, interesting dishes” – is prepared by a kitchen headed by chef George Ryle, formerly of Padella.