London Clapham Junction - Restaurant Guide

“Great value and so authentic” – this family-run trio in Brixton, Battersea and Clapham offer some of the “best local Thai food in London”, and the BYO policy helps keep costs to a minimum.

The title of ‘best pizza in London’ is often claimed but impossible to prove – but the ‘longest pizza in London’ (so he claims) is found at Diego Palladino’s Battersea pizzeria, where it has been sold by the metre (‘al metro’) for more than 30 years. A meal here is “always fun (if a little loud) and the food is good”.

Arguably “the space would be better suited for a coffee bar”, but that has not prevented this “relaxed, friendly and well-established local” in Clapham’s ‘Nappy Valley’ from notching up over 30 years of service. Traditional Italian fare is dispensed at affordable prices, particularly the option of having one of the well-prepared pastas as a main.

2023 Review: This “smart, modern-style Indian” has established itself as a “really good-quality neighbourhood curry house” in its 20 years in Battersea. “Yes, it’s a little cramped and can be noisy at its busiest times, but the food is always good and the fact it’s BYOB helps keep the cost down” (£1.95 corkage fee).

2023 Review: A tight menu of “delicious” Middle Eastern-inspired street food, especially kebabs, is found at this Battersea Rise venue and its 2022 spin-off in Westfield Stratford. Founder Eve Bugler, an ultra-marathon runner and erstwhile director of Nando’s, launched the business in 2015 with backing from senior industry figures including former boss David Niven, Mark Selby of Wahaca and Peter Borg-Neal of Oakman Inns.

2022 Review: “Such a treat to have this on the doorstep” – the four-course, no-choice, ‘menu unique’ (£39) changes every two weeks and draws enthusiastic praise for this 20-seater in Battersea.

James Dawson’s half-dozen wine bars are “super venues to try interesting new wines in”, with “informative service” – “food is something of an after-thought, but pretty good for all that”, and comes into its own with a “fantastic Sunday roast menu: lamb and beef are high-quality and cooked perfectly”. Top Tip – “great deals on a Monday when most others are closed”.

A “family favourite” that “brings back memories of small French restaurants” – this “reliable” Battersea brasserie has outposts in Putney, Wandsworth Common, South Ken, the City and most recently Clerkenwell, where it opened inside Marrable’s Hotel in late 2024. Harsher reports say they can be a little “underwhelming”, though – one reporter complaining that the “cute dining room was let down by mixed quality of the food and somewhat lax Gallic service (in a bad way)”.

2023 Review: This quartet of family-run restaurants have won a big reputation for their southwest Vietnamese dishes, including pho and their famed goat with galangal. They started out 15 years ago in Shoreditch before heading across the river to Battersea.

“A gem of a neighbourhood restaurant” on Battersea Rise, serving “great inventive French- inspired cooking” (e.g. Raw monkfish, gherkin & fig leaf) “in slightly cramped surrounds”, from chef Matt Harris and Tommy Kempson of Brixton chicken shop Other Side Fried. “Plenty of interesting natural wines” too.

“The food – roughly south Indian – is vibrant, well spiced and enticing” at this “new and welcome addition to Northcote Road” in Clapham: from the team behind Islington’s Tamil Prince and Tamil Crown. “Take ear plugs!” though as it is “super-noisy and trendy”: “the locals have welcomed it a bit too much as it’s always packed and hard to get a reservation!” Top Menu Tip – “masala dosa is crunchy with a spiced packed filling and the onion bhajis are crispy strands of yumminess”.