Best restaurant in SE London?

[kford]

Anchor & Hope? Still is, partly. Better know as 'Best Gastropub in London' according to Time Out a couple of years ago. Great food, but first come-first served seating is a pain.

[Christopher]

Trinity in Clapham - seconded - can't believe I left it off my list...

[AD]

I agree Hisar is very good, excellent value too.

[nylonmeals]

Been mentioned once but have to do a shout out for Dragon Castle in Elephant and Castle - imaginative, beautifully cooked food. If it wasn't in such a dodgy area it would be one of the must-eat places in London generally, let alone SE London

[jacki]

I loved Si Mangia when it first opened but find it hardere and harder to get a table these days...Cant help but think we need more Italian Restraunts !!! Or Just more Vegetarian places.. ? Its so hard in East Dulwich to find good veggie food ....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated..

[Marmora Man]

Been mentioned once but have to do a shout out for Dragon Castle in Elephant and Castle

Agree entirely - tho' on last two visits the meal has been ellivened by a small grey mouse running around the floor and watching the staff trying to drive it into a plastic bag.

[lorraineliyanage]

I love the food at Dragon Castle, but when I ate there recently with 6 friends, 2 felt headachey and pukey afterwards and were convinced the food was laden with MSG.

[linzkg]

Thank you Loz - i was also wondering that .. i didn't want to jump in just in case you all knew something i didn't.

Franklins is simply divine in my opinion. My favourite. On the pricey side but still worth it. It's a small menu but it changes every so often so choices vary.

What about Le Chardon? I've only ever been once but remember it to have really good food - very rich, but very good.

[Jeremy]

Le Chardon do average bistro food... you can have a nice meal if you choose well, but the service is awful.

[Asset]

In re. MSG there is no body of evidence to suggest it causes any real problems. It is a synthesised version of a naturally occuring chemical found in high quantities in parmesan cheese and walnuts for example.

I did a bit of research into it recently for my own interest, but obviously if anyone wants to tell me otherwise, happy to hear.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Asset, you're not going woo on us are you?

[linzkg]

ok since we've moved away from Dulwich - anyone been to Black and Blue at Borough Market - definitely worth a visit!! Food is fab (fresh from the market i'm told) and the serve is excellent too. The garlic prawns are definitely some of the best I've come across. They can definitely cook their meat well. The sauces are gorgeous. There's a good selection on the wine list - there's even a fab South African "blush" rose.

and no i'm not connected to the owners in any way .. just excited about food i guess ;-)

[benjaminty]

A short but distinguished list for me

Anchor & Hope

Upstairs in Brixton on Acre Lane

Ganapati - Dosas - god dammmmmmmn!

Brindisa - Borough market - never tasted a green salad as good as theirs..... so imagine how good the rest is!

I can't quite put Franklins on here ... menu too ponced up when plain english would work. And tables too low.. (it's the small things that grate you know)

DishDash I also love but not been there for a few years - also strictly SW not SE.

Now my stomach is rumbling - it's a gowlettini for meeeeee!

[benjaminty]

Damn.... forgot to add Kennington Tandoori to that list!

[Emma_DB]

The innocent drinks bloke mentioned Franklins in the Guardian this week

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/16/foodanddrink

[Keef]

DishDash I also love but not been there for a few years - also strictly SW not SE.

Oh yeah, didn't even think of that :-$

It's still good though, was there a couple of months ago.

[Rabbler]

"Been mentioned once but have to do a shout out for Dragon Castle in Elephant and Castle - imaginative, beautifully cooked food. If it wasn't in such a dodgy area it would be one of the must-eat places in London generally, let alone SE London"

So what exactly is dodgy about the Walworth Road, no worse that any other parts of London! Door to door on a 176 or 40 bus from Lordship Lane, good grief what muppet thinks it's a 'dogdy area'?

As for decent food, albeit not available at night, Manzi, in Peckham, for the best pie and mash in sarf lunnon! Great, traditional working class grub, without the inconvenience of a table of middle class tossers too scared to go to 'dodgy areas'!

[Horsebox]

Well, Rabbler, Elephant is a grotty area. I'm sure you can see the difference between Lordship Lane and the slightly down at heel Walworth road, and how someone who lives in ED might find it 'dodgy'. Much knife crime innit. See my post on crime mapping for further details and fetch me a fresh finger bowl whilst you're at it. There's a good chap.

[missd]

Of course Walworth road is dodgy! Which 'muppet' doesn't think it is?! Are you seriously saying that you'd be more than happy to walk around there, of an evening? rather than rushing through it on the bus and not getting off?? Not to mention the recent shooting just a couple of weeks ago in the Costcutter on the Walworth Road. I know it happens in other places in London too but still...

I used to live near the Bricklayers Arms roundabout and this meant that i would find myself on the Walworth Road - for M&S, or a particular shop that i needed. It most certainly was dodgy. It's one of the worst parts of London for me. I go through it on the bus sometimes and every single time i do, it just confirms it to me.

[Administrator]

Keep this on topic of the Best restaurant in SE London please.

[Michael Palaeologus]

Wise words My Lord, may I say how buff you are looking today, want a shiny apple?

Oh Administrator, Your Magnificence, given your omniscience and omnipotence, which IS the best restaurant in South East London?

While you are pondering this, could you make the rain stop please?

[Jeremy]

Dragon Castle = good. And ideally situated in Elephant & Castle, which I hear is the new Knightsbridge.

[Yams]

Couple of Japanese restaurants for the list

Tsunami in Clapham is excellent, but again, not in SE...

Bincho Yakitori which is in the Oxo Tower building does brilliant bits on sticks and it does sneak into SE (just).

[WickedStepmother]

Being relatively new to the area, I can't say for certain that it's the best restaurant in SE London, but I'd like to put in a word for Locale on East Dulwich road.

In the few weeks we've been living around the corner we've eaten there three times and been happily impressed each time.

Staff are friendly and very on the ball.

The decor is relatively upmarket and contemporary but the atmosphere still manages to be unstuffy. (And the lighting is generously soft and flattering to those of us of a certain age. ;-))

The wine list is not enormous but fairly priced.

But, most importantly, the food is outstanding. I'm a big fan of calves' liver and at Locale I had the best I've ever eaten anywhere. The steaks have been uniformly excellent and the lamb rump was just as good - the quality of the meat is outstanding and the handling spot on.

The other thing that has struck me quite forcibly too is the simple yumminess of their vegetable side dishes. Nothing fancy but they somehow taste wonderfully and intensely of themselves in a way that I've only encountered before in expensive places with stars to their name.

(I once had a scallop and cauliflower puree starter at Foliage that fair took my breath away. As he cleared the plates I told the waiter that I had no idea cauliflower could taste so good. "Ah yes madam," he replied with a little wag of his forefinger, "Chef has a way of making you eat your vegetables. So, can have dessert later...")

Locale has a way of making you eat your veggies too.

Oh, and I can thoroughly recommend the ice cream!

[Loz]

Locale has a way of making you eat your veggies too.

Damn right. Vegans should be eaten as well.