London Bermondsey Restaurant Guide

With a “taster menu that’s second to none”, Robin and Sarah Gill’s crack kitchen team have settled in well to their new home in a Bermondsey ‘aparthotel’. They moved over from Clapham’s The Dairy, which did not survive the pandemic, but a taste of the latter’s “imaginative, skillful small-plate cooking” using carefully sourced seasonal ingredients is still available here.

With its “carefully sourced and imaginatively prepared seasonal ingredients complemented by natural wines”, this spartan venue in a Victorian railway arch behind London Bridge station has become a pilgrimage site for foodies in the past decade. Chef Steve Williams’s menu is chalked up on a board each day, and there’s no coddling of guests in what is still primarily a warehouse operated by the Gergovie biodynamic wine import business, who provide the in-house wines. A small minority feel the whole experience is “a bit overhyped”, but there are no complaints about the quality of the food.

This ten-year-old rock ’n’ roll ramen concept is in expansion mode at the moment, having pushed into the southwestern suburbs with openings in Richmond and Putney in recent years, followed by High Street Ken and the former Eurostar terminal at Waterloo station in 2022. They “still do a very fine bowl of tonkotsu”, and the classic rock soundtrack stays the same.

This “noisy and bustling Bermondsey restaurant” is one of the new wave of pasta-only specialists, with “attentive staff” who serve “indulgent food” to happy guests. “The excellent pasta is well complemented by a great all-Italian wine list”. There’s also a gin bar in the basement.

“A brilliant venue with its own distinct offer in a street not short of a restaurant or two” – José Pizarro’s “buzzy”, larger sibling to his nearby tapas bar is “not the place if you want a quiet night” but “consistently good” for its “excellent, authentic Spanish food” (“with lots of sharing options”).

“One of the most oddly-located restaurants you can imagine”, this “authentically French” outfit (sibling to Casse-Croûte on nearby Bermondsey Street) “looks like an ex-tennis clubhouse opposite a kids’ playground”. It’s a “charming and delightful place”, though, and the food is of “high quality” – sometimes “simply superb”.

A “stalwart of Bermondsey Street”, this classy, green-tiled gastropub helped kick-start the area as a foodie destination with its launch 20 years ago. The team showed they still care with an “improved menu after lockdown”.

“La vraie chose! A French restaurant staffed by French cooking staff and waiters who speak French amongst themselves” – “cramped, noisy, but still brilliant”. With its “excellent” menu of Gallic classics, chalked up daily, you’d be happy to find this bistro in Bordeaux or Briançon – let alone Bermondsey. It’s “great fun and great food” – a “cosy place where one can happily while away a whole evening”.

“A good choice for a light meal in the centre of own, with a broad menu of uncomplicated dishes to suit most people”, and offering “a delicious and authentic taste of Italy” – that’s how their large army of followers see Angela Hartnett’s “buzzy” and “unpretentious” cafés, proclaiming them “a decent effort all in all”. Major complaints are few, but ratings overall end up middling due to gripes of “tired” décor; or culinary results that are “OK but nothing special”. Top Menu Tip – “the arancini are always worth a go”.

“No wonder it remains popular after all these years” – José Pizarro’s “tiny” Bermondsey bar “is always packed with a good vibe” thanks to its “short, perfectly executed tapas menu”. It didn’t score quite as highly this year, not because of harsh critiques, but just a sense that “while great and truly buzzing, it’s not the old standard it once was”.

“Amazing coffee” – “a wide selection from single estates that’s carefully selected and optimally roasted” – together with “well-paired pastries and cakes as complements” continue to make these “lively and fun”, artisanal brew stops “a good morning ‘perk me up’”, and some of the most popular destinations in town. Staff are “impressively calm and friendly” too; “worth queuing for”.