Our eight favourite fancy occasion restaurants in South London
One of the most wonderful things about living in our amazing capital city, is the sheer number of incredible restaurants at our finger tips! From Monday to Sunday, you could eat out three times a day and still be amazed, wowed and treated to a different kind of incredible cuisine each time. If you’re on Tik Tok you’ve probably got a growing list of places you just “must” visit that you’ve seen all over videos there including giant unbelievable cheese-pulls, crunchy fried chicken and fabulous cocktails. If you’re not sure where the legitimately great places are, then we’re here to help! We’ve spent the last ten years living in South London, and we’ve done the research.
If you’re heading out on a date, want to celebrate an anniversary, or just fancy going all out on a dinner for no reason other than you feel like it, we’ve got all the intel you need! These are are favourite fancy restaurants in South London, spanning Herne Hill to Battersea, Gipsy Hill to Beckenham.
Llewelyn’s in Herne Hill: Llewelyn’s is one of those charming places that looks so nice from the outside you think it’s going to be all aesthetics and absolutely no substance; it’s located right outside Herne Hill Station and with its large curved windows and sophisticated all-black exterior it really does look gorgeous! But that absolutely is not the case! The food here is absolutely i n c r e d i b l e and the experience of eating it outside on a warm summer’s evening underneath rows of fairy lights makes it all the more enjoyable. The food is contemporary British, always changing and super seasonal which sounds kind of wanky but please believe me it is 100/100 every single time. I still dream about basically every single thing I’ve ever consumed here; a savoury tomato martini, the most creamy vanilla panacotta... Half the time I don’t even know what I’m eating, but I know it tastes damn good. Just look at their Instagram and I guarantee you’ll want to eat every single thing on there! This is definitely a good date night spot, or somewhere to celebrate, as it’s on the most expensive end but the staff really go above and beyond to deliver fantastic service, the wine is delish and lots are served by the glass and the food… god the food! It’s one of my favourite South London restaurants of all time.
Manuels in Gipsy Hill: We will tell anyone who will listen to us: GO TO MANUEL’S IN GIPSY HILL! A little neighbourhood restaurant we stumbled across, mainly because we went past it so many times in a taxi between both of our houses, it’s now one of our all-time favourite restaurants when we want to celebrate. They do regular tribute act nights on a Thursday and let us tell you: people are there to have a good time! We’ve seen Abba, Whitney Houston, Frank Sinatra, Michel Bublé, Elton John and every single time the whole restaurant gets up to dance, sing along and basically live it up together; it’s genuinely one of the only places we’ve been in London where people get over being classic awkward Brits and actually just have a good time! Manuel and his whole team are always so attentive and friendly making sure everyone’s having the best night ever, and their home cooked Italian food is gorgeous. I’m obsessed with their crab and lobster ravioli! Booking is essential if you want to visit on a music night, so just make sure you give them a call, and put on your best dancing shoes!
Seabird at The Hoxton Hotel Southwark: Seabird is the rooftop restaurant at The Hoxton Hotel in Southwark and we had suchhhh a good time both times we’ve visited. Suspended up in the heavens on the 14th floor, the first thing to say about Seabird is: its views are simple incrrrredible. Just look at these pictures. Hello Shardy!Cleverly the whole restaurant has been set-up with wall-to-wall windows so you can really enjoy the view no matter where you’re sitting, although I’d defo recomend asking to sit Shard-side when you book (We accidentlly got booked with this and it really was awe-inspiring to eat peering out at this magnificent landmark, it make it feel all the most wowish). There’s also an outdoor terrace so you can make the most of those spectacular sunsets, or to soak up the sun with an iced cocktail in hand during summer. I just don’t think enough places in London (especially South London) have a rooftop? Menu-wise it’s very much geared towards seafood; it even has a whole oyster menu which I’ve never seen anywhere else. We had half a lobster dripping in garlic butter which was bloody mouth-watering, and definitely gave the whole thing a sense of occasion. Of course, because this is part of The Hoxton the interiors are on point; the whole place feels elevated from the moment you step out of the lift and people tend to get . It’s also pretty centrally located so a good first stop if you’re then heading somewhere in town. Whether day or night, if there’s good weather in London, this is the place to be.
El Molino in Beckenham: The food and atmosphere at Beckenham-based restaurant El Molino definitely make it feel more special than a quick Tuesday night dinner type of place. It has reigned supreme as one of South London’s top tapas bars since it opened in 1991 and offers gorgeous authentic Spanish cuisine including all your faves like croquettes that I literally couldn’t stop eating. The pictures online don’t do the restaurant justice as it’s had a complete overhaul recently and the interior is really lovely; it’s got quite a cosy romantic evening feel with lots of candles and mood lighting throughout, plus a beautifully painted wall mural as you first enter. On walking in I immediately bumped into someone else I know which is always my favourite thing about eating locally! If you live in South London this is the perfect place for a more-special-than-average dinner, everything we ate was heavenly and the vibe was immaculate.
Bao in London Bridge: Bao is one of my favourite restaurants of all time, and luckily for us, they have one South London branch next to London Bridge Station. To keep things exciting, they do different dishes for each of their branches; most of the other restaurants focus on quick small bites, but this one is Bao’s take on a late night grill house so it serves slightly bigger grilled dishes and hi-ball cocktails which makes it feel a bit more elevated and evening-ish. It always has really exciting new things on the menu but every time I come back I’m compelled to eat their famous 40 day aged beef with Taipei butter and soy cured egg! If you go you absolutely must must must must try it; it’s rich and unctuous and is most definitely the kind of memorable dish you’ll want to eat ten times over. Handily the restaurant is nestled right next to Borough Market, so I’d absolutely recommend having a glass of vino down the road first then heading here for a late night bite! Pro tip: The interior is pretty cosy with small tables and stools so keep your bag/coat to a minimum so you don’t feel too cramped.
Elliot’s in Borough: Hands up, the reason I visited Elliot’s was because I saw sooo many videos on Tik Tok about their famous potato flatbread with trout roe, chive butter and crème fraiche. It went firmly to the top of my “must visit” list, and early in the new year we made a date to go. Located right in the heart of Borough Market, it’s a lovely place to head on a weekend when the area is busy and bustling; it could be the perfect end stop after a walk all along the river or a trip to the Tate Modern! It’s vibe is kind of fancy small plates, but there’s lots of variety and nothing too OTT or weird; everything on the menu is either cheesy or fried or bready or egg yolky and I mean that in the best possible way! I could have honestly eaten every single thing on there. The potato flatbread was soft and squishy and fresh and tangy and hit all the right spots, and I could have eaten an entire plate of the Isle of Mull cheese puffs to myself. If you’re big into meats, the grill menu looked mouth-watering and I’ll definitely be ordering something from there next time I feel a bit flash.
Nori Sushi Bar and Grill in Tooting: Isn’t it just lovely when you go for some drinks with a friend, which turns into more drinks, which turns into dinner, and before you know it you’ve talked for 5 hours straight and consumed like ten divine things in a row? That was my experience with Nori Sushi Bar and Grill in Tooting. It’s located inside Broadway Market right by Tooting Broadway tube station, where you’ll find literally tens (if not hundreds, it’s like an Aladdin’s cave in there, you turn a corner and stumble across five more amazing places) of restaurants and bars all waiting for you to try them. After a few glasses of wine at the bar down the road, me and my friend mooched our way through the market, looking at menus to decide on something to eat, and we chose Nori. We were so glad we did! It’s a tiny pop-up style place with just a few bar stools so has a cool intimate feeling that’s perfect when you’re catching up with a friend you haven’t seen for ages. The sushi was freshly made and really reasonably priced, and they do those cool larger sharing platters so you get to try lots of different things - our favourite. Sushi always feels a bit special to me, and with the lively buzzing atmosphere I thought it would be a great place for a date.
Noci in Battersea Power Station: We’re so excited that the re-opening of Battersea Power Station means a whole roster of new restaurants for us to try in South London, including the casual Italian restaurant, Noci. Its first much-loved restaurant is in Islington, where it has amassed literally hundreds of glowing reviews, so we’ve been excited for this North London staple to make the trip over the river, and it didn’t disappoint. The silk handkerchief pasta with walnuts is the speciality of chef Louis Korovilas and the dish that everyone says you must try (“Noci” actually means walnut in Italian so it makes sense). It comes with a perfectly silky Burford Brown egg yolk in the middle - erm hello! And there’s lots of other faves on the menu that I know will keep you happy, including of courseeee cacio e pepe and a giant raviolo, all of which we loved. When is it not a good time to eat cacio e pepe?! The restaurant is based upstairs in Turbine Hall B which has more of a moody evening atmosphere, plus the interior just felt really chic, which is why I thought it had more of a special/fancy vibe. Plus as there’s so many other things to do on site (including Lift 109, a boat trip down the Thames, a mooch around all the shops) I think it’s a lovely place to end a full day of exploring South London. As much as the restaurant is beautiful, they haven’t forgotten to nail the basics here - the pasta. It was bloody delish and I can’t wait to go back.
