We all have a particular meal that we enjoy more than others, it's natural, so don't feel bad about it. Some days you feel like trying something new, some days you don't, and today we're gonna be focusing on those days that you don't - though you could still use this list as a guide of places where you can try new foods, there's absolutely nothing stopping you. There are even more added layers to all this, you could use this list as a guide for new places for you try your favourite foods at, did you think of that? Yes? Well done then. If you are using this list of 17 places for your favourite foods in South London for any of these reasons, that's fine, we just hope you're using it safely, in a responsible environment, with people you trust. Anyway, here it is.
Curry - Royal Tandoori, Crofton Park
Curry, or 'food' as it called in the sub-continent, is a very, very well-loved dish. We've already discussed in a previous article how entrenched in British culture the concept of 'having a curry' has become, so we won't bore you with it again. We all know what curry is, we all know what curry we like, and most of us know what our favourite curry restaurant is. However, it's always worth trying somewhere new, either to prove to yourself why you like your favourite place, or to snap you out of liking bad curry. A place we would recommend is Royal Tandoori in Crofton Park, as not only is it bloody good, but you get 20% off with your South London Club Card as well.
Cake – Arapina Bakery, Greenwich
Cake is fast becoming worryingly popular. That's not to say cake hasn't always been popular - it has. How could it not be? It's cake. But the clock is ticking. Something is going to happen. We don't know what that something is, but we can feel it coming. Maybe the movement of Bake-Off to Channel 4 is the first sign, who knows? But we'd certainly recommend stocking up on cake before it all kicks off, and a great place to do that is the Arapina Bakery in Greenwich, where you get a whopping 20% off with your South London Club Card.
Roast - The Cherry Tree, East Dulwich
A Sunday roast is a traditional British meal, and though it is traditionally served on a Sunday, you can actually have it whenever you bloody well choose. Admittedly, you might not find it on the menu of lovely pubs like The Cherry Tree on any other day than a Sunday, but if you fancy doing it at home, you are well within your rights to do it on any day of your choosing. That requires effort though, and if you, like us, cannot be bothered a lot of the time, then you'll be heading out for your Sunday roast, and a great place for that is The Cherry Tree in East Dulwich, where you get 20% off food with your South London Club Card.
Burgers - Ben's Canteen, Earlsfield
Though the hamburger is named after the German city of Hamburg, it seems that the hamburger itself did not actually originate in the city - don't take our word for that though. Where the burger came from is unimportant really, what is important it that is a relatively simple dish, that is both malleable and reliable. Some places seem to take it a bit too far with their burgers, and we've seen establishments that stick things like pop-tarts on their burgers, god knows why. Ben's Canteen is not guilty of this, though they do try different things with their burgers, they don't take the proverbial, and what makes it even better is that you get 20% off dinner with your South London Club Card.
Chips - Poptata, Croydon
Some of you may be slightly confused as to how a restaurant can be dedicated to what most would understand to be a side dish - chips. Some of you may be absolutely delighted to hear of this place, after all, chips are pretty bloody great, there's no getting away from it. The concept is pretty simple, they peel and chop up potatoes, fry them, serve them to you, and you, the customer, then select what topping or sauce you would like on them. It's very big on the continent we hear, and doesn't sound hugely dissimilar to cheesy-chips. This isn't, however, your pretty shoddy takeaway cheesy chips, this is the proper stuff, and it's only appropriate that you get a proper nice 15% off food anytime with your South London Club Card.
Breakfast - Heart of Balham, Balham
Scientists say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Scientists say a lot of things. Maybe it's true, maybe it isn't. Whatever the case, breakfast as a meal can come in a lot of shapes and sizes, and Heart of Balham (HOB) caters to a lot of different breakfast expectations. They do, however, one particularly important dish particularly well - the Full English. Now we know there are some of you that don't like the Full English, and we understand those issues, but for those of you who do, this is definitely one to try. You also get 15% off food anytime with your South London Club Card which isn't too shabby.
Pizza – Pizzeria Volare, West Norwood
We'll go out on a limb and say that most of the people reading this list will have had pizza. We'll go out on another limb and say that most of the people reading this list will like pizza. That's it, we're not willing to risk anymore limbs in this petty game of 'who's eaten what'. You can keep asking but it's not happening, not this time, no way. Pizza seems to be a pretty hard dish to get wrong, and we would argue that is more down to us, the customers, than anything. Our expectations for pizza are quite low. Go into a takeaway and what is served is barely pizza, but we still eat it. Our expectations should be higher, and if they were, Pizzeria Volare would still be way above them - the pizza they serve is out of this world, and it tastes so good knowing you get 15% off with your South London Club Card.
Chicken - Fancy Funkin Chicken, Brixton
If South London was a nation, fried chicken would probably be our national dish. It's everywhere, absolutely everywhere. Obviously we're not the only place in the world that eats fried chicken, it's a pretty ubiquitous food across the Western world, and actually, North London might have as much right to claim it as their national dish too. Okay, we'll backtrack on that one. A lot of fried chicken served across the capital is pretty basic, and yes we know Nando's is pretty fine, but there's other options that do chicken absolutely brilliantly. One of those options, and our favourite, is Fancy Funkin Chicken in Brixton, which does some of the best chicken burgers this side of the Thames, easily. You also get 15% off Sunday - Thursday with your South London Club Card, which is a bit of a steal.
Sushi - Bento, Lewisham
Forget those big sushi brands, they don't care about you, they just want your hard-earned moolah. Not Bento though, Bento cares about you, it cares about us, and it cares about sushi. It takes a lot of pride in the high-quality sushi it serves, and if you haven't had sushi, we would recommend it as a very solid option. If you like sushi, and can't find anywhere local to get it from, then Bento is also a great option in this regard too. We like Bento, and you will like it too, We're also sure you'll like the 10% off discount that your South London Club Card gets you.
Crepes - Senzala Creperie, Brixton
We normally associate crepes with France in this country, probably because of their French name. Over here we just call them pancakes, but across the world they are largely referred to as crepes. This creperie however, is not French, it's Brazilain. We know what you're thinking - Brazilian? Aren't they too busy playing football to make crepes? No, you're wrong, you're so wrong. This creperie combines a brilliant French foodstuff with Brazilian flair, which, in this case, is not a few stepovers, but gorgeous sweet and savoury flavours. If you want crepes, go to Senzala Creperie in Brixton, where you get 10% off with your South London Club Card.
Pie & Mash - Manze's, Deptford
Pie & Mash is about British as it gets - minced beef, encased within pastry, and then served with mashed potato. A lot of the time this is served with jellied, or stewed eels, and liquor (made using the water kept over from preparing the eels). Now, none of us at South London Club have eaten jellied eels, and we understand that they are something of an acquired taste, similarly liquor too. Pie is a pretty easy dish to like though, and though some might see it as being quite rudimentary, we think that when it's done right, there are few things heartier. Heck, David Beckham apparently loves pie and mash, and he's a freaking national treasure. You get a great deal on this pie and mash too, as your South London Club Card gets you 10% off.
Vegan – Vegan Garden, Greenwich
Okay, vegan isn't a 'food'. We'll admit that. It's a diet, and it seems to only be growing in popularity. For the sake of this list though, we'll treat it on the same terms as the the foods listed here. Our logic is that, though it is growing in popularity, it hasn't grown to the point where there is a single food served within it that is totally defining yet. Some might argue that tofu is that food, or is becoming that food, but we're not totally convinced it is yet. Vegan food, because of it's limitations, essentially has to be inventive a lot of the time, and it's because of this, that it can be so interesting. Vegan Garden is a great place to pick up some vegan food, and your South London Club Card gets you 10% off, so why wouldn't you?
Pasta – Franzina Trattoria, Brixton
Pasta, more often than not, provides the basis for other flavours. The pasta itself is not what gets people going, though most of us do have our favourite kind of pasta. There are some of us who actually like it pretty simple, just a little bit of olive oil, and a touch of seasoning is enough. Even though, you're gonna be hard-pressed to find many people who just have pasta on it's own. Franzina Trattoria serves some really wonderful pasta dishes, which showcase the delicious flavours we all associate with Italian food, and we've partnered with them to give you 10% off with your South London Club Card.
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches - Archie's Bar, Deptford
We'll grant that you probably didn't expect to see grilled cheese sandwiches as one of the foods included on this list. We'll also grant that the focus of this list has at points gone from the very wide (vegan) to the very particular (grilled cheese sandwiches). We just felt that we had to include Archie's Bar because we don't really know of any other establishments that specialise in grilled cheese sandwiches. Archie's Bar make a thing of their grilled cheese sandwiches, and we love grilled cheese sandwiches! We also love great discounts, and you get 10% off with your South London Club Card.
Chocolate - Kokoo, Brixton
We should remind all of you before we recommend Kokoo that you should under no circumstance serve your dog chocolate. It's very bad for them. Now we've settled that, we can get on with talking about how great the chocolate at Kokoo is. Chocolate is known all over the world, but because it's so common, it gets taken for granted a little bit. Kokoo is looking to change all that, and it's succeeding. Serving a wide variety of chocolates that are both inventive and indulgent, it's a great place for chocolate fanatics, and a great place for discount fanatics, as you get 10% off with your South London Club Card.
Steak - Cabrera's Steakhouse, Lee
A lot of people really, really like steak and chips. Everyone has their own degree to which they like their steak cooked, some of us like it blue, some of us like it cremated. Some people like steak so much that they will eat it a worrying amount. English test cricketer, wicketkeeper and eccentric Jack Russell apparently ate steak and chips on 28 consecutive days during a tour of India in 1989, in an attempt to avoid Delhi-belly. Serving only the best Argentinian steak, Cabrera's Steakhouse in Lee is staking (oh yeah) its claim as the best steakhouse south of the river, and it's also pretty great that you get 10% off the total bill with your South London Club Card.
Cheese - Gringa Dairy, Bermondsey
Cheese is bloody great. We'll just say it - cheese is great. Oh, you don't like cheese? That's okay. Sorry. We thought everyone liked cheese. We just like cheese so much that we thought it was an objectively great thing. Anyway, Gringa Dairy creates some of the best Mexcian-style cheese that you are likely to find anywhere in London, and it can be yours at a discount rate of 10% off with your South London Club Card.
what is the south london club card?
The South London Club is a local discount card to help support small independent businesses across South London whilst saving all who live, work & play in South London money! With over 500+ local discounts to choose from, you will discover & explore all the best hidden gems in South London. Join over 4,000 of us & celebrate all that's independent in South London!