It might look like a classic London pub from the outside, all Britain in Bloom-worthy hanging baskets and an extremely pub-like name picked out in gold lettering, but the Camberwell Arms is not a place to watch the footie or sink eight pints and waddle home semi-conscious (maybe try the Hermits Cave across the road for such tomfoolery).
Locals have known this for the past decade, ever since the grand Victorian boozer was given a serious sprucing up in 2014 under the auspices of chef director Mike Davies. Mike had form; starting out at one of south London’s original gastropubs, the Anchor & Hope in Waterloo, before setting up another south London institution, the much-loved hipster HQ that is Frank’s rooftop bar in Peckham.
‘Sublime’ doesn’t even begin to do it justice. It is nothing less than art
Since then, the Camberwell Arms has remained the very picture of modesty. Settle into the spacious back room, an airy but still-intimate space, and the lack of fanfare (stripped wooden floorboards and the occasional stylish print is about as close to grandiose design as it gets here) only goes to prove how confident they are in the quality of the food. Who needs jazzed-up interiors when the cooking is this compelling?
The menu is short but not too short, seasonal without being smug, and features a wry nod to the room’s pub past; a starter of beer onions on toast with aged gruyère. It’s a frankly indecent snack, snaked with sloppy boozed-up ribbons of onions, the particularly funky cheese oozing into the gaps and honking out a not unpleasant foot-like odour. It’s out-raunched only by a spectacular scotch bonnet and pork fat toast, where gooey, rendered richness was trampled into submission by sweet, sharp peppers draped like pink velvet curtains over the yielding slab of focaccia-ish bread. ‘Sublime’ doesn’t even begin to do it justice. It is nothing less than art.
The rest of the menu was seasonal cooking at its finest. This is the kind of place you should drag a grumpy Yank who still thinks British food is all stodgy pies and lumpy mash. You’ll glow proudly as they dig into hunky broad bean, pea and dill fritters stacked up like Jenga pieces on a creamy, tangy splodge of whipped feta, before launching into a salad of mega chunks of cucumber and pickled red onions doused in an angelic, surprisingly sweet dressing. Simple, easy, divine.
A pretty main of barbecued mackerel was crispy in all the right places and oily in all the other ones, sat pretty on a bed of sweet and sour peppers, and washed down with a glass of chilled red. On this visit, it was a hot, superlatively sticky day and as such sharing platters of lamb and Hereford forerib of beef with peppercorn sauce seemed a bit much, but previous meals here attest to their excellence. As soon as it cools down a touch, we’re diving face first back into some impeccably cooked, sensationally seasoned flesh.
It’s worth noting that the drinks here are as immaculate as the food; white port and tonic quenches the thirst on one of the hottest days of the year, olives on a floating toothpick offering a martini-lite simulacrum, while their real deal martini came as a gibson and was imbued with horseradish, making the punchiest cocktail in the world even punchier.
Great food, flawless drinks, committed regulars and one of the best meals you’re likely to get in south London. The Camberwell Arms is an institution for good reason; treasure it.
The vibe The gastropub to end all gastropubs.
The food Seasonal British produce with plenty of veg-forward dishes as well as sharing platters of lamb and ribs.
The drink A quite entrancing cocktail menu and a vast selection of wine.
Time Out tip Ignore the starter of pork fat on toast at your peril.