The best restaurants in Balham

Never one to rest on its laurels, this hip café is still the place to be seen for breakfast or brunch in Balham. Staff are full of smiles as they serve up tongue-in-cheek fish sandos, baked eggs and suchlike. Terrific coffees and a playlist of the owners’ favourite records add to the feel-good vibe.

A swish modern Japanese restaurant serving an izakaya-style menu against a backdrop of glossy woodwork, stone walls and designer light fittings. Misfires aside, there’s some decent stuff here – notably the punchy Korean-spiced lamb chops, deep-fried black-pepper squid and an impressive riff on Nobu’s yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño. Obliging staff also get our vote.

It may be billed as a ‘diner’, but this popular Nepalese spot is more serious than that. Smiling staff and folksy music create just the right mood for some excellent-value authentic food: from momo cha (juicy steamed dumplings served with sweet-and-sour achaar sauce) to curries of richly spiced pokhoreli lamb or prawn asworya (‘favoured by young princes for their romantic nights out’, apparently).

South-west London is well-served by Megan’s, and the Balham branch has all the necessary neighbourhood credentials. During the day, its twee interiors (paper flowers entwined over the ceiling, fairy lights in the windows) are manna for local yummy mummies wanting brunch, coffee and cake, or simply a salad and some healthy juice. In the evening, thoughts turn to deconstructed kebabs and naughty cocktails.

The first south London branch of a long-standing Japanese mini chain, Balham’s Taro follows the group’s remit to the letter – serving a whole range of ‘everyday’ dishes at affordable prices, with page after page of sushi, sashimi, karaage, tempura, gyoza, rice bowls, teriyaki, katsu curries and more besides. Expect bright lights and bustle, big crowds, basic blond-wood furnishings and a long bar.  

Balham’s poshest gastropub is a summertime hole-up par excellence, with no fewer than three outdoor spaces to explore: a chilled courtyard area, a buzzy terrace and a fully laid-out garden. Inside, the bar is a good-time spot for drinkers, while the elegant dining room caters to those who preferstone-baked pizzas, dry-aged steaks and plant-based burgers. 

If you fancy fish and chips in Balham but want something a bit trendier than your average local chippie, then Seventeen should do the trick. White tiled walls, grainy wooden tables and benches, plank floors and dangling lights scream hipster, while the menu keeps it traditional with battered cod, haddock, plaice, fishcakes and saveloys.

A stone's throw from Balham station, this self-styled ‘modern British pub’ has all the hipster trappings you could wish for: craft beers, small-batch gins, artisan wines and a street-side terrace for people-watching. It also serves up an all-day menu of seasonal small plates and gastropub classics – think anchovies on toast, sage fried chicken and rib-eye steak. Saturday brunch and Sunday roasts complete the package.