The best restaurants in Peckham

Forza Wine is a rooftop bar/restaurant with an outdoor, bench-filled terrace and an indoor area with tall tables and glass doors revealing that skyline. Food is of the lipsmacking small-plates variety, with Italian-ish favours. Lots of fritti, rotating pasta dishes, panzanellas, herby beans, fabulous flatbreads, and fittingly, an excellent wine list and tonnes of seriously impressive cocktails. You can order the whole menu for £130, which would comfortably feed a group of five. We love it here.

A diner from the good people of Mondo Sando, this Camberwell luncheonette is great for grabbing a sandwich, but also a place to linger, to drink, and have fun without being trapped by the fanciness and fastidiousness of a Proper Restaurant. Somewhere in-between classic American diner and British greasy spoon – with a touch of NYC deli thrown in for good measure – Cafe Mondo might seem like a casual place, but the food is anything but. Try the patty melt and an MSG martini and thank us later.

Levan is a local delight with a modernist menu that ticks all our boxes. Top pick? The addictive comté cheese fries with saffron aioli. Try the 'chef's menu' for a tasting selection of everything that's good. Staff are ace, and the whole place is fun, fun, fun. Bar Levan next door is more of a wine and snacky bits situation, and just as enjoyable.

Low-key and minimalist, this honest-to-goodness Italian is just about the most perfect local restaurant you could imagine: cool without being pretentious; brilliant value despite its sky-high quality; and with a concise, market-led chalkboard menu of big-flavoured, technically flawless seasonal dishes. Think January King cabbage with bagna cáuda and breadcrumbs, cotechino with salsify and lentils or lamb shoulder with salsa verde and pea shoots.

Alright, it might be just outside of Peckham, but the Camberwell Arms is worth the bus ride. This grand Victorian boozer was given a serious sprucing up in 2014 and since then has remained the very picture of modesty. But who needs jazzed-up interiors when the cooking is this compelling? This is one of the greatest gastropubs in London; the food is seasonal without being smug, and runs the gamut from beer onions on toast with aged gruyère through to broad bean, pea and dill fritters stacked up like Jenga pieces on a creamy, tangy splodge of whipped feta and barbecued mackerel on a bed of sweet and sour peppers. Sharing platters of lamb and Hereford forerib of beef are serious stuff, and the drinks are as immaculate as the food. Go, now. 

You probably wouldn’t stumble upon Asian Takeaway unless you were looking for it, but it’s more than worth the quest. Tucked away off Rye Lane, this little hatch is banging out shish and curries like nobody’s business, for really affordable prices. The daily selection tends to include an on-the-bone chicken dish and their great chana masala, and a combo platter won’t set you back much over a fiver. On a hot day, eat at the tables next to the truck, and make sure to order a naan, freshly made on the tandoor, to scoop everything up.

A south Indian restaurant that pitched up on Peckham Rye before it got posh, Ganapati has the colourful, laidback feel of a joint inspired by a backpacking tour of the subcontinent, and it certainly looks the part, with communal tables, school-style chairs, a photo wall and shelves of gilded trinkets. The result is nothing like your average curry house – even the desserts are varied and authentic – and for that reason, it’s deservedly popular with locals.

Janda Diner continues Peckham’s proud tradition of excellent Malaysian cooking, following the departure of Mambow to a new venue north of the river in 2023. Chef Ady Yacob whips up the home-style food he grew up with, adding verve and no-holds barred indulgence. The fantastic ayam goreng susu (milk-fried chicken) is a menu highlight that’s already built up a cult following with its light batter and almost sweet, condensed milk sauce.

Located down a dingy cobbled alleyway opposite Peckham Rye station, Yada’s is a ramshackle Kurdish joint with zero interest in PR but a huge talent for producing honest, flavourful food. Its shish kebabs, shawarma and kubba (lamb-stuffed rice balls) are all grand, and do save room for a qawarma lamb wrap with cheese and pickles. It also does Irn Bru shisha, if you’re interested.

Rye Lane's all-day Cafe Britaly comes from a dream team of talent who've done time at both Bouchon Racine and Bocca di Lupo. The pitch is simple; Italian food through a British lens. This means cream in the carbonara, and slap-up 'full Britalian' brekkies with fennel sausage and fried pizza dough. Come for the Sunday roast of perfect porchetta with yorkshire puds.

Destination neighbourhood dining in Peckham – that’s the schtick at Kudu, a good-looking restaurant specialising in South African-inspired small plates. It may be named after a species of antelope, but don’t come here expecting exotic decor: instead, the dining room has the vibe of a sleek, vintage lounge bar, while the kitchen shows its rainbow nation allegiances with several dishes arriving in traditional cast-iron skillets.

Everyone thinks they ‘get’ halloumi wraps – and then they have the Yemane’s version and realise they didn’t have a clue. This van parked up just off Rye Lane slings out north African wraps flavoured with a selection of house-made chutneys, which vary in spice levels but all hit a 10 on the taste-o-meter. Whether you go for the fantastic breaded halloumi, the crispy falafel or the lamb shish, this is the best, most reliable lunch option on Rye Lane.

Zeitgeist or no, this Taiwanese spot is a tip-top contender that brings a slice of Soho to SE15 with its fluffy steamed bao buns, small plates and cocktails. The classic Mr Bao (pork, pickle and peanut powder) is both larger and cheaper than its uptown rivals (but just as good), and we also like the extended list of vegan offerings, such as the ginger-braised tofu bao.  

Head to nearby East Dulwich for neighbourhood style Greek dining at Evi's, the first bricks and mortar restaurant from the couple behind the popular street food stall Souvlaki Street. Next to fittingly whitewashed walls you can feast on oregano-dusted chips, platters of pork skewers, slow grilled chicken thighs and – on our visit – a sensational seasonal salad of shredded lemon, pickled loquats, fennel, carrot, dill and honey vinaigrette. Don't miss the impossibly creamy taramasalata. 

Considered by many to be the purveyor of the best Nigerian barbecue in the area, Suuyar is a street-side food stall headed up by Kolawole Ajayi, a popular YouTube chef with 93,000 subscribers, who you might well catch filming as he grills. Come prepared for proper, actual chilli, get the beef – seasoned with a yaji (or spice mix) that pulls no punches with the rich, roasted base flavour of kuli-kuli (peanut cake) – and ascend accordingly. 

Taquiza has a bit of a ramshackle feel to it; this is down to the fact that it doubles up as The Carpet Shop, one of London’s best new(ish) clubs, opened by the people behind the always-excellent Corsica Studios. Food is Mexican, delicious and big of portion; queso fundido, grilled elote with burnt onion sour cream, tuna tostadas and goat shoulder tacos. Loads of fun. 

Proudly located within Persepolis – Peckham’s Persian delicatessen – this colourful, crowded and charmingly bonkers café is a shoo-in for local veggies. Meze and wraps form the bedrock, but the menu plunders Iran, the Levant and North Africa for inspiration (adding some local tweaks along the way). To finish, go for the hot paklava meltdown or the divine turkish delight sundae. Drink Afghan green tea.

Tapas-style sharing is the deal at this hip Thai café – a Peckham favourite with an all-weather outdoor space and an exhilarating menu of dishes far beyond your usual pad thai clichés. Expect obscure street-food options such as fermented fish with coconut cream relish alongside more Westernised seasonal ideas (salt-baked celeriac with bergamot and chilli nam jim sauce, for example).

Originally opened in 1927, burned down during the Peckham riots in 1985, rebuilt and reopened in 1990, this branch of Manze’s pie-and-mash shop is run along similar lines to its older brother on Tower Bridge Road. Its pies are some of the best in town, the liquor is perfect, and the endlessly churned mash is just soooo smooth.

Now happily embedded on Peckham Rye, this former street-food outfit serves up classic Vietnamese dishes in a modest, neutrally decorated, plywood-clad setting. Classics such as summer rolls, pho and noodle salads share billing with more unusual ideas including the house special: bánh khot pancakes filled with prawns, topped with spring onion and sprinkled with shrimp dust. BB’s Vietnamese cocktails are fab too.

Little Kudu is another gland on the Kudu ‘collective’ udder and markets itself as a kind of tapas restaurant, and so not one for anti-small-plates crew. Try the amazingly tangy slopfest of braaibroodjie, a sort of luxury open-faced South African cheese toastie. 

A trendy street-food stall that’s gone permanent, this cool pizza joint comes with a moody lick of paint and a stylish marble bar – although it’s all about the blistered Neapolitan-style specialities that are pulled out of the oven. Our top pick is the version strewn with lamb merguez sausage (from Flock & Herd across the road), red onion, cavolo nero and rosemary – a surefire Peckham classic.  

Originally a part-time pan-Balkan pop-up, this spruced-up joint is now a gastronomic gem on unlovely Consort Road. ‘Eastern Mediterranean charcoal-grilled goodness’ is the promise, and judging by the smells wafting down the street, this place delivers in spades. Smoky flavours loom large, from marinated quail with chickpea and apricot tagine to whole turbot with saffron-infused couscous. The whole caboodle is run with real enthusiasm.

An impeccably hip drop-in selling seriously delicious pizzas sliced from 22-inch New York-style whoppers, Voodoo Ray’s is known for its long hours, gigantic portions and downright kooky menu. Carnivores might fancy Porky’s or The Meat Is On, but there are also plenty of takers for the Vegan Queen (artichoke hearts, green olives, red onion etc) and the ten-inch brunch pie topped with wild mushrooms and cherry tomatoes on a soy yoghurt base.