The Woodman Hotel

You’ll find warmth and generosity aplenty at this family-operated Korean restaurant run with palpable pride. Some tables have their own barbecue, allowing you to cook your choice of meats right in front of you, including pork belly, short ribs and Wagyu beef, all at sensible prices. Don’t worry if you’re on a standard table though, as the bansang dishes are surefire winners, offering delicious main components such as fried chicken or grilled mackerel served with three side dishes and top-drawer kimchi. Leave room for the silky smooth matcha crème brûlée to finish.

Snugly slotted into a busy South London street, this bustling Indian restaurant comes with a wonderfully relaxed, vibrant atmosphere and dishes you’ll want to eat again and again. The concise menu keeps things simple and is all the better for it, starting with moreish onion bhajis and continuing with a knockout Thanjavur chicken curry. What makes it even better is the mightily appealing prices, meaning you can share a broad range of dishes with friends and come away without your wallet feeling too bruised.

A rightly popular neighbourhood restaurant, this is a place you can’t help but fall in love with. Located close to Clapham Common, it’s an intimate operation where the open kitchen lets you in on the action. Kick off with a G&T made using their house distilled gin, before enjoying fine British produce crafted into deceptively complex dishes packed with bold flavours. The inventive 'sardine bolognaise dumpling', for instance, showcases consummate seasoning and meticulous attention to detail in every element. The smooth service team bring welcome personality to proceedings.

There's an endearingly personal touch to this intimate Japanese restaurant run by a husband-and-wife team. The menu takes an omakase format, beginning with a series of otsumami dishes and followed by nigiri sushi. It's the latter that proves to be the stand-out, each individual piece delivered one by one to the enraptured diners; you can expect the pure, delicately flavoured seafood produce to include the likes of chutoro, otoro, hamachi and scallop. There's a sake pairing available for pre-order if you want to enhance the experience.

This popular neighbourhood restaurant may have started life as a pop-up but it’s now a well-established member of the Tooting dining scene. Located on a High Street corner, it’s a fairly simple place in design, but benefits from the energy emanating out of its open kitchen, friendly team and contented diners. Seasonal British produce and a few pickled and preserved elements form the backbone of the cooking – which takes the form of two lengths of tasting menu that are also available in pescatarian, vegetarian or vegan forms. Look out for their occasional 'Burger Nights' too.

Situated in the Merton Abbey Mills development – which was once a 12th-century priory, then spent time as a mill and is now a thriving cultural quarter – Black Radish is an intimate, well-run restaurant with space for just 12 diners. A chef’s table for two is ideal if you want a ringside seat. The cosy atmosphere provides a backdrop for cooking that’s grounded in top-drawer ingredients – be that Orkney scallops with yuzu kosho, XO and finger lime or terrific Silver Hill duck with complementary quince and salsify.

The French bistro spirit is strong at Ploussard, a true neighbourhood spot for the residents of Clapham. The look has a smart elegance to it, alongside the archetypal bistro simplicity, with blonde-wood panelling bringing an almost art deco touch. Francophiles will be pleased by the menu, too, which offers dishes such as white asparagus with vin jaune hollandaise or duck leg pithivier – all underscored by seasonal, high-quality ingredients. The knowledgeably curated wine list may not be the longest, but it’s got some brilliant choices.