Lovely and Spacious House in South London

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.

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.

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.

‘Heritage’ is key to the cooking at this Indian restaurant in a smart suburban shopping parade, where skilfully prepared dishes are knowledgably balanced, well-spiced and packed with authentic flavours. Dayashankar Sharma – who has led many of London’s best Indian kitchens – cooks alongside his son Anmol.

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.

Better known to his thousands of Instagram followers as NattyCanCook, Chef Nathaniel Mortley is behind this well-run Caribbean restaurant, where the buzz of the many delighted diners hits you the second you walk in. Start off with a cocktail – perhaps the signature rum punch – before choosing from a menu of colourful dishes with warming spices and gentle sweeter notes. All of the mains come with rice and peas or jollof rice, but it’s well worth adding a side of caramelised plantain too. To finish, go for Mortley’s deliciously different take on sticky toffee pudding.

Sitting just outside Herne Hill station, with its large windows letting diners look out and passers-by to look in, Llewellyn’s feels like a proper neighbourhood restaurant at the heart of the local community. The menu offers an appealing mix of dishes with a Mediterranean accent which focus on the freshness of the ingredients, and service is young and endearing.