Tapas South of the River

[Suzi Edwards]

i've completely screwed up. i promised my best friend that i would book a table for nine of us to eat somewhere in the clapham/oval/stockwell/tooting area TOMORROW night.

gulp. i've got my phone on divert so i figure if i can find somewhere in the next couple of hours she'll never know :-)

i'm thinking tapas, maybe portuguese...any ideas?

[circeplum]

rebato's is pretty good. old-fashioned but fun.

and for portuguese, the best on the little portugal strip is, i reckon, bar estrela.

both south lambeth road.

el rincon latino, clapham manor st, is great for a raucous night. really sweet staff.

m

[Jon Tseng]

Haven't a clue about tapas

That aside:

Tooting Broadway consider Ricks Cafe. Random modern neighbourhood friendly.

Clapham Common can't think of anywhere now Tartuf has metamorphosed into a random grill (grrrr)

Clapham Junction would the Gourmet Burger Kitchen be too downmarket?

Brixton is a hellhole, although Jay Rayner has a Portugese Brixton Hill area he recommends. I'm sure he can fill you in. For other Portugese recs round there check out the Time Out guide

Oval The Lavender gets decent notices for random modern neighbourhood, but have never been

If you can get to Waterloo/London Bridge outposts of Tas are always useful for big groups.

cheerio

J

[Winot]

Rebatos is good for front of house tapas but they don't take bookings. You can book the restaurant at the back but it's not recommended.

Bar Estrela good fun as mentioned; good for large groups.

Brixton doesn't have anything great as Jon says but you could try:

Pangea - pizza and pasta on Atlantic Rd - good fun but noisy.

Bah Humbug in St Matthew's Church crypt OK food, good for large groups.

Neon - also P&P, Jay liked it but I've never been impressed.

Clapham has Thyme which is a high-end place with Club Gascon like tapas portions; very accomplished cooking but to my mind hugely overpriced (£50pp plus).

Tooting has loads of fantastic South Indian restaurants (eg Kastoori) that could fit you in no problem and would come in at £25 a head tops.

Finally, ,if you want somewhere more high end how about Stepping Stone in Battersea? I've alwys been impressed by this place - modedrn European, great service, good value.

Hope that helps.

W.

[nicola]

In Clapham, Pizza Metro would be good but I don't know if you'd get in at short notice.

Agree with the comment about Stepping Stone - last time we were there they were having a power cut in the front of house so we dined entirely by candlelight which was very romantic but did make it quite difficult to read the menu

[horton]

I can heartily recommend Blackpepper, 133 Lavender Hill. Superb Italian (although they do a tapas starter to share) food at very reasonable prices. Raised area at the back is ideal for a party you size. I'd liken it to Paolo on Percy Street.

[olly s]

Stepping Stone is excellent. I love it, and the fact that it is releatively unknown and therefore nearly always possible to book a table.

What about Bar Meze on the Northcote Rd - not my cup of tea, but quite fun and the tapas aren't bad. Other than that Scoffers on Eccles Rd used to be alright. I have heard a few bad reports recently, but it always used to be really fun and good, if slightly confused, menu.

There are several terrible tapas places up St John's Hill and Battersea Rise. Avoid.

[Suzi Edwards]

thanks for all of the suggestions. we went for bar estrela in the end and ate like kings for £18 per head!!! the tapas was a bit hit and miss (crab and avocado salad was made with fish sticks) but the seafood (cockles, mussels and clams) were excellent. i'd never had cockles in their shells before. really good.

also drank (far too much) vinho verde which was also a first for all of us and it went down really well.

[circeplum]

glad you liked it!

m