The best restaurants in Brixton

If you live in or around Brixton, you’ll have heard of this local stalwart, where larger-than-life Trinidadian owner Brian Danclair dishes up all the flavours of the Caribbean. It's one of the dreamiest sites in Brixton Village market – a corner spot, with half the ‘outside’ tables under cover and the rest on the patch by Coldharbour Lane. Try Brian's other spot, Danclair's Kitchen at nearby Granville Arcade, or the even news Veg & Tings, right next door to FW&Ts, and with a totally vegan menu.

A brilliant neighbourhood joint in Herne Hill offering up classic contemporary European dishes done beautifully. Think caponata strewn with crunchy sourdough crumbs and strained ricotta, Hereford beef shin ragú with smotheringly rich polenta, and rabbit niçoise. Basically, there is nothing to fault. The service was impeccable. Prices are reasonable. SE24, you don’t know how lucky you are.

If you know, you know. Find Maureen's Brixton Kitchen at 52 Railton Road, a community hub serving up serious Jamaican jerk. Find oxtail, curry goat, rice and peas and all manner of incredible BBQ cooked on jerk pans and coal burners in Maureen's very own yard, as well as sides of mac and cheese and dumplings. An institution.  

Delivering cheap Japanese eats on Brixton Village Market, this fun little canteen specialises in that Osaka street-food staple, okonomiyaki (savoury pancakes with assorted toppings and sesame-spiked Japanese mayo). You could put pretty much anything into your batter mix, but pork, squid and kimchi are top choices. Otherwise, the menu is small but perfectly rounded – think edamame, fried aubergine with miso dressing, tofu miso soup and yaki onigiri (fried rice cakes). A noodle-themed offshoot, Okan East, is on nearby Coldharbour Lane.

Bunhead Bakery is the bricks and mortar debut for Bunhead Bakes, a pandemic-born organic and sourdough-specific food market favourite from self-taught baker Sara Assad-Manning. Her Palestinian heritage is key to what makes her food so important. The lovely, sticky buns come in a variety of sugary options; from pink-glazed rose and cardamom swirls to a juicy baklava-esque take on proceedings and an OG cinnamon offering, as well as one inspired by the Palestinian pudding knafeh, drenched with syrup and studded with wisps of shredded phyllo and rose petals. Simply gorgeous.

Sure, it's a cinema, but The Ritzy is also home to the inspirational En Root (who you'll also find in Clapham, Herne Hill and Peckham), who make great Indian-inspired comfort food; think crunchy plantain chaat, tandoori oyster mushroom wings, jerk dosas and pakora burgers. Grab a don dada platter with all of the fixings; golden rice, yellow curry, daily dhal, saag aloo, rainbow salad and plantain. 

A teeny-tiny wine bar and deli next door to Llewelyn's is a light-filled bolthole with standing-height tables and stools that spill out into the charming square outside Herne Hill station. It’s enormously cute. That’d mean zip but for the food and booze; but both, mercifully, are excellent. There are fab house gildas, tortillas of burnished majesty, and slivers of cured monkfish mosaicked with grilled peppers and preserved lemon. Come for pitch-perfect plates, affable staff and a breezily cosmopolitan setting.

Keenly upholding a singular British tradition, this breathtakingly spotless Brixton chippy gets everything right: fish is delicately battered, chips are pleasingly thick and fluffy, tartare sauce is extra zingy, and delightful staff treat everyone like lifelong friends. Eat in or takeaway from a menu packed with the usual suspects – from cod, rock, skate and plaice to pies (including Jamaican patties), battered sausages, burgers and chicken.  

KaoSarn has always been one of the crowd-pullers in Brixton Village Market and quite rightly so; their take on Thai food is cheap and the flavours are authentic. The menu is pared down to a handful of classic curries, noodle dishes and stir-fries, but everything is cooked to a decent standard. Soft drinks include fragrant homemade lemongrass or ginger tea, and you can also BYOB. 

Lyon-born Margaux oversees the natural and organic tipples at this loveable Brixton wine bar, while husband Joe serves up a brief blackboard menu of pure-bred French dishes and eclectic small plates. Expect anything from boudin noir with cured egg yolk, tarragon and crackling or John Dory with courgettes and sauce vierge to BBQ pork belly with Korean spices. Be aware that the venue is off Brixton’s main drag, heading towards Herne Hill.

Chris Restrepo's Kurisu Omakase has officially taken over his family's sushi joint, Ichiban. You might have heard about it on the Off Menu podcast or you might just be one of London's extremely in-the-know foodies. Expect experimental fish dishes, with likes of CBD caviar served atop mackerel nigiri at this eight seat spot, where you'll be treated to an 18 course omakase experience.

Located in the crypt underneath St Matthew’s Church in Brixton, Gremio takes the idea of underground quite literally. Churches always offer their own unique atmosphere, and the vaulted brick roof and flickering candlelight inside this tapas bar doesn’t hurt matters either. The menu is crammed with porky delights such as jamón croquetas, butifarra (Catalan sausage) and cochinillo segoviano (roast suckling pig).

Swap the mopeds for Lime bikes whizzing past on the pavement, and eating on The Laundry’s terrace is a dead ringer for brunching on a Florentine piazza. A former Edwardian laundry is now an all-day restaurant and wine shop. When it comes to brunch, try The Dirty Laundry stack – made up of hash browns served with a roulette of sauces. There's also sautéed mushrooms with poached eggs, served on sourdough and slathered in creamed cheese. In the drinks department, the Picante Margarita hit the spot. 

Spawned from an ‘empty shops’ project in 2011, Etta’s is a welcoming spot with cheery staff and a menu that has no truck with red meat. Instead, fish is the main event, with Caribbean influences showing up in the seafood curry, ackee with saltfish, plantain chips and rice ‘n’ peas. You can also come here for garlicky peppered prawns, scallop salad and good old cod and chips. Etta’s doesn’t sell booze, but their homemade drinks are ace.

It started as a Brixton pop-up before going permanent in Soho, but now Kricket is back in SW9 with a snazzy new site under the railway arches. The food is everything you would expect, and more – a succession of killer Anglo-Indian small plates ranging from the astounding house bhel-puri to samphire pakoras, dinky Goan sausage croquettes, Keralan fried chicken with pickled mooli and gutsy pulled pig’s head with a blast of vindaloo chilli heat. Affable staff and punchy cocktails seal the deal.

This engaging Chinese café evolved from a north London supperclub, then crossed the river to become part of the second wave of entrepreneurs who conquered the now buzzing Brixton Village Market. A family affair inspired by the Beijing stall run by owner Ning Ma’s grandparents, it serves hearty northern-Chinese street-food – in particular, dumplings, rice bowls, noodle soup and salad, and bao. 

One of Brixton's more leftfield dining choices, HMP Brixton’s training restaurant is a professional-level kitchen with a smart, buzzy dining room staffed by prisoners working towards qualifications in catering and hospitality. Alcohol doesn’t feature anywhere on the menu, so go for the mocktail of the day instead. 

London's burger scene is hotly competitive, but Black Bear stands out for its killer patties. Make for this stripped-back eatery for perfectly charred burgers, and sides that threaten to outshine the main event, including fiendishly succulent chicken nuggets.

Tucked away down a Brixton sidestreet, Maremma is a cute neighbourhood restaurant with a menu that draws inspiration from the coastal area of Maremma in sunny Tuscany. The homemade pasta is a highlight, including chilli tagliatelle with prawns and cherry tomatoes as well as ribsticking fresh pappardelle with wild boar ragù. Go to carb-load in winningly cosy surroundings.