Warlingham, Fish & Seafood Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: Helping make Tooting’s Broadway Market a foodie destination, this “very affordable” three-year-old seafood specialist wins praise for its “fabulous food, great service and big smiles”. The “really inventive” approach extends to drinks, which include an “amazing gin cocktail” flavoured with oysters. Antiques trade veteran Jimmy Luttman is an “excellent” host.

2024 Review: Diminishing feedback in recent years makes it hard to recommend this “noisy and fun”, family-run Sardinian on Brockley Rise quite as resoundingly as we used to. Fans, though, still say it’s “a super, local Italian trattoria, with a great menu: especially the quirky ice cream and sorbet flavours”.

2021 Review: An “incredible selection of fresh fish” from its in-house fishmonger, Jarvis, next door is the draw to this offshoot of a Borough Market stalwart of two decades standing. “Everything can be grilled for you to order” – and there are “very good specials”.

“A very good fish selection with great daily offerings” and “excellent seafood” win very many nominations for these ever-popular fish-and-seafood bistros in Borough Market, Battersea Power Station and South Kensington. All offer a “pleasant experience”, with an appealing “casual” ambience, “friendly” staff and very “reliable” standards. In particular, SW8 has a “terrific location – right by the Power Station and the boat landing! – Step off and step straight inside!”

2023 Review: One of the bright sparks near Elephant & Castle – this attractive haunt (with cocktail bar) majors in breakfast and brunch options, but also offers a small, eclectic selection of impactful bites (the Bobo Burger, truffle pasta, Thai curry, steak, fish ’n’ chips…). We’ve rated it on limited feedback.

Giant nachos, a bucket of beer and a platter of jumbo shrimp – if that sounds, good head off to these “large and vibrant” US-style ‘Bar.B.Q & Crabshacks’, which have multiplied in recent years from their age-old Chelsea home to colonise Covent Garden, Canary Wharf and Westfield Stratford. They are the kind of places you can make a reservation for 20 and they won’t blink. Top Menu Tip – “great lunch and weekend deals”: e.g. “lobster, salad and chips with a glass of Prosecco for £15 in WC2 – what more could you ask for!”

2022 Review: Italian seafood and wine (available by the glass) is the simple but high-quality format of this November 2019 opening – a bar, restaurant and shop next door to the area’s long-established ‘Pizarro’. Ex-Four Seasons chef Moreno Polverini presides over an offering ranging from a conventional if modernised Italian à la carte to a five-course ‘seafood feast’ for £85. It’s rated on limited early feedback, all of it positive.

With its alpine-themed interior, this Italian-ish Chelsea haunt from the team behind Goodman and Burger & Lobster opened to rave reviews just before lockdown. This year, though, its offering – combining a raw bar, with prime cuts of steak or fish from the grill and a selection of pasta – received little but opprobrium in our diners’ poll for “ridiculously overpriced and average meals” (“you don’t have a value-for-money category. If you did, this would score 0/10!”).

“Lots of the fish is aged in-house and the flavours are second to none” at this chic fishmongers and seafood bar in a bougie backstreet off Sloane Street; and “sitting at the counter being served by the chef feels special”. Sadly, though, its dazzlingly brilliant Haggerston sibling closed in March, leaving this Chelsea branch, which is primarily an amenity for the local ladies-who-lunch rather than a major magnet for serious foodies (as was the case in the East End, where the ambition was off the charts).

“The quality and simplicity of the fish dishes” – “superbly fresh ingredients served in generous portions” – “speak for themselves” at this classic Thames-bank venue in Wapping (sibling to Essex institution Smith’s of Ongar): a “go-to” for its big fan club, where “the lovely views of the Thames and vibe further add to the great experience”. Top Tip – “the set menu is good value, but if nothing takes your fancy then the à la carte is also reasonably priced”.

“Superb” cooking from a “precise seafood menu” means Mauro Sanno’s “busy” Sardinian spot is, to its many fans, “just perfect” – “you can go for business and pleasure”. “My favourite affordable Italian restaurant” may be the claim of a regular used to Belgravia prices, but “the house wine can’t be faulted at £25 a bottle”. “People criticise the decor, the table spacing and noise levels but I like the vibe, and it’s always busy!”

Claude Bosi’s “casual chic” alternative to his flagship upstairs occupies the foyer of the iconic Michelin Building on Brompton Cross and also aims to provide “superb food and the very best service”, but in a more dressed-down manner to the mothership upstairs. Under Claude, the offering has expanded considerably from the old days when it only provided cold oysters, crab and other ‘fruits de mer’ – there’s now an extensive menu incorporating hot fish mains and they’ll even grill you a steak. Top Tip – “it’s particularly enjoyable amongst the lush floral display in the front courtyard in warmer weather”.

“Amazingly fresh and beautifully cooked fish, plus great chips” is the straightforward offer at this family-run stalwart in the heart of Borough Market, which has plenty of outdoor seating for warmer months. Gripes? “Deserts are a little average”. The family also run La Gamba tapas bar along the river at the Festival Hall.

“A very good fish selection with great daily offerings” and “excellent seafood” win very many nominations for these ever-popular fish-and-seafood bistros in Borough Market, Battersea Power Station and South Kensington. All offer a “pleasant experience”, with an appealing “casual” ambience, “friendly” staff and very “reliable” standards. In particular, SW8 has a “terrific location – right by the Power Station and the boat landing! – Step off and step straight inside!”

With “a varied and interesting menu of fish and seafood” – this “light and buzzy” glass-fronted modern fish restaurant satisfies most diners as “a good pitstop amidst the hum of Borough Market” – although there are persistent gripes that it’s “just not imaginative enough for the prices, exploiting the tourist location”. Top Tip – “nice for a team dinner (when the madding crowds have gone)”.