Peckham Bazaar, Consort Road, South London

Specialising in fascinating Balkan fare, this restaurant rarely puts a foot wrong. The sumptuous and varied dishes - ranging from marinated octopus with new potatoes to sirloin kebab with Greek fava to pan-fried kourkoubines (pasta) with wild mushrooms and butternut squash - will have you waxing lyrical.  The multitude of flavours and textures make for a really satisfying and stimulating meal. But, take note, the dishes come in a random order whenever they are ready, so be prepared to share your choices with your fellow diners. And it is very easy to over order.  While the food is fairly priced, some of the wines and beers are a tad pricey for a neighbourhood restaurant. Still, the service is assured and there is a pleasant buzz, both indoors and on the covered patio.  For a relaxed meal with close friends and family, the Peckham Bazaar should be on the shortlist. 8/10

Rice Republic, Streatham High Road, South London

More relaxed than many of the Chinese restaurants in the west end, The Rice Republic serves respectable staples at reasonable prices. To kick off, the crispy aromatic duck (£9.50) with pancakes, soy sauce, cucumber and spring onions, is competent and quite generous, while the prawn dumplings (three for £4.20) are delicious and the duo of steamed pork buns (£3.90) makes for a hearty appetiser. For a main course, the chicken in satay sauce is best avoided. It is a bit short of flavour, while the meat is a tad rubbery. The king prawns with ginger and spring onion (£9.50) are far better, while the crispy fried shredded beef is sweet and satisfying. Steamed rice (£3) is nicely done, but a tad pricey, while the egg fried rice (£4) is lacklustre. You can probably do without a small bowl of prawn crackers for a couple of quid.  On the whole, the dishes are good value, but the extras and sides soon rack up, particularly if you are drinking beer (£4 for a 330ml bottle of Tiger) to wash down the spicy food. Still, service at the Rice Republic is very smooth and the ambiance is appealing. A large mural of the Great Wall of China and the light shades that look like bird cages are among the eye-catching adornments. 7/10

Steak Night at the Prince Regent, Dulwich Road, South London

On a Thursday night, the Prince Regent pub has turned its menu over to mouthwatering steaks. A hefty and delicious 9oz sirloin steak (£18) arrives with some decent chips,  a crisp green salad and a moreish Béarnaise sauce. Served in the elegant and well-heated Victorian dining room, you can enjoy your hunk of meat with one of the fine beers on tap. Although the service can be a bit haphazard, it is well-meaning and welcoming. 8/10

Trinity Restaurant, The Polygon, Clapham Old Town, south London

Images from Trinity's web site

Bringing a touch of West End class to Clapham's Old Town, Trinity Restaurant offers fine dining in tasteful and spacious surroundings, presided over by a small army of well-drilled waiting staff. The refined decor of the downstairs dining room is matched by the crisp white table cloths, smart crockery and generous tables and chairs. In the evening, you can opt for three or four courses from the set menu at a cost of £55 and £68 respectively, before a discretionary service charge of 12.5%. You'll also be served various appetisers, as well as some mouthwateringly light and warm bread rolls during the meal. To start, the tuna, served with crab salad, apple and smoked almond milk, is vibrantly fresh, while the second course of smoked eel pissaladiere, served with red wine, garlic and olive oil, also makes for a scintillating mix of flavours. Even better is a third course of raised beef short rib in a rich and sumptuous Bourguignon sauce - the slow cooked meat is a tender and time-honoured tribute to a French classic. For desert, the rum baba, served with Madagascan vanilla cream and semi dried grapes, makes for a lovely mix of textures and tastes. The wine list is very extensive, but also expensive, starting at around £30 a bottle. The Specogna Pinot Grigio (£52 a bottle) is surprisingly pink, but still crisp and dry. It is very pleasant, but over-priced. Although it could break the bank, Trinity Restaurant is a good option for a special occasion. An extraordinary amount of thought and care has gone into conceiving the dishes, the cooking and the on-plate presentation. Trinity is smart, but not stuffy. 8/10

Mama Lan, the Pavement, Clapham, South London

Part of a small chain of Chinese restaurants specialising in Beijing street food, the Clapham branch of Mama Lan is a compact stripped-back establishment where you sit on benches around wooden tables. The menu features a variety of dumplings, spicy chicken wings, noodle soups and rice dishes, such as sweet chilli chicken and crispy ginger beef. Well presented and full of colour, the food doesn't tend to taste as good as it looks. The prawn crackers are a bit stingy for £2.50 and harder than you might like, while the dumplings (£5.50 for five) don't have enough flavour, and the chicken wings (£6.50) can be very bony. The beef noodle soup (£9.50) doesn't have enough meat, relaying heavily on the pak choi and chilli to maintain your interest. You can wash it all down with bottles of Chinese Tsing Tao beer (£4) or glasses of pinot grigio (£5), cocktails or fruit juices. There is also tap water, but it needs ice.  Mama Lan isn't expensive, but it isn't great. 6/10

Bodean's, Balham High Road, south London

A transplant from small town America, Bodean's is a glorified rib shack offering generous portions of high cholesterol food at keenish prices - a bountiful 16oz beef burger with fries is £13, while a whole slab of baby back ribs is £16. The fare is surprisingly tasty and the Balham branch can be almost full early on a Sunday evening. Be careful how much you order, as you can easily end up stuffed to the gills. Service by the young staff is good natured, the seats are comfortable and there will probably be American Football or baseball on the telly.  A well-orchestrated celebration of America's red meat-eating cowboy culture, Bodean's is a fun place to take the kids. 7/10

Naughty Piglets, Brixton Water Lane, south London

Images from Naughty Piglets' Instagram account

A small and cosy neighbourhood bistro, Naughty Piglets describes itself as a "charcoal grill restaurant and a natural wine bar". In practice, that translates into imaginative modern European food served tapas style, encouraging you to share and taste multiple dishes, supported by a lengthy and pricey wine list, starting at £23 a bottle and rapidly rising to more than twice that. Bewarned, the advice from the waiting staff can be erratic. Do not be tempted by the Riesling (£36 a bottle), which can have an unappealing apple aftertaste. Fortunately, the food is more reliable, if a tad expensive. The scallops and chorizo (£6) amounts to three tasty morsels, while the measly ham croquettes (two mouthfuls for £4) will leave you hungry for more. The portobello mushroom and egg yolk (£5), served with hazelnut pesto,  is also very good. Among the larger dishes, the leg of lamb (£16), served with shallots and kale, is earthy and delicious. To finish, the panna cotta, served with plums, and the salted caramel chocolate pot and hazelnut (both a fiver) are expertly done and hit the spot. However, the modest portion sizes mean particularly naughty pigs may leave either hungry or broke. 7/10

Boqueria, Acre Lane, south London

Images from Boqueria's web site

With a lively and youthful vibe, the Brixton branch of Boqueria has buzz. It's downstairs room, with clean lines and big skylights, strikes the right balance between comfort and cool. But the tapas (around a fiver a dish) is hit and miss. The Spanish omelette may be overcooked, while the chorizo in cider lacks a kick and the king prawns may have been on dry land too long. The spinach in creamy cheese with pine nuts and raisins is better, while the broken eggs with chorizo, ham, cheese and potatoes (Huevos rotos con Jamón Ibérico y sobrasada) is delicious, if a tad unhealthy. The rosé wine can taste too much like sherry, while the service can be incoherent - the food might arrive before your drinks and you may have to remind the staff what you ordered. There are better places to eat in Brixton and Clapham. 6/10

Tanner & Co, Bermondsey Street, south London

On a weekend evening, Tanner & Co is one of few eateries on Bermondsey Street that may be able to muster a table at short notice. It benefits from handsome brickwork, a big airy dining room, a sizeable bar area and an outdoor terrace. Housed in a converted warehouse, Tanner & Co. is decorated with many industrial odds and sods. The resulting decor feels a bit contrived, but is pleasant enough and the place tends to buzz with thirty somethings. The comfort food on the menu, such as bacon and cheese burger on brioche, chutney, pickles and chips (£15), is competent enough and nicely presented. But barely justifies the premium prices. Tanner & Co also offers a fairly imaginative meat board and a tempting fish board (each costing £20) featuring fishcakes, smoked salmon and mackerel pate, brown shrimps, paprika aioli, ‘cold smoked’ salmon, pickled vegetables and a selection of breads. It sounds impressive on paper, but in reality, the platter is fairly modest and gets underwhelming reviews. Although it is a one-off, Tanner & Co. feels like it belongs in a coasting restaurant chain. 6/10

Mama Lan restaurant, Brixton Village, south London

Spicy beef noodle soup

One of the many quirky eateries competing for business in buzzing Brixton Village, Mama Lan has a short, simple Chinese menu, apparently harking from Beijing. You can sit at one of the handful of coarse wooden tables in the covered market alley or you might be able to get a cosier table inside.  The hefty king prawn and Chinese water chestnut dumplings (5 pieces for £6.50) are tasty enough, but the prawns are overpowered by the water chestnut. Better is the spicy beef noodle soup (£9). A real assault on the taste buds, this dish is strong, sensuous and substantial with plenty of meat and carbs. The spicy chicken ban mien (£9), on the other hand, is a little stodgy and doesn't win great reviews.  With the fiery food, you'll probably want a couple of bottles of Tsing Tao beer (330ml for £3.50), but there are also large glasses of mediocre wine for about a fiver and free tap water. You eat with chopsticks from large china bowls on wooden tables. The service is a little gruff and the staff may even ask you to move tables half way through your meal to accommodate other diners.  Still, Mama Lan is good value, if you choose your dishes carefully. 7/10

The Silk Road Restaurant, Camberwell Church St, South London

A simple, but very popular, eatery, the Silk Road specialises in the spicy cuisine originating from China's north-west frontier province of Xinjiang. The decor and furnishing are simple and not that comfortable - wooden benches line cramped wooden tables, but it is overshadowed by the enthralling and authentic food, which you eat with chopsticks and with plenty of napkins. Helpfully, the many noodle dishes and stews on the menu are marked with chill-peppers, signalling how strong their kick on a scale of one to three. The signature dish - the medium plate chicken (about £16 for enough for two) - is excellent. It is a huge broth containing a dozen or more pieces of chicken on the bone, chillies, potatoes, anise and garlic swimming in the juice. Once you have waded your way through the meat, the staff may add piles of chunky, tasty noodles to soak up the liquid. 

Toast E.D., Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, South London

At Toast E.D., it's all about the food and the wine. The decor is stripped back to bare brick walls and functional furniture. On a Friday and Saturday evening, the dining rooms are usually overflowing, but you might get a seat at the bar.  Although the quirky and unusual combinations on the daily changing menu may not look very appealing, give it a go and you will probably be pleasantly surprised. The chatty and knowledgeable serving staff advise you'll need two or three dishes (about £4-£18 apiece). Duck hearts with polenta and watercress is full of flavour, while the lamb shoulder with lentils and yoghurt is a lovely dish. Lamb, anchovies and cabbage also make for a delicious combination in the hands of the Toast E.D. chefs, but the partridge and butternut squash is less exciting. Moreover, the braised red cabbage (£5) with pumpkin butter is a bit too sweet. There is a lengthy and imaginative wine list that caters to most tastes and wallets, but the house wines are unusually good. The smooth  Syrah/Grenache 2013, Estézargues, Cotes du Rhone, is great value at £14.55 for 750ml or £9.70 for 500ml. You'll enjoy being Toasted E.D. 8/10

KaoSarn, Brixton Village, Coldharbour Lane, south London

A rough and ready Thai restaurant next to the main entrance to Brixton Village, KaoSam pulls in a steady stream of punters on a Saturday evening. Although there are a few tables inside, you are likely to be sitting in the shabby courtyard, possibly with a view of the big blue wheelie bins. You bring your own booze, but the restaurant does provide tap water, sometimes in warm glasses fresh from the dishwater. Still, the food can be excellent value - among the starters, the Tom Yum Goong (£4.90) is a  fine choice. You'll find fat juicy prawns floating in the vibrant lemongrass soup.  But the fried Geaw Tod is less successful. It can be disappointingly dry and crispy as the prawns and chicken encrusted inside the pastry may seem stingy and tired. The main courses tend to be more generous than the starters. The lamb massaman, served with steamed rice, is particularly good. There is plenty of succulent meat, potatoes and onions, while the coconut sauce is rich and satisfying. Great value for under a tenner. Although the service can be sluggish, when your meal is done, the staff may try to move you on quickly, so they can sit more diners.  In other words, a meal at KaoSam can be a mixed bag. 6/10

Toast E.D., Lordship Lane, south London

A stripped-back restaurant and shrine to wine, Toast E.D. puts flavour ahead of comfort. Although it is competing with a dozen or so eateries on East Dulwich's main drag, this new arrival seems to have no trouble filling its tightly-packed tables on a Saturday evening. As the prices are fairly high for south London, Toast E.D.'s popularity reflects the quality of its fare. The menu offers a mix of larger and smaller dishes, but none of them (even the £21 rump steak) is quite big enough to be a main course. Served rare, with a couple of fondant potatoes and glazed shallots in a rich gravy, the steak is delicious. There is enough meat, but the dish is short of carbs. The monk fish (£16), served with artichokes and in prawn broth, is cooked precisely. But the meaty flesh of this fish can be a little rubbery for some tastes. Among the smallish dishes, the moreish seranno ham, which comes with tasty bread and butter, is good value for £5. Another good dish is the asparagus (five spears for about £7.50), which is blanketed in parmesan cheese and enlivened by a sweetish dressing.

Brixton Village Grill, GrandVille Arcade, south London

One of a dozen or so lively restaurants competing for business inside this hip arcade in the heart of Brixton, the Grill's hearty meat dishes have made it popular with middle class south Londoners. On a Friday evening, it can he hard to get a table either inside or outside this buzzy Portuguese-English eatery. If you have to sit out in the arcade, you'll need your coat, but there are some eerie orange heaters to warm you up and you'll enjoy the vivacious Brixton Village vibe. Each main course (about a tenner apiece) comes with two accompaniments. The choice is hand-cut chips (a little soggy, but delicious all the same), basmati rice (really good) and a heavily-dressed, but slightly disappointing salad. Although the spare ribs are enormous, they can be pretty fatty and lacking in flavour. A better choice is the tasty piri-piri lamb chops, which are well seasoned and spicy. However, you only get four smallish pieces - not quite enough, especially if you go for the rice, rather than the chips. For the hungry, the succulent spring chicken is probably the best option. You can get lager on tap in a plastic glass for £3.50 a pint or you can get beer by the bottle. Tap water is free, while the bustling service is warm and welcoming. 8/10

The Begging Bowl, Bellenden Road, south London

(Images from the Begging Bowl web site)

On a warm summer's evening, the hum of conversation and the aroma of Thai cooking might lure you towards the Begging Bowl. You can't book ahead of time, but you can register in person and decamp to the pub opposite - the staff will call you when a table of ready. There is a row of tables outside, sheltered by the glass roof held up by cast iron pillars or you can sit at one of the closely-packed tables inside. Service by the young staff is effervescent and effective - they are good at subtle up-selling. On the menu, the dishes are colour-coded according to price.  The fish cakes, with sweet chilli sauce, (£5.75) are a bit too crispy, but nice enough. The seafood curry is creamy, but can be runny and stingy. Better is the marinated raw salmon with samphire, lemongrass, green mango and chilli lime dressing (£9.75). The chilli is too dominant, but the freshness is really palatable. By contrast, the deep fried pork belly, with sour chilli dip and gravy (£9.75), is quite heavy and dry. Meat eaters might prefer the beef cheek, which is fatty, succulent and tasty. The piece de resistance is probably the deep-fried sea bass, with sweet, sour and chilli dressing with deep fried shallots, garlic and Thai basil  (£14.50). You need to fillet the fish yourself, but there is a lot of flesh and the flavours work well together.  Your dishes are served with appropriate portions of sticky rice and Jasmine rice. The Begging Bowl has a broad selection of wines, starting at £16.60 a bottle and £5.60 a glass. The staff recommend the Cote de Duras 2011, Terroirs de Duc, (£25 a bottle) - a very clean and drinkable wine that goes well with seafood.  Beer is a tad pricey. A 330ml bottle of Estrella Damm costs £4.20, for example. The Begging Bowl has a good vibe, but the food is hit and miss. 7/10

Lombok, Half Moon Lane, south London

An unassuming local restaurant serving an array of Asian food, Lombok is the place to go in  Herne Hill for a respectable Thai curry. The menu offers a broad list of dishes from across Asia, including Thai green curries, red curries, taramind duck, Singapore chilli crab, wok fried chicken and pad Thai noodles. The curries tend to be a choice of chicken or king prawn. The starters can be a bit disappointing - the dim sum, for example, may be lame, while the chicken wrapped in seaweed can be a bit dry - - it really needs the accompanying soy sauce. The main courses, which tend to come in big portions, are better. The delicious, rich and filling Massaman curry (about £9)  - one of the chef specials - is served in lamb, beef or chicken variations and includes potatoes, onions and peanuts. A bowl of good steamed rice costs £1.70, while Tiger or Singha beer is about £3 a bottle. The service can be a little gruff, but is efficient and quick. Lombok is robust enough to ride out a recession or two. 7/10

Tapas Brindisa London Bridge, Southwark Street, central London

It can be tough to get a table for dinner at buzzy Tapas Brindisa. This perennially popular tapas bar on the edge of Borough food market doesn't take bookings. If you pitch up around 8.30 pm on a Saturday, you may have to wait for up to an hour to be seated. In the meantime, you can have a drink, standing at the bar and order a dish or two to keep you going. The menu includes many of the classic tapas dishes, such as chorizo tortilla (£4.50) and chorizo with rocket and piquillo pepper on toast (£6.50). The succulent tortilla is impressively light, but would be even better warm, while the chorizo is mouthwateringly meaty and works well with the rocket. Seafood fans will like the juicy pan-fried clams in white wine sauce and garlic, but they are very salty and you might want to order some of the disappointingly tough white bread to mop up the sauce. You get about 20 clams or so for £8. The house specials include some delicate black rice and squid with alioli (£7) - it is a small portion, but the flavours are good. Another special is eggs broken over fried potatoes and pork (£7) - a really, rich breakfast-style dish. It is delicious, but won't do your cholesterol levels any good.

Sunday brunch at the Prince Regent, Dulwich Road, South London

Book or arrive early for Sunday brunch at the Prince Regent, an handsome wood-panelled pub steeped in natural light and old-school charm. The French chef turns out fine food at tasty prices, pulling in the punters. You can choose from the breakfast menu or the lunch menu. With a chunky slice of ham on a muffin, drenched in hollandaise sauce, and accompanied by salad, the eggs benedicte is very large and very good for £6.50. A decent plate of ham, eggs and handmade, but very salty, chips is about the same price.  From the lunch menu, the fatty roast pork belly (about £13), served in a red wine sauce and accompanied by a pot full of lentils is rich and delicious. Veggies will enjoy the excellent creamy leak and gorgonzola risotto with truffle oil (£9.60). You can wash down the nourishing nosh with one of the unusual real ales, a bog-standard lager or something from the respectable wine list.  8/10

The Club Room in the Northcote, Northcote Road, South London

A longstanding pub at the foot of Battersea Rise, the Northcote has a recently-refurbished upstairs room that you can hire for free for a private meal.  Aiming for a smart, but contemporary feel, the Club Room's decor is an excessive mix of materials, colours and patterns, exemplified by a bizarre chandelier made from antlers. The striped carpet says conference centre, but the wooden blinds, panelled walls and black and white prints are more stylish. You eat from white crockery on bare wooden tables. Still, this is a good venue for a sports club annual dinner - the cheerful young staff in the Club Room don't seem to mind serving raucous groups of men.