Camberwell has never been the easiest place to get to. No tube station, buses that seem to take the scenic route, and a general sense of being just off the beaten track. But that’s part of its charm, and today this corner of south London has become one of the capital’s most exciting places to eat. Time Out recently named it one of the coolest neighbourhoods in the world, and once you’ve experienced the Camberwell Church Street dining scene (affectionately dubbed the ‘Camberwell Riviera’ by the same magazine), you’ll understand why.
The presence of Camberwell College of Arts means there’s a creative energy here that’s reflected in the food: bold, experimental yet (at its best, anyway) decidedly unpretentious. From hand-pulled Xinjiang noodles to British gastropub classics, Kurdish kebabs to Ethiopian feasts, Camberwell’s restaurant landscape is refreshingly diverse. Here are the best restaurants in Camberwell.
Zeret Kitchen
Ideal for sharing enormous platters of Ethiopian food with friends…
Zeret Kitchen serves Ethiopian food the way it’s meant to be eaten: in large groups, from shared platters, using torn pieces of injera – floppy and featherweight – to scoop up various stews, relishes and sauces. The spongy sourdough flatbread has the right texture and that distinctive sour tang from fermentation, thin enough to be pliable but with enough structure to hold the food. The food here is beautifully traditional, bright, and distinct, and it’s all carried forward in handfuls of that wonderful injera.
The stews themselves are beautifully balanced. The misir wot, a red lentil dish with berbere spice, brings warmth without overwhelming heat. The doro wot features chicken that’s been simmered in a rich, complex sauce built with layers of flavour. Everyone’s hands get messy, everyone reaches across the table, and the shared format creates an instant sense of both occasion and connection.
Ideal Tip: Order the Zeret surprise – a sharing platter for two which features a good array of must-try dishes.
Website: zeretkitchen.co.uk
Address: 216-218 Camberwell Road, London SE5 0ED
The Camberwell Arms
Ideal for reminding yourself why British gastropubs are having such a moment…
The Camberwell Arms is a gastropub in the best sense of the increasingly over-used term: serious cooking happens here, but the atmosphere stays relaxed and the pretension stays at zero. The menu shifts with the seasons, though certain dishes have become fixtures because locals won’t let them go.
The scotch bonnet pork fat on toast is both Insta and, you know, dining room-famous, delivering exactly what it promises: rich, porky, spicy, and completely satisfying on a thick slice of good bread. It makes you wonder why more places don’t serve food this direct and objectively delicious.
Everything here is cooked with care and confidence. Fish gets treated with respect (a recent barbecued whole brill with Bearnaise was a showstopper), meat gets cooked to the right temperature (the Sunday lunch beef and bone marrow sharing pie is as good as it gets), and vegetables actually taste of themselves, the ground, and their careful seasoning.
The room buzzes with conversation, the wine list offers plenty by the glass, and the beer’s kept well. Don’t overlook the cocktail menu here – on a previous visit, a horseradish gibson delivered a real kick, which was just what we needed on a particularly grim Sunday hangover, quite frankly. They do a mean martini too. What more could you want?
Book ahead, especially for weekends when the whole of London seems to descend. It’s one of the finest meals you’ll get in the whole of London, let alone just in Camberwell.
Website: thecamberwellarms.co.uk
Address: 65 Camberwell Church Street, London SE5 8TR
FM Mangal
Ideal for outstanding Turkish grilling…
FM Mangal sits directly across from the Camberwell Arms and has built its reputation on quality Turkish cooking with a focus on the charcoal grill – just as it should be. Unsurprisingly, then, the grilled meats are excellent, as you’d expect from a mangal, but there’s one item that’s become even more legendary among regulars.
That is the FM special onion dip. Here, complimentary flatbread is painted with spices and MSG, and comes to the table warm with a bowl of charred onions swimming in pomegranate molasses. It’s an incredible combination of sweet, savoury, smoky and umami that sets the tone for everything that follows. If you only order one starter, make it this.
The lamb dishes showcase meat that’s been marinated and grilled with real skill. Everything has that charcoal char and the kind of dusty, gently rasping seasoning that makes you immediately reach for another bite. The Adana kebab – fatty minced lamb that’s been hit with what initially feels like too much salt but quickly becomes addictive – is our go-to here.
Service has that inimitable Turkish hospitality where you’re made to feel looked after from the moment you walk in. It gets busy on weekends, so advance booking is sensible.
Website: fmmangal.co.uk
Address: 54 Camberwell Church Street, London SE5 8QZ
Cafe Mondo
Ideal for sandwiches during the day and something more interesting at night…
An absolute stalwart of TikTok, you’d think that Cafe Mondo only existed in reel form. But it’s here, it’s genuine, and it’s actually damn good.
The place shifts identity as the day progresses. During daylight hours, it’s all about the sandwich operation: quality ingredients between bread, coffee that’s been made with care, and a steady stream of locals popping in for lunch. The fish finger sandwich has rightly earned its reputation. It’s not trying to be clever or deconstructed; it’s just a very good version of exactly what it claims to be. Sadly, it was recently, unceremoniously culled from the menu, but we’ve got our fishfingers crossed for its return.
Come evening on Thursday to Saturday, the place becomes something more like a neighbourhood bar that happens to serve excellent food. The patty melt is outstanding: two thin beef patties, melted cheese, caramelised onions, all pressed between buttered, griddled bread until everything melds together. The MSG martini is exactly as described and unsurprisingly delicious. There are mini martinis for the indecisive, Murphy’s on tap, and Bailey’s slushies for those feeling bold or simply hot.
The whole operation has a relaxed confidence that comes from knowing what they’re doing, and it actually lives up to the hype, which is a mean feat in and of itself.
Instagram: @cafe_mondo_se5
Address: 42 Peckham Road, London SE5 8PX
Silk Road
Ideal for experiencing fine Xinjiang cooking from one of London’s most cult restaurants…
When Silk Road closed briefly in 2023, Camberwell’s denizens were worried. That worry was assuaged in early 2024, when it finally reopened just down the road on the same ol’ Church Street, with a refreshed space but the same commitment to Xinjiang cuisine that’s made it a south London favourite for years.
The hand-pulled noodles are mesmerising to watch being made: the dough gets stretched, folded, stretched again, slapped against the work surface, then suddenly you’ve got dozens of strands ready for the pot. Once cooked, they have a bouncy, substantial texture that cheap machine-made noodles can’t touch. There’s something about that slapping sound that turns us into Pavlov’s dog, to be quite honest…
But the real signature dishes here are the dapanji (big plate chicken) and the lamb ribs. The dapanji features tender chicken pieces in a sauce rich with Sichuan peppercorns and dried chillies, served over thick belt noodles or potatoes. The lamb ribs come heavily spiced with cumin and chilli, fatty in the best way, and charred from the grill.
The lamb shish skewers off the charcoal grill are equally essential, well-seasoned and generous. Order a mix of dishes, get some noodles, maybe add some dumplings, and you’ve got a feast that’ll cost much less than you were braced for, helped, of course, by the fact it’s BYOB.
Address: 47 Camberwell Church Street, London SE5 8TR
Nandine
Ideal for Kurdish home cooking that feels warm and welcoming…
Pary Baban runs two Kurdish restaurants in Camberwell, with the Church Street Nandine site offering the full evening experience (the Vestry Road, coffee-focused outpost is temporarily closed). The cooking draws on Pary’s experiences travelling through Kurdistan after being displaced in the 1990s, and the food has the confidence that comes from deep knowledge of a cuisine.
The Kurdish dumplings are unlike any dumpling experience you’ve likely had elsewhere. Kubba feature a crispy rice exterior wrapped around spiced mutton, whilst tirshak sit in a spinach, tomato and split chickpea broth, topped with fried leek and garlic aioli. Both demonstrate real technical skill and deliver comfort in different ways. We could eat the tirshak every day, ad infinitum and never get bored.
For larger plates, the chicken shish at £21 is generously portioned: charcoal-grilled, seven-spiced chicken skewers, served over flatbread with blackened vegetables alongside. It’s a whole meal, and is strikingly good value when you see the size.
Staff are helpful in explaining dishes; they tend to recommend you order either one kebab and one small plate per person, or go for two to three small plates. There are cocktails with Kurdish influences, some interesting wines from Lebanon, Turkey and beyond, and plenty for vegetarians and vegans to savour.
Website: nandine.co.uk
Address: 45 Camberwell Church Street, London SE5 8TR (also at Vestry Road)
Theo’s Pizzeria
Ideal for Neapolitan pizza done right…
Theo’s Pizzeria is run by Theo Lewis, who previously honed his skills at Pizza East, the popular Shoreditch pizzeria whose cornicione game is unmatched in the capital.
The pizzas at Theo’s demonstrate exactly the kind of skill and attention you’d hope for, with all the classic Neapolitan markers: blistered, leopard-spotted crusts with a dinghy for a crust, high-quality toppings that don’t overwhelm, and that balance between chew and crispness that only comes from good dough handling and a very hot oven.
But here’s the move: come at lunchtime and order a panuozzo. These filled pizza dough sandwiches cost just £6.50 and are incredibly satisfying, basically giving you all the pleasure of pizza in a handheld format. They’re stuffed with quality Italian ingredients and grilled until everything’s molten and unified. There’s no better lunch in the immediate orbit of Theo’s, which is actually saying something when you consider just how stacked Camberwell’s restaurant scene is.
If you’re settling in for the evening, don’t sleep on the burrata and mortadella sharing plate, which comes with crescentine, those little fried dough pieces that seem designed only for scooping up creamy burrata. A couple of beers facilitated by charming Danny out front seal the deal.
Website: theospizzeria.com
Address: 2 Grove Lane, London SE5 8SY
Read: The best pizzas in London for 2025
Falafel & Shawarma
Ideal for when you need good, cheap food quickly…
Every neighbourhood deemed one of the world’s 39 coolest needs a reliable spot for inexpensive, ultra-gratifying food, and in Camberwell it’s Falafel & Shawarma. The operation is straightforward: falafel and shawarma, a little mezze and a few fruit juices, done well, without fuss.
The falafel has a pitch-perfect crust-to-interior ratio, staying crisp on the outside whilst remaining light and fluffy inside. It comes in flatbread with plenty of salad, pickles, and tahini. You can add extras like spicy potato or aubergine to bulk things up. Standard wraps start under a fiver, with larger options and mezze platters reaching the lofty heights of £7.50.
The shawarma is equally good; well-seasoned grilled chicken packed into a wrap with generous accompaniments. Nothing here is trying to reinvent the wheel – it’s just executing the fundamentals with clarity, consistency and a deft touch with the spices. Sometimes – quite often, in fact – it’s all you need.
If you want to sit and eat rather than grab and go, the mezze plate option gives you a spread of dips, falafel, salad, pickles and bread for not much more money. The space itself is basic, but that’s fine. Sometimes the best restaurants are the ones that know exactly what they are. Because who needs some gold-plate cutlery, brass plates and ornate glassware to enjoy a gold-standard falafel wrap and some mint lemonade, anyway?
Website: falafel-shawarma-london.res-menu.com
Address: 27 Camberwell Church Street, London SE5 8TR
Gladwell’s Deli & Grocery
Ideal for coffee, lunch, and then a pleasant time admiring the fresh produce…
Gladwell’s is technically a greengrocer, deli, butcher and bakery rather than a restaurant, but you can eat exceptionally well here so it deserves inclusion. The morning sees laptop workers and book readers settling in with excellent coffee and pastries. By lunchtime, the focaccia sandwiches and daily soups draw a different crowd.
The produce on display is genuinely beautiful. You find yourself genuinely admiring vegetables, thinking about seasonal cooking, and building elaborate fantasy dinner party menus that may never materialise. The focaccia sandwiches use those ingredients from the deli counter and are substantially filled. Soups change based on what’s in season and are consistently hearty and well-made. The big wooden tables create a communal dining area that has a lovely continental feel, and the flat whites are taken seriously. It all feels so right.
But the real pleasure of Gladwell’s is the browsing. The shelves hold interesting bottles, unusual ingredients, and the kind of deli staples that make you want to cook something ambitious. It’s a place that encourages you to think more carefully about what you’re eating and where it comes from.
Website: gladwells.co.uk
Address: 2 Camberwell Church Street, London SE5 8QU
Lao Dao
Ideal for Xinjiang food as good as you’ll find anywhere in London…
Lao Dao opened in 2024, run by Tim who spent years working at Silk Road. He’s brought that same approach to Xinjiang cuisine but with his own perspective sprinkled over things for good measure. The restaurant has been getting steadily busier as word spreads, but it hasn’t yet reached the point where booking far in advance is mandatory.
The cooking is bold and intensely flavoured, showcasing the distinctive spice profiles of the region. Lamb ribs come coated in a spice mix that makes you immediately reach for cold beer, specifically Tsingtao, which is kept ice-cold and pairs brilliantly with the rich, spiced meat. The hand-made noodle dishes show the same expertise you’d expect from someone trained at Silk Road, with excellent texture and generous portions.
Nothing here is precious or over-refined. Regional cooking executed with skill and integrity, the kind of food that satisfies deeply without needing to be fancy about it. The place won’t stay under the radar forever, so get there whilst booking is still relatively easy.
Website: lao-dao.com
Address: 305 Walworth Road, London SE17 2TG
We’re heading north east now, to a neighbourhood we think is even cooler. Check out our guide to the best restaurants in Clapton next.
