Known affectionately for decades as London’s curry corridor, in the past few years Tooting has evolved into one of the capital’s most exciting food destinations, all while keeping its South Asian culinary heritage firmly at its heart.
This South London neighbourhood – famously crowned one of the world’s coolest by Lonely Planet – now draws food pilgrims from across the capital with its intoxicating mix of 30-year-old Pakistani institutions, Aussie brunches and cutting-edge Filipino BBQ joints.
The transformation hasn’t erased Tooting’s culinary soul just yet. While gentrification threatens to push property prices further skyward, the area’s significant South Asian population ensures incredible curries remain the beating heart of this evolving food scene. From £20 Sri Lankan feasts to award-winning tasting menus, these are the essential dining experiences that make Tooting unmissable. Here are the best restaurants in Tooting.
Apollo Banana Leaf
Ideal for Sri Lankan feasting on a budget…
This Sri Lankan institution occupies what can only be described as a community centre crossed with a particularly exuberant wedding reception. And how damn good does that sound? Technicolour mountain murals compete with disco lights for your attention, while the BYOB policy (no corkage) keeps the atmosphere properly convivial and costs wonderfully minimal.
The food here is serious business, despite the party-ready surroundings. Their mutton kothu roti – that glorious mess of chopped flatbread stir-fried with spiced lamb – arrives as a steaming heap of carby, meaty joy that’ll have you questioning why you ever bothered spending twenty notes on that pappardelle and ragu ten minutes up the road. The crab masala comes in a heady sauce thrumming with brown crab meat, the white meat still in the claws and requiring both commitment and plenty of napkins, while those crispy mutton rolls at £1.50 each make perfect sense as a starter, a side, or honestly, a snack for the journey home. Or, you know, all three…
Don’t stop there. The £9.50 king prawn curry delivers maximum flavour for minimal outlay, though be warned: when they mark something with a single chilli icon, they mean it’s hot. This is heat that builds and builds, the kind that has you reaching for another Kingfisher while swearing you’ll order mild next time. You won’t.
And in a final commitment to obscene value – in this city, in this economy – there’s a set lunch from Fridays to Sundays, and a set dinner Sunday to Thursday for just £8.99 and £9.99 respectively. Getting change for a tenner, that includes four huge dishes, including dosa and biryani. These guys want to feed you, and there’s no point trying to resist it.
Website: apollobananaleaf.com
Address: 190 Tooting High Street, SW17 0SF
Lahore Karahi
Ideal for legendary Pakistani curries in a no-nonsense setting…
This family-run corner restaurant has been part of Tooting’s fabric since John Major was Prime Minister, and they’ve spent those decades perfecting their craft. Forget what you might have read elsewhere – the real draw here is the nihari. This overnight-cooked beef stew arrives rich and deeply spiced, the meat almost disappearing into the sauce, it’s broken down so thoroughly. It’s the sort of dish that was traditionally eaten by Mughal nobility after morning prayers, now democratised for South London at £13.95.
The dining room is simple but attractive – think bright strip lighting and tightly packed tables in clean lines. Downstairs, it’s a canteen-like and upstairs it looks a bit like a Premier Inn on steroids. But this is a restaurant, not a showroom, and when your mixed grill delivers meat that’s been charred, burnished and rendered gnarly by the tandoor, aesthetics become irrelevant.
Their beef chapli kebabs are another must order on a menu full of them – these Pashtun-style patties come studded with coriander seeds and crushed chillies, the kind of thing that’s hard to find done properly outside Pakistan or Afghanistan. At Lahore Karahi, it’s just a queue to get at them, rather than a flight.
The fact they’re open from 10am for traditional Pakistani breakfast (halva, chana and puri) shows they’re serious about feeding the community, not chasing trends. BYOB keeps things affordable at £2 per person corkage, though don’t plan on lingering over your bottle – tables turn fast here, with a queue often forming by 7pm on weekends. That’s all part of the Lahore Karahi experience.
Website: lahorekarahi.co.uk
Address: 1 Tooting High Street, SW17 0SN
Turo Turo
Ideal for modern Filipino cooking that respects its roots
After years of successful pop-ups, former Gordon Ramsay chef Rex De Guzman finally opened this permanent Filipino spot in November 2024, and Tooting’s dining scene is all the better for it. The pork sisig has become their calling card – it arrives on a cast iron plate hot enough to continue cooking at the table, creating the kind of theatre that would have everyone in the room looking over enviously, had they not already ordered it, too. It’s a riot of crispy pork, onions and chillies that gets even more appealing as it sizzles away in front of you.
The name means ‘point point’ in Tagalog, referring to how Filipinos traditionally order from street stalls by pointing at what they want. But while the name nods to street food culture, the execution here aims to show off De Guzman’s fine dining background. The chicken inasal – marinated for 24 hours before hitting the grill – is a gorgeous mix of blistered surface and brined tenderness within – its vinegar-based sawsawan sauce provides the perfect acidic counterpoint to cut through the richness. Both these hero dishes clock in at £12, which is pretty wild for the quality, quite frankly.
Ginger and bagoong (Filipino shrimp paste) marinated chicken wings are absurdly satisfying, only needing a cheek of lime to see them on their way, whilst their soy and garlic glazed charred aubergine has become something of a signature, the aubergine fudgy and giving, the glaze packing plenty of umami punch.
The rum-heavy cocktails feel appropriately tropical without descending into tiki bar cliché. All in all, Turo Turo has fast become one of Tooting’s best places to eat, and we can’t wait to go back and get across the grilled skewers in more depth and detail.
Website: turoturo.co.uk
Address: 102 Tooting High Street, SW17 0RR
Daddy Bao
Ideal for Taiwanese soul food with a side of family history…
Frank Yeung named this place for his father, and that family connection runs through everything from the recipes to the service at Daddy Bao. The shiitake mushroom baos have become a thing of local legend among London’s vegetarians – salty-sweet and pleasingly bouncy. They arrive in an intimate space decorated with dark wood, red lanterns and jade accents that creates the right mood for date night without trying too hard.
The slow-braised pork belly bao remains the bestseller for good reason. The meat comes lacquered in a hoisin-style glaze. It’s then topped with crushed peanuts and fresh herbs that add texture and brightness to each bite. But it’s worth venturing beyond the baos – the three cups chicken showcases the Taiwanese talent for balance, aromatic with Thai basil and hitting that sweet-savoury-boozy sweet spot that defines the dish when done with precision.
The weekend bottomless brunch is big news in Tooting, though the small size means booking ahead is essential unless you fancy joining a queue that snakes all the way into Balham. August 2024 saw them expand downstairs with Good Measure, an underground cocktail bar open Thursday through Saturday that serves Taiwanese-inspired drinks. The ambition shows they’re not content to rest on their bao laurels – this is a restaurant that keeps pushing.
Website: daddybao.co.uk
Address: 113 Mitcham Road, SW17 9PE
Smoke & Salt
Ideal for discovering what happens when fine dining meets market dining…
You’ll find Smoke & Salt on a residential drag of Tooting High Street, where a string of restaurants, barbers, cafes and grocers begins to thin out, and terraced housing takes their place. The location might seem unlikely for a restaurant that’s got recognition from both the Good Food Guide and Michelin Guide, but chef Aaron Webster makes it work.
The five or seven-course menu (£59 or £70) changes with the seasons but consistently delivers dishes that wouldn’t look out of place in restaurants charging twice the price. Flavours combinations are bold and surprising, whether that’s in the rhubarb kosho that brings vigour to a neat little slab of chalk stream trout, or the smoked mussel chimichurri and fennel caesar salad that bless a seemingly humble poached chicken with a suave, punchy richness.
This is cooking that takes calculated risks without forgetting the basic rule of restaurants: make it taste good. The wine list follows suit, leaning into natural wines and less obvious choices – think Austrian orange wine, chilled South African pinotage, or organic Spanish xarel-lo rather than the usual suspects. With glasses starting at £7, you can afford to be adventurous.
Website: smokeandsalt.com
Address: 115 Tooting High St, London SW17 0SY
Vijaya Krishna
Ideal for Keralan spicing that hits the spot…
Three decades in the same spot might make some restaurants complacent, but this Keralan specialist recently emerged from a refurbishment looking fresh while keeping the cooking that made its reputation consistent. The new look features cream walls, soft lighting and classical Indo-European portraits of Indian musicians – a contemporary setting that matches the sophistication of what has always come out of the kitchen.
The masala dosas here are genuinely comedic in scale, arriving like giant golden scrolls that could double as sleeping bags, stuffed with perfectly spiced potato filling. But size isn’t everything – it’s the execution that counts. The dosa itself shatters at first bite before giving way to a slight sour chew, and the sambar and chutneys provide the traditional accompaniments done right.
The kitchen’s real skill shows in dishes like the lamb madras, which has a heat that builds gradually, undulates further, all while maintaining complex spicing that reveals itself as the chilli heat subsides.
That said, as a Keralan restaurant, their specialities really shine in dishes like the fish molee or Kerala parotta. Their vegetable avial might sound humble on paper – mixed vegetables with coconut and curry leaves – but it achieves a satisfying kind of harmony. Just when you think you’ve had too much sweetness, aromatic notes roll into town. Once it’s all starting to feel a bit too heady, spice and sweetness takes over once again. It’s incredibly skilful seasoning.
Unlike many Tooting spots, they’re fully licensed, with a wine list that sensibly focuses on bottles with enough structure to stand up to the spicing. There are beers too, of course.
Website: vijayakrishna.co.uk
Address: 114 Mitcham Road, SW17 9NG
Bordelaise
Ideal for pretending you’re in a Bordeaux backstreet bistro…
From the team behind another popular Tooting spot, Little Taperia, comes this French bistro that’s cherished for one dish in particular: the £18.95 flat iron steak with bordelaise sauce, beef-dripping chips and crispy shallots. It sounds simple because it is simple – but that’s exactly why it’s so hard to get right. They nail it every time. The steak arrives perfectly rested, the sauce tastes like actual wine reduction rather than something from a packet, and those beef-dripping chips have the ideal ratio of crispy outside to fluffy inside. And, it’s less than twenty quid! There’s something of a recurring theme going on here: you can eat very well in Tooting without going broke.
The space hits all the bistro notes you’d expect – exposed brick, intimate lighting, closely packed tables that would have you accidentally joining your neighbour’s conversation if everyone wasn’t so focused on their food. The sheltered outdoor seating becomes hot property the moment the sun shows its face, filled with people who’ve learned that booking ahead beats hovering hopefully with a glass of wine.
The wine list leans French, obviously, with some genuine bargains if you know what to look for, though the house red does the job when you’re really here for the beef. This is straightforward, satisfying French cooking that remembers the point is to feed people well, without fuss or frippery.
Website: bordelaise.co.uk
Address: Market, Unit 9-11, Broadway, Tooting High St, London SW17 0RJ
Juliet’s Quality Foods
Ideal for Australian-style brunch that earns its queues…
From the team behind Balham’s absurdly popular Milk, Juliet’s has achieved the kind of devoted following that has weekend warriors setting alarms to beat the queues. The pistachio slice with yuzu icing has many adoring fans but it’s not the only highlight from a menu where every dish reads like someone’s hungover fever dream of breakfast excess but somehow works brilliantly.
The menu goes big on brunch creativity – think fermented chilli butter çilbir, shrimp patty buns, and that famous espresso hollandaise on their ‘Young Betty’ variations, which are essentially delicious creative bits over sourdough toast. Sure, every plate looks ready for its Instagram close-up, but more importantly, the food tastes as good as it looks.
The fit-out screams Melbourne-meets-South London: exposed brick, retro 70s bubble lettering, and a sun-trap garden that becomes a small war zone for tables come Saturday morning. The weekend queues snake down Mitcham Road like they’re giving away free houses, but people wait because they know it’s worth losing half a morning for.
Prices reflect the ambition – expect to pay £15-20 for most mains – but in a world of soggy full Englishes and sad smashed avocado, Juliet’s is proof that brunch can be worth getting excited about. Just don’t expect to walk straight in at 11am on a Saturday.
Website: juliets.cafe
Address: 110 Mitcham Road, SW17 9NG
Dub Pan
Ideal for faithful yard cooking with a sound system soundtrack…
This husband-and-wife operation in Tooting’s Broadway Market brings yard shop vibes to SW17, complete with steel drums out front where jerk chicken meets its smoky destiny. The interior goes all-in on the Caribbean theme – reggae posters, bright colours, sound system on point – but this isn’t some sanitised chain version of island culture. This is the real deal, run by people who know the difference between authentic jerk seasoning and the stuff that comes in a bottle from Saino’s.
The jerk chicken justifies the hype, arriving properly charred after its 24-hour marinade bath. This is jerk with the requisite layers – sweet from the scotch bonnets, aromatic from the allspice, with heat that builds slowly then stays with you. The curry goat is equally accomplished, the meat tender enough to fall off the bone but still having a pleasing structural integrity, swimming in a sauce that suggests someone’s grandmother is in the kitchen passing down secrets. Even the shrimp rundown – prawns cooked in coconut milk until they’re sweet and tender – shows what happens when simple dishes get proper respect.
Weekend bottomless brunches have become the stuff of Tooting legend, largely thanks to their ‘Iron Strong’ rum punch that lives up to its name. At £12.50 a full ‘box meal’ of jerk chicken, gravy, a side and sauce, this is remarkably good value. Just don’t wear white – between the jerk sauce and the curry, this is food that demands full commitment. And maybe a few extra napkins!
Website: dubpan.com
Address: 29 Tooting High Street, Broadway Market, SW17 0RJ
So close we’re not actually sure where the border changes the name, we’re checking out the best restaurants in Balham next. Care to join us?
