The best restaurants in Borough
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London's oldest market is a warren of smoking street food, old-school fruit-and-veg shops, charming pubs and a rising number of excellent restaurants. Whether you want fluffy bao buns or plates of glistening homemade pasta, fresh sourdough pizza or moreish tapas, you will not go hungry around here. But with only so many meals in a day, here are our favourite restaurants and food joints in and around Borough Market, the foodie hub of south London. For more options, see our guide to the best restaurants in London Bridge.
How we choose the best restaurants in Borough
Every restaurant on this list has been selected independently by our editors and written by a Condé Nast Traveller journalist who knows the destination and has eaten at that restaurant. When choosing restaurants, our editors consider both high end and affordable eateries that offer an authentic and insider experience of a destination. We're always looking for stand-out dishes, a great location and warm service – as well as serious sustainability credentials. We update this list regularly as new restaurants open and existing ones evolve.
- Charlie McKay
Akara
Aji Akokomi certainly knows how to celebrate West African flavours. Now, the team behind the much-loved Akoko have brought the multi-dimensional flavours of West Africa to a vanilla-toned and spacious industrial-chic setting, in the Victorian railway viaduct of Borough Yards. A signature dish is of course the akara, a soft and spongy crispy-jacketed fritter made from black-eyed beans, which the restaurant is named after. One variety is filled with an umami bomb of silky mixed mushrooms, tossed in a peppery sosu kaani (Senegalese mild chilli sauce). Another option is filled with meaty, slightly sweet and creamy barbecue tiger prawn. Finish with a glossed dense cube of tamarind and date cake. Presented on a beautiful, freckled, sandy-brown ceramic plate, it tastes like sticky toffee pudding’s mature, older cousin. Toyo Odetunde
Address:
Book online - Carol Sachs
Rambutan
Cynthia Shanmugalingam, author of popular Sri Lankan cookbook Rambutan, has just opened her debut restaurant – and couldn't have secured a buzzier location. Slap bang in the middle of Borough Market, Rambutan is the perfect spot for a spicy Sri Lankan love affair. The menu is short and sweet, and plates are made to be shared (we recommend six dishes between two people). Start with the highly recommended gundu dosas. These spongy, plump dumplings are filled with mustard seeds and served with a fragrant dip, and they’re just as delicious as they sound. We also loved the juicy beef and bone marrow rolls, coated in a crispy batter (warning: the spice levels aren’t for the faint-hearted). Sophie Knight
Address: 10 Stoney Street, London SE1 9AD
Website: rambutanlondon.com - Marcus Cobden
Berenjak
This charismatic sliver of Borough Market is a second outpost for chef Kian Samyani, formerly of Gymkhana. Berenjak Borough recalls the sharing plates of elbow-to-elbow family gatherings in the Alborz Mountains, and their spices, dips, pickles and herbs. It achieves a cosy intimacy, with most diners seated at a counter overlooking the kitchen. It was hard not to overdo it on oven-baked sangak bread, rich, salty, feta-like white Liqvan from Iran’s Azerbaijani region, and fresh herbs. Then came the charred smoky aubergineness of Mirza Ghassemi, and supremely good Kashk e Bademjoon – tomatoey aubergine topped with creamy whey and caramelised onion, which set the scene for warm conversation. Lydia Bell
Address: Berenjak Borough, 1 Bedale St, London SE1 9AL
Website: berenjaklondon.com Barrafina
Parrillan’s older sister Barrafina is known for its exemplary tapas and this latest outpost offers an impressively reliable selection of superior bites. Take a seat at the marble bar and order a classic oozy tortilla, bright garlicky gambas rojas, ham croquetas and crisp fried baby squid for round one, and then just keep going. There’s also a lengthy sherry selection to wash it all down.
Address: Barrafina, 2 Dirty Lane, London SE1 9PA
Website: barrafina.co.uk
Brother Marcus
Picky bits are the order of the day in this casual eastern Mediterranean independent mini-chain. Go for a selection from the rips and dips – black garlic and lemon hummus, fennel tzatziki and smoky baba ganoush with fluffy pitta – and plenty of mezze dishes including the kefir fried chicken, grilled sardines with whipped feta and a pomegranate spritz or two.
Address: Brother Marcus, 1 Dirty Lane, London SE1 9PA
Website: brothermarcus.co.uk- Toby Keane
Wright Brothers
This renowned seafood restaurant is just as good for a quick couple of fat oysters during £1 happy hour (Monday to Thursday 3-6pm) as it is for an extravagant sit-down seafood platter. Nab one of the outdoor seats with a giant barrel for a table and watch the comings and goings of market life.
Address: Wright Brothers, Borough Market, Stoney Street, London SE1 9AD
Website: thewrightbrothers.co.uk - Greg Funnell
Bar Daskal
This small Spanish wine and sherry bar in Borough Yards is a perfect companion to neighbouring Parrillan and Barrafina (also run by the Harts group), but they also do a great selection of cold classic tapas if you fancy more of a snack to accompany the refreshing cocktails: spicy pickled gildas, salt-cured tuna with hazelnuts, goats cheese with quince, anchovies and tender Iberico ham. Pull up a bar stool and settle in. Walk-ins only.
Address: Bar Daskal, 10 Park Street, London SE1 9AB
Website: bardaskal.co.uk - Greg Funnell
Parrillan
Part of the new Borough Yards complex, grab a table on Parrillan’s outdoor terrace under the atmospheric Victorian brick railway arches and get ready to sizzle. Each table has a mini ‘parrillan’ grill in the centre where you can cook your own Iberico pork just how you like it. Go with a group to make the most of the impressive sharing plates: Spanish baked rice arroz al horno, whole john dory, wood-roasted shank of veal with olive oil mash and a piña Catalana for pudding.
Address: Parrillan, 4 Dirty Lane, London SE1 9PA
Website: parrillan.co.uk
Fish
Steamed, grilled, fried, and served plain or slathered in garlic butter, since 1999 this restaurant has been specialising in all things fishy. With produce sourced directly from the market outside, their passion is poisson – whether you want a decadent lobster, a classic fish pie or wild halibut fish and chips, it’s all impressively fresh and respectfully cooked.
Address: Fish, Borough Market, Cathedral Street, London SE1 9AL
Website: fishboroughmarket.comBao
The latest addition to Borough Market’s Stoney Street front row (El Pastor, Elliot’s, Wright Brothers) is London’s favourite Taiwanese bun shop. There's a Suntory whisky and soda machine (only the second in the UK), which is used for the fruity Bao Hi cocktails. Strawberries and blood oranges – sourced from the market, of course – go particularly well with sake and Fallen Pony in the Wow-hi. There’s also a chicken-nugget bao served with spicy sriracha mayo and a deep-fried, lobster-roll-like version with prawns – both winning additions to the Borough-only menu. We also loved the cold-smoked aubergine, which comes with a panko-crusted bao for scooping. Downstairs, find Bao KTV, the brand’s first karaoke room – a great spot to host the next party.
Address: Bao Borough, 13 Stoney Street, Borough Market, London SE1 9AD
Website: baolondon.comHawksmoor Borough
Hawksmoor has finally brought some of London's best steaks and cocktails – plus exceptionally nice, well-informed staff – to a warehouse-style space around the back of the market. And it’s all delicious. Everything.
Address: Hawksmoor Borough, 16 Winchester Walk, London Bridge, London
Website: thehawksmoor.comArabica Bar and Kitchen
Order the Bosphorus Fisherman’s Breakfast at this under-the-arches Middle Eastern restaurant. But if grilled kipper with spice butter and poached rookery farm egg sounds a tad intense, there’s always buttered sourdough with fig, sesame jam and tahini.
Address: 3 Rochester Walk, Borough Market, London
Website: arabicalondon.com
Lupins
Just down the road in Flat Iron Square, seasonal restaurant Lupins offers an exquisite selection of small plates, from Cornish Crab Thermidor to polenta-crusted anchovies with wild garlic, at a little dining counter or proper tables upstairs.
Address: Lupins, 66 Union Street, Borough Market, London
Website: lupinslondon.comRoast
Whole animals and fish are butchered on site every day at this restaurant one floor above the market, which serves a modern take on classic British cooking. As the name suggests it's one of the best places in London for a Sunday roast, so don’t shy away from classics, including roast suckling pig with mash and Bramley-apple sauce, because it does them brilliantly.
Address: Roast, The Floral Hall, Stoney Street, Borough Market, London
Website: roast-restaurant.comArthur Hooper’s
This glossy new restaurant-wine-bar works both as somewhere to pop into for a chilled glass of white and some smoked salmon pâté or, for a more serious plate, sausages braised in red wine and porcini, with sage breadcrumbs.
Address: Arthur Hopper's, 8 Stoney Street, London Bridge, London
Website: arthurhoopers.co.ukEl Pastor
This intimate little Mexican taqueria right next to the market was opened by the boys behind Barrafina and Quo Vadis. Come here for the memorably scrumptious tacos with chargrilled stone bass, caramelised onions and La Maya salsa, best enjoyed over a caraf of mezcal.
Address: El Pastór, 6-7 Stoney Street, Borough Market, London
Website: tacoselpastor.co.uk
Padella Pasta
By the main arch into Borough Market, this hand-made-pasta restaurant by the crew who run dreamy Trullo in Highbury does a delizioso tagliarini with brown shrimp, courgettes and chilli, as well as Trullo classic papardelle with eight-hour Dexter-beef-shin ragu. A crowd favourite, Padella is not just one of the best Italian restaurants in Borough – it's adored across London.
Address: Padella Pasta, 6 Southwark Street, Borough Market, London
Website: padella.coBrindisa
Entirely staffed by Spaniards, this is the best place to start the day, in this case, with the Brindisa Breakfast: jamón, chorizo, black pudding, salty fried eggs and the most outrageous chips.
Address: Brindisa, 18-20 Southwark Street, London Bridge, London
Website: brindisakitchens.comElliot’s
There’s a modern-canteen feel to this restaurant, which bases its menus on what’s in the market that day. Food is cooked on a wood-fired grill, which makes for mighty flavoursome cheese burgers and delicious Barnsley chops.
Address: Elliot's Café, 12 Stoney Street, Borough Market, London
Website: elliots.london