The Begging Bowl, Peckham
Location: 168 Bellenden Rd, Peckham, London SE15 4BW
Website: http://thebeggingbowl.co.uk/
The more time I spend in Peckham the more convinced I am that it is the new culinary capital of London. We were looking for some amazing Thai food In South East London and as we had heard good things about The Begging Bowl, we decided to give it a try and we were not disappointed! These guys do some amazing street food style small plates which are designed to be shared, my favourite type of dining as you get to try a little bit of everything.
The food from start to finish was incredible, all the ingredients, from the fish to the meat to the veg was fresh and of a superior quality. We started with the red turmeric squid, a large portion of juicy squid, pan fried with the perfect blend of spices and served with an amazing sour chilli sauce. We followed with a refreshing small bite; the Zerbinati Watermelon which was served with deep fried shallots, dried fish powder and was wrapped in a betel leaf. Next was the Guinea Fowl Green Curry which absolutely blew us away. We followed the curry with the Deep Fried Sea Bass served with tamarind and green mango, again this tasted unbelievably good. I don't know what they did to the Sea Bass and Green Curry to make them taste so good, but it must have involved witchcraft. We finished with the Charcoal Grilled Sausage, which was like a German Wurst but was spiced with Thai spices, while not the highlight of the meal it was very tasty.
For drinks they have a very interesting cocktail menu, with most of the drinks having a Thai twist. We went for the Kaffir Sour #3 which was incredibly refreshing and really regretted not trying any of the other cocktails after we left. They also have a fantastic selection of virgin cocktails, so thats a good reason to choose this place if you are out with someone who does not drink. They also stock my favourite beer, Peckham Pils which always gets a restaurant bonus points as far as I am concerned.
The restaurant itself is very bright and quite hip with a laid back vibe. There is a wraparound white glass conservatory covering half of the seating area and there are plenty of plants too which make for a very relaxing experience.
Price-wise it is quite reasonable when you factor in the quality of food and drink on offer. We paid c. £60 a head including tip which is very good value considering we had a couple of cocktails each.
The Begging Bowl is definitely up there in the top restaurants in South East London, if you are a fan of Thai food, make sure you get your ass down there as soon as possible, you will not regret it!
