The Begging Bowl in Southwark

Really delicious and unique Thai food in a gorgeous space

Disappointing. Small menu which usually means it’s done well. It was done ok. I would have liked more meat options. Pickles were great as was the crispy kale. Celaeriac curry was good. The rest a bit, underwhelming imo. Heavy handed on the nam pla and bland seasonal veg. Btw, I’d rather pay £8 for a pint than be served 2/3 pint

A solid A***** for us at The Begging Bowl. First time here and really did not disappoint to say the least. Nice entrance as you walk in with friendly staff. The menu was delicious and we had the following... Highlight has to be the sea bass but all very delicious. Added bonus is limitless rice though the two bowls were enough. We forgot to capture the pork Kra Pao because we just got too excited. Drinks were also delicious. Bill came to c.£100. worth it 💯 look out for the Google review to follow for more details. Food: chive cakes with chili dark soy dip. Gai Tord chicken with jaw tamarind dip. Pad Kra Pao moo (stir fry pork with holy basil, red chilies and green beans. Deep fried whole sea bass, physalis, green mango, roasted rice, tamarind, chili dressing. Limitless jasmine and sticky rice. Drink: Lychee martini & Jin Jin old fashioned. #londoneats #peckham #thaifood #cocktails #sharingplates #datenight

Limited and lazy. Your most boring friend eats here and loves it. The girl in year 10 who reminds the teacher that there's homework, she adores this place. That guy who reads feminist literature but is creepy with girls takes all his dates here. Mediocrity masquerading as cool for the uncool. The restaurant is pretty, the food is decent, the price is reaching. You know when you go to a jazz bar and pay 8 quid for an Estrella - that's the vibe. I would say they need one more high level starter and two more mains. 7.5/10 isolated score, 6/10 in their price bracket. They won't survive.

Price on the high side but food is good Waiters are nice and good vibes as well! Authentic southeast asian flavours , reminds me of home ☺️

What a gem of restaurant! Delicious cocktails, brilliantly attentive service, and the best Thai food we’ve ever eaten. We had a wonderful evening and cannot recommend this place highly enough.

Such a delightful meal! We visited the area for a weekend. Booked this ahead because of great reviews. Lovely welcome, knowledgeable and swift service. Such incredibly tasty food, we left every plate clean. Great value. Really great thai isn’t that easy to find in UK, this is top notch. Thanks to all staff.

We had such a great meal here, the food was so good. The service from Jewell was absolutely amazing!! We will definitely be coming back soon.

Wonderful dinner! Loved the peanut curry & stir-fry.

Birthday meal. Bottle of white wine £38 couldn’t see anything cheaper. Had, small container of mixed cashews/peanuts, breaded chicken, fish, quail and sticky rice dishes to share. Bill in total came to £107 and we came home and bought ice cream. Mostly spicy dishes which we were trying to avoid for dietary reasons. Very very noisy too. Waitresses were very good, but that isn’t enough to tempt us back again. Expensive for the quantity, and no beef dishes unless you like it very spicy. Have fun :-)

Food was great, had been meaning to go here for ages. Fish, chive cakes and quail were all on point. Only issue was the waiting time, 50+ minutes till we got our drinks, an hour till the first bits of food arrived.

The Begging Bowl offers delicious Thai cuisine with a menu designed for sharing, featuring generous serving sizes and a good variety of dishes. The deep-fried sea bass is a standout highlight. The service is excellent, with staff being very attentive to dietary requirements. The semi-outdoor conservatory provides a lovely atmosphere for dining.

I’m a huge fan of somsaa In Spitalfields so was looking forward to eating here. It’s just as good, if not better with a more local vibe. Every dish packed full of flavour. We ordered most of the menu and all dishes were great. Can’t recommend this place enough. It’s not your normal British Thai cuisine with curry and noodles etc. so prepare to be surprised.

Great restaurant, veey authentic thai cuisine, freshly cooked to order

Definitely I don’t recommend this place. Many negative points: very loud, the space is limited, tables not easy to get the access that makes you rethink if you really need to go to the loo. The food is tasteless, I had one of the most tasteless chickens in my entire life. The staff is gentle but they discuss between them in front of the clientele. You can’t do that. I definitely don’t recommend and no intentions to go back.

Great meal tonight with super friendly and fast service, delicious food and good wine and drink menu. We ordered 2 small and 3 large dishes to share, which was one too many. The sea bream was out of this world! As were the chive cakes. Great to be back here!

The begging bowl has to be the best modern Thai food in London right now. They don't just cook up generic green curry or Phad Thai. Instead, expect well-balanced flavours of spice, sweet, sour, and umami that Thailand is known for. The venue is set up as a family eatery without any pretentiousness. So come as you are and enjoy the food.

Best Thai meal I’ve ever had. Can’t over explain it but the chefs are doing really incredible, exciting work. Get the fried chicken, the beef broth and the pork curry - take the leftovers home and life will be good

Unique take on Thai cuisine. Very cool, stylish interior with an orangery feel. Excellent wine list and menu and the staff are super attentive and really know what their serving. Absolutely delightful.

The waiting staff were excellent and the food wasn’t bad, although some dishes markedly better than others. The mark-up on the wine was a bit OTT, with a bottle of Bacchus which is £15 in the shops offered at £38. But the real problem was the noise. A group of 6 could not hear each other, so the chat, which is normally a nice part of a meal out, was impossible. It wasn’t helped by the continuous thud of some ‘music’ being played. Consequently we will never go back.

Wonderful tapas style dishes bursting with flavour. Staff were very attentive, would definitely return. Make sure you try the sea bass!

Have eaten here multiple times over the past year and been wowed by the food and service every time. The Sea Bass is one of the best dishes I’ve ever tasted and get it each time without fail. Would recommend for dates, as well as family/friend get togethers!

Fish dishes with h incredible taste, greens with tofu in tasty sauce, fried chive cakes w a dipping sauce, celeriac and peanut curry. Sticky rice. This meal is the best meal with an Asian twist that I have ever had!

Style over substance. Some of the dishes were good but the king prawn salad was a real disappointment. So small and only a few prawns for £20. Some of the other dishes were so spicy it was hard to eat them. The pork belly was tasty. Staff were nice but it was really disorganised and they forgot to bring our drinks and one of the dishes until we reminded them.

Have been coming here since the restaurant opened and loved it so much and been promoting it words to mouth, sadly since the chef and owner Jane Alty has stepped out of daily management the place has progressively gone downhill and will not return anytime soon which is a real shame. The dishes were too sweet, imbalanced, the mains way too salty and were sent back by customers. The new chef has no idea about Thai cuisine and flavour profile. The worse thing there is the main waitress who had joined only a few years back and who offers an absolutely horrorific welcome and service EACH time in high contrast to the previous manager. She is unfriendly to the point that I witnessed even other staff members are fearful of her. I feel that she is doing customers a favour for coming to the restaurant and has no idea about hospitality. I have heard multiple customers complaining about the service.

The food is awesome! 100% recommended! We got several dishes from the menu, each one of them was splendid! Service was chaotic and they forgot our order for 30 min. I share some pics of dishes, all of them great!

Really loud place with overly sweet food. The pork belly was delicious though! Would not recommend that place. Staff was friendly.

They suggest sharing but portions are small and too expensive for sharing concept. Food was just ok, service was very varied and confused. They advertise taking Amex on the front door but don't actually accept it. The 2hr reservation slot is actually 1.30min according to manager Courtney, abruptly saying "its written on your email" despite email confirmation saying otherwise. We felt forced to speed up half a bottle of wine and did not manage to order desert.

Beautiful place and delicious food, one of the most authentic Thai restaurants in London. Reasonably priced and great for date nights and groups.

A mixed experience at The Begging Bowl so overall 4 stars feels right. The service flitted between exceptional and curt, depending on who we were talking with and even if the food was outstanding, I’d struggle to put the bad service to one side. That said, most of the food was lovely. The chive cakes were incredible and we all agreed those were the highlight. We ended up ordering 4 portions of ,they really were so good. We loved the larb nuts and the pickles too. The Thai beef salad was good, the sea bass was delicious but none of us enjoyed the nam prik ong (the pork dish). I’m not saying it wasn’t authentic, but all 4 of us had the same view. Really good cocktails which was a nice surprise. Nice atmosphere. Could have done with one more person serving in my view but we would return.

Food is delicious, great ambience and innovative dishes. Definitely not your regular Thai food affair. However, service is quite subpar as you always feel rushed. Few instances during the evening where they forgot to bring my drinks I had ordered and also dishes. Had to remind the staff.

Amazing food, fantastic service and lovely layout and decor. I look forward to coming back and trying more dishes! We had and recommend 🚨❤️ Thai lemonade Sea bass Nam prik ong Stir fry cabbage Stir fry venison Rice (it’s unlimited for £3.95 😆) ( more than enough food- could deffo reduce to 2 main dishes!)

Buzzing with atmosphere. V romantic for a Valentine's Day meal. Extremely high quality food. V interesting cocktails. I tried the one with charcoal, never had anything like it before. Knowledgeable but never patronising staff. Made v good recommendations. The grapefruit and pomelo salad was a knockout, and beautifully presented too. (The photo doesn't really capture how pretty it was.)

Some of the tastiest food and cocktails I have had in london! Staff were so helpful and friendly. The Thai tea peanut mouse was outstanding.

I've wanted to try this restaurant for a few years, its local and I like supporting local businesses, but this was my first and last time. The food is nice, but expensive, and portions are small, lots of liquid and veg, but not much meat, the portions should be a lot bigger, especially as they claim that their menu is for sharing. The rice is unlimited and priced at about £3.50 per person, so I suppose you can fill yourself up on rice if you want, but that's not really for me. You are advised, that you do not need too many dishes for this reason and that the food comes out separately, so you can share. Not the case at all, barely enough food for one, we left hungry and had to buy a takeaway. It's easy to say the food comes out at different times, so you can share, but the reality is probably, that the kitchen staff cannot get the food out quickly enough. Nice ambiance and staff, but I found the whole experience, pretentious, so will spend my money elsewhere in future. Also, check the bill before leaving a tip as gratuities are already added on.

Such a great place. Lovely staff and great food

Fantastic food the herbal fish soup was exceptional

There are better restaurants at much more reasonable prices in the area. I recommend to AVOID this place. I was asked four times by four different servers whether I wanted to order drinks, while I waited five minutes for my friend to arrive. The servers are clearly trained to up sell. We were told that they would recommend 3-5 dishes for two people. It was too much food. We couldn't finish it all. We were warned about the spice level of one of the dishes, which we then didn't order. There's no indication on the menu of what the spice levels of any of the dishes are. _Every_ dish was spicy. There were even chilli flakes in the pomelo salad! We told the waitress when we paid our bill, and she said they were supposed to also warn us that the beef salad was spicy. Then, when we told her there were even chilli flakes in the pomelo salad, she laughed uncomfortably and apologised. I guess she didn't know there was spice in there, too. We ended up spending £86.00 on four dishes and bottomless rice for two people. If we'd had a bottle of wine, that would have pushed the bill straight to £130.00. I would never return. The menu is massively overpriced and badly organised. Paying £14 to £22 for "sharing" dishes when you're recommended to buy four or five of them between two is honestly shocking for fairly basic food.

First time, came across whilst exploring the neighbourhood .One of the best Thai food ever had. One more reason to go back to Peckham

Everything was perfect. So delicious!

There is nothing Thai in this restaurant, I'm so disappointed, I was expecting much better. Food had no test 😔

After an initial mix up with our booking, we got complimentary drinks and a starter while we waited for a table to free up. The staff were very apologetic and friendly throughout, excellent customer service. Once seated, we enjoyed a delicious meal - the seabass in particular was superb. All in all, not how we expected our anniversary dinner to go, but the initial hiccup didn't ruin the night & we will most definitely be coming back and will recommend to friends.

We loved the food which felt very authentic but it was the staff that are the highlight. Drinks and rice were refilled quickly and they even helped us pack away the leftovers. Food took a while a come but will not stop us from wanting to visit again.

It’s the first time I’ve been to a restaurant and not been able to pick my favourite dishes - they were all exceptional. We left absolutely stuffed. Great service too - thank you Gerry and colleagues!

Outstanding restaurant. The food was divine, the manager was excellent and I can’t wait to go back. The chive cakes are a definite must too

We finally found a Thai restaurant in London that does Thai food. This is not an easy task. The food was fresh and had the correct balance of sweet, salty and sour - as one would expect in Thai food. There was a great range of vegetation options, and a solid cocktail menu. The twist on the Negroni was outstanding.

Have walked past this restaurant several times thinking we should eat there. I didn’t realise when we booked a Thai restaurant that this was the same restaurant. It was a delight, friendly and very helpful staff good service and excellent and different food. Started with chive cakes excellent, the prawn and crab noodle salad was absolutely delicious as was the flank beef. The deep fried bass was exceptional. Deserts were good too. Good value for the money. Will certainly return.

Beautiful restaurant. Delicious food. Great selection of wines. Super friendly and helpful staff.

What an outstanding restaurant this is. The menu is inventive and not the norm which is great and the food is so good. Excellent service and the help and explanation was spot on, listen to the advice of the host as they know their stuff on portion size. Nice idea with the rice so no wastage. Highly recommended.

All the staff were lovely but our waitress Prudence was fantastic!!! She was super lovely, attentive and gave great recommendations. We all can’t wait to come back!! Xx

Finally got to come here and boy was it worth the wait. Great food. I mean, not oily, delicious flavours and a wonderful selection. We ordered nearly the entire menu and it did not disappoint. Great to come in a small group although we will be back for a date night too. Cocktails were slightly disappointing but stick with the wine and you’ll be fine!

Food is good but very slow. Waited over 40mins for a Salad. I understand the concept of the sharing the food, but when we ordered we made it clear that we were not sharing, because people have different dietary requirements. The time difference when the first person got their dish and when I got mine (last dish to arrive) was 40mins, that’s really unacceptable. When we asked, we got a very unprofessional answer: “that’s how this restaurant operates, food is supposed to be shared”..and she walked away. We also waited so long for the ice cream, which was simply three scoops in a bowl. We couldn’t understand why took so long. The bill actually arrived before the ice cream 😂 I would not, either recommend or going back to this place. My experience was below standard expectations and frankly very disappointing. 😔

A wonderful experience! Extremely accommodating staff and amazing dishes. If you prefer a relaxed environment, I would recommend going on a Sunday :) Will be returning asap.

Absolutely delicious and amazing service! We felt so looked after without being overwhelmed, and the waiters' recommendations were all great. Will definitely be coming back! (Was too focused on the food to take any pics)

Why has it taken me so long to eat here? Definitely back for all the food I didn't try. Looked after very well

What a gem! Great service, excellent food. A nice variety of drinks, cocktails and local wines. I particularly enjoyed the pickles and som tam fritters, but my highlight by far the betel leaves - what a crunchy piece of yum! Nice option that you can adjust a lot of the dishes to be vegan/vegetarian.

Wow...wow...wow!!! I had to write this review whilst waiting for dessert to arrive. It's sublime, what an amazing find....my mouth is bursting with all the flavours. Highly, highly recommend this place

Very clean, polite, friendly and helpful service. The atmosphere is busy,chatty and happy. Loved the food and plenty if it. Will deffenetly be visiting again.

Consistently great Thai food, fried see bass is a must

Haven’t stopped thinking about the food since going there. Bit pricey but well worth it.

Exceptional food, fantastic staff

We had an amazing meal. The food was sublime and the service even better. The GM is a real asset to the restaurant and we felt like true VIPs. Thank you for a lovely anniversary meal. Truly fantastic.

Love this place!! The food is honestly AMAZING…one of my favourite restaurants in London. Rema, one of the managers is EXCELLENT!! She is warm, welcoming, friendly, professional and diligent!!! Loved dining here and love the customer service. The bartender Adam was also amazing…he was so friendly and made us feel really special and at home straight away. Thanks Rema, Adam, Prudence (another lovely waitress) and the chefs/owners at the begging bowl. Awesome food, great cocktails and awesome service!!

Didn’t book so were sat at the bar and the bar staff were great company and made us a cocktail which wasn’t on the menu. The food was amazing, packed full a so many flavours. Quite spicy but delicious. Although they suggest 2-3 small plates per person we barely managed 3 between the two of us. Would highly recommend

all in all a great experience. The food was fantastic.

Realllyyy good Thai food. Staff were all super attentive and friendly. Each dish we ordered was so flavorful. Even the cabbage with garlic, might have been my favorite, seems so simple but tasted perfect. Chive cakes are delicious, whole fish in tamarind sauce was soo good, and sticky rice. Will be back soon.

5 stars all round could not fault it , very authentic.

Am not hugely knowledgeable able Thai food so I did have to ask lots of questions about the menu. It’s all dairy free which is perfect for me as I can’t have that, most of the menus is also gluten free which means most of the menu is available to me. The unlimited rice is a bonus too ! The Seabass was a table centre piece as it looks like it’s deep fried and was delicious. Only downside was the fact some dishes are very spicy, should really have a bit of a warning for spice lightweights like me

Enjoyed the meal, at times it was a bit spicy for me but very flavourful (might be good to have a heat rating on dishes). All dishes are dairy free so it was easy for me to order as the gluten free dishes were labelled and most of the menu was available to me.

The best Thai in London hands down. Better than Kiln in Soho. Such fragrant and inventive dishes. Wish I took more photos. Prudence was our server and they were lovely!

I found this restaurant stressful but there are some good points. Don’t go if you don’t want to share - if you have a fussy dining partner (or somebody with a genuine food requirement) - or if you want to dine alone - it fails. Cocktails were GREAT. Betal leaves absolutely delicious. Som tam fritter - very tasty and worth ordering but VERY salty. Pork mince - inedible due to over salting. Jerusalem artichokes - nice. Broccoli - nice. Chive cakes - ok but boring. I don’t understand why the rice was brought out way before the dishes that needed the rice so we were dealing with cold rice for most of the meal although they very kindly brought more. And our wine order went wrong twice - again very graciously rectified. Great vibe and packed out on a Tuesday night so perhaps other people had a better experience.

Delicious authentic Thai food and lovely attentive service. Stand outs were the chive cakes, wing bean salad, duck leg and spicy larb! And the endless rice. Brought my toddler along - high chair was readily available and she had the chicken broth, green beans and sticky rice and loved it all. Can’t recommend this place enough.

Fantastic food! Well executed dishes and warm service, looking forward to my next visit. Favourite dish has to be the fried sea bass! The som tam fritter salad was also a fantastic twist on the traditional dish which I’d highly recommend.

Begging Bowl is a lively, friendly Thai restaurant in Peckham On the night we went it was busy, staffed by v friendly waiters. After a delicious peppery cocktail, our dinner arrived quickly & was delicious, full of taste The minced pork is only for those with a real tolerance for hot/spicy!

Fantastic tantalising tastes, and nice and spicey. Dishes were shared between the group to allow tasting axselection of dishes. Great place and great staff

Really tasty food (seabass, chive cakes, hispi cabbage were highlights), super friendly staff and all at a reasonable price. Would definitely come back again.

Man this was just really bloody good. Everything punchy and full of flavour. Wine list full of bangers

Yummy food and they obviously take pride in it

Absolutely delicious food and fantastic service! Have been several times now and great every time.

Overall It’s an interesting taste experience. Excellent service and nice beer. However every dish tastes so different they don't seem to compliment each other. Personally I feel the flavours are somewhat overpowering - extra limes, extra salt, extra sweet and spicy - good fusion food but not great.

Outstanding. We were looked after the moment we arrived. Lovely atmosphere and very family friendly. The food is exceptional. Delicious small plates of authentic dishes with fabulous flavours and textures. Thank you for a lovely lunch.

Good menu but over priced. Also, for 2 people they suggest to have at least 4 dishes. Not true. We ordered x 3 dishes and we were too full. Bottomless rice but it is not the best Jasmine rice there is - 3.50 per head. A 5 kg rice is about £7. The prices on the menu you would think, will have decent portion but nope! Nice atmosphere, lovely staffs. Oh and the toilets are not discreet at all!

Had a wonderful dinner here with friends, sharing a bunch of plates. Very nice service and the restaurant atmosphere is great, really feels like we're in SE Asia. My favourites were the curries and the cabbage!

Every dish a total stunner - the celeriac curry just standing out from a delicious crowd. Yum. Highly recommend!!

Good selection of unusual dishes; deep fried sea bass was amazing , wing bean salad was very good. Nice atmosphere, good service, 'unlimited' rice a bit slow in arrival but no complaints.

Inspired and absolutely delicious Thai food. So many interesting dishes all using what is clearly high quality and fresh ingredients. Space is pretty special and so was the service.

It was very tasty and the staff where helpful in helping us pick a good selection of food

The food here was incredible. Small dishes so tried lots of stuff. Do many wonderful flavours. Service was also really good. This place far exceeded my expectation

Tasty though on the pricey side.

Excellent small plate Thai dishes. The sea bass was excellent, highly recommended. Attentive staff and decent prices. Great little spot. Update: I keep coming back here and my opinion is unchanged. Fantastic choice.

We came here for New year's Eve and had the set menu. The portions were really generous and we left incredibly full. Every dish was packed with a unique flavour. The highlights were the betel leaf starter and the partridge salad, both of which were fresh and zesty. The only dish that left us wanting more was the massaman curry that could have been more tender. Lovely waiters and setting. The set menu cost £45 then plus drinks and service it came to £67 each

Delicious food, good portion size and good value

Best food. Unbearably loud when busy.

One of the best Thai meals I’ve ever had. Fresh ingredients and fresh takes on traditional dishes. The whole fish is a treat. Went back again two days later. Loved every dish we had. Staff was attentive and warm. Gerry was particularly helpful and gave us advice on wine, cocktails and the menu. Did not steer us wrong! Will be back!

All of the food was really fantastic and so too was the service generally, except that: we had a booking for two hours and were told three times - whilst we were still eating - we needed to leave 15 minutes early so the restaurant could have the table back, which soured the experience for us.

Authentic Thai cuisine in the heart of Peckham. This is not pad Thai or green curry (nothing wrong with that though). This is exquisite Thai cuisine that you’d find in the finest restaurants of Thailand. We loved it, will be back!!

Great modern thai food, lovely staff and setting

This is my favourite restaurant in Peckham! So atmospheric and of course foods is just amazing, great selections of cocktails. They are very busy so make sure to book a table in advance. I wish they are were also open on Mondays

Food was lush! Delicious fresh flavours!

Es un lugar pequeño con un menú muy limitado de alimentos y una carta con vinos caros y malos. Todos los vinos bastante dulces y el más barato en 7.50 por 125 ml. Las margaritas si estaban buenas pero también bastante caras y mini. Los platillos son muy pequeños y te sugieren pedir al centro. Te cobran el arroz en 3 £ pero es ilimitado. Te cobran el agua de la llave a 1 £ por persona. El servicio es amable pero distraídos y te traen primero la comida y luego la bebida. Pedimos los calamares, unos pastelitos fritos de verdura , el pork neck , un fried sea bass delicioso; de hecho el mejor platillo pero literal 60 gramos de carne y el resto espinas y cascarón. Un tipo caldo de champiñón muy grasoso y con poco sabor y una col muy sin chiste. Esta en un área bastante marginada así es de que tampoco es un paseo tan agradable. No regreso y no lo recomiendo. No encontrarás ningún plato tradicional tailandés como curry o sopas o rollitos. Personal muy hipster e informal sin uniformes y con aspecto sucio y descuidado pero precios de restaurante elegante. Las estrellas son por la salsa de ese pescado y las margaritas de passion fruit.