One of the reasons we started Ben’s Canteen was to create a space where you can hang out without feeling too formal. In essence an alternative to the pub. We wanted to create an atmosphere where you could just roll in and be yourself, that’s why we stripped back the interior and at night we dim the lights and light the candles to create a cosy space. We don’t have TVs as we want you to dictate the night rather than tuning out to the tube.
We know that often you don’t want go crazy on the spending front during the week and most of you don’t want to blow the doors off on a school night so we created a little extra value offer in the form of 2 courses for £20 and a free glass of wine if you join us for an early dinner (before 7pm), meaning you can have a good feed and still get a good night’s sleep. However, we also like to encourage you to go a bit bigger during the week, that’s why we do 2-4-1 Cocktails on Tuesday Nights and we run regular pop-up supper club style events such as our Halloween Hell Night.
In terms of food, we believe in comfort, especially as it’s now getting colder. Our meatballs with a cheesy cauliflower & squash mash are a midweek dinner winner.
On the drinks front, we favour working with smaller producers, so we’ve got beers from Meantime and Curious Brew (from the English winemaker Chapel Down) amongst others, and some cracking spirits including Sipsmith and Little Bird Gin. The idea is simple really, we want to introduce you to some different, quality, products and hopefully as part of that make your midweek life just a smidge better and more interesting if possible.
Add to the above that we’re a shortish stroll from Clapham Junction and Wandsworth Town train stations and buses will ferry you around Battersea back to Clapham Common, Brixton, Putney, Fulham, Chelsea and beyond, then we’d like to think we offer you a nice little, simple, midweek night out – and we believe it’s part of the reason we got voted Best Local Restaurant in the Time & Leisure 2012 Food and Drinks Awards.
If you’d like to reserve a table and join us for a midweek dinner on St John’s Hill then please click here.