Tag Archives: Best Local Restaurant

First weekend of 2013

Posted on by
Reply

Happy New Year y’all! First up, we want to thank you all for supporting Ben’s Canteen last year, we genuinely appreciate it and you guys drive us on to try and get better and better. A special thank you to everyone who voted us to Best Local Restaurant in SW London & Surrey, we were absolutely thrilled to win that award.

As we said, we’re always trying to get better and that’s why amongst lots of other things we have,

We’ve got loads of plans for the coming year; look out for a new dinner menu, some exciting new wines, more cocktails, some amazing Bloody Mary’s, more funky interior design and we’ll also be working with our people to make things run smoother. As ever, we genuinely value your feedback, so do let us know what you like and don’t like (via Facebook or Twitter if you like).

Anyways, enough of that, it’s the weekend! Come and join us on St John’s Hill for brunch, dinner and drinks.

  • Brunch kicks off from 9am – it’s the busiest (and we believe) the best in SW London, join us for big breakfasts, sexy eggs, top notch tea and coffee, Bloody Marys (we also do Virgin ones for those of you doing a dryathon this January) and smoothies.
  • Dinner now starts at 5pm and on Fridays and Saturdays we keep our kitchen open later, meaning you can get a late bite, right up to 11pm.
  • Don’t forget if you do join us for an early dinner then you can pick up some January value in the shape of a free glass of wine and 2 courses for £20.
  • We don’t take bookings for weekend brunch as we get so busy, it’s the only way we can seat and serve more of you, but you can reserve a spot in the evening online or by calling us on 020 7228 3260.
  • On Sunday nights we offer the Sunday Night Saver – get one of the Top 10 Burgers in London with chips for a flat tenner (or any of our other burgers and sandwiches for the same price).
  • Finally, if you need to host a party (or small gathering) in 2013, then drop us a line, we’re super flexible and you can hire all or some of the Canteen – click here for more details.

Right, go have an awesome first weekend of the year and we hope to see you in the Canteen at some stage.

Ben's Canteen, Best Local Restaurant 2012

Ben’s Canteen, Best Local Restaurant 2012

Midweek Brunch Club – Loyalty Card

Posted on by
Reply

As we said, when we won Best Local Restaurant in the Time & Leisure Food and Drink Awards we wanted to use it as a spur to roll out a whole bunch of developments to improve the Canteen and hopefully make it an even better place to hang out at.

First up was our new cocktail list, now it’s time to launch our Midweek Brunch Club.

Ben's Canteen loyalty cardEvery time you spend £5 or more on Brunch, Monday to Friday, you get a stamp. After 8 stamps you will get £10 off your bill the next time you come in for a midweek brunch (served from 9am to 4pm).

Please note that alongside our brunch menu we also have daily sandwiches and all of our food and drinks are available to takeaway.

If you haven’t already picked up a loyalty card then just ask for one next time you’re in the Canteen.

Ben's Canteen, brunch club

 

Canteen Weekender

Posted on by
Reply

When, last week, we were voted as Best Local Restaurant in the Time & Leisure Food and Drink Awards we said that we wanted to use this as a spur to deliver all the developments we have in the pipeline. So, this week we were delighted to unveil our new cocktail list – come and try it out this weekend.

Below is a little list of what’s going down over the weekend and coming up…

  • We have a lot of bookings this weekend, so if you want a table for dinner then it’s probably best to book in early – and take advantage of some extra value; reserve a table between 6 & 7pm and you can claim 2 courses for £20 and a free glass of wine.
  • We also have another little offer for you; we recently launched the Sunday Night Saver - get any of our burgers or sandwiches for a tenner.
  • When you pop in during the evening, you need to indulge in our dedicated chip menu - the chilli cheese chips are the staff favourite.
  • You should definitely get involved in our new cocktail menu – give the Bacon Bourbon Old Fashioned a go, it’s pretty epic.
  • Happy Hour - join us for good times and cheaper drinkies from 5-7pm daily.
  • Yikes, it’s time to think about booking your Christmas party. We’ve just launched our Christmas menus, click here to check them out. We’re doing a set Christmas Lunch menu for £15 per person.
  • We run SW London’s busiest and best brunch, starting at 9am each day.
  • Come and check out the new brunch menu, we’ve added French Toast, Huveos Rancheros and a Smoked Salmon Bagel amongst other things.
  • Reckon you’re a bit crafty? You should come to the Crafty Pint workshop on the 8th October – design and keep your own Tote bag.
  • On the crafty front, check out the Colporter pop-up - leave the Canteen with a full tum and some awesome pieces for your home.
  • Oh, you should also check out our new bar snack, beef jerky from Billy Franks. The cheeseburger flavour is awesome as is the BBQ and the Holy Fuck Sauce (from The Rib Man) flavour.

Ben's Canteen, Best Local Restaurant 2012

New Cocktails at Ben’s Canteen

Posted on by
Reply

For a long time now we’ve wanted to grow the humble cocktail list at Ben’s Canteen. Having just won Best Local Restaurant (in the Time & Leisure Food and Drinks Awards) we decided that this was the time.

Cocktails at Ben's CanteenWe’ve put together a mix of classics and given them a little twist – the Bacon Bourbon Old Fashioned (we got the recipe from our friend, Adam Layton, who runs a food blog called Noshable) is a great example of this. We infuse the bourbon with bacon and then add honey and orange – oh and bacon salt. It’s a ripper and rumour has it that it will be featured in GQ later in the year.

At the moment we’re quite inspired by Spain, so we’ve put our take on a Rebujito on the menu – it’s Sherry (Fino), Elderflower, Mint & Soda – and it’s a little reminder of summer. The London Ruin (Hoxton Gin, Cointreau & Homemade Lemonade) is proving very popular and the staff are big fans of the Vanilla & Chilli Caprioska (Vodka, Vanilla, Sugar, Lime & Chilli).

So, next time you’re up on the hill, do drop into the Canteen and let us know what you think of the new list. Oh, and by the way, we can still make the classic cocktails for you on request and do remember that on Tuesdays we do 2-4-1 cocktails.

 

Canteen Weekender

Posted on by
Reply

It’s been a week for high fiving in the Canteen as on Monday we got the exciting news that we had been voted as Best Local Restaurant in the Time & Leisure Food and Drink Awards – good times! It’s great to be recognised for the hard work that has gone in but really it’s the people, i.e. you our lovely customers, who make the Canteen what it is and give us the drive to get better. There are loads of developments in the pipeline and we can’t wait to roll them out (will sadly take a while though but good things come to those who wait and all that).

Below is a little list of what’s going down over the weekend and coming up…

  • Dinner starts at 6pm and if you book in before 7pm then you can claim 2 courses for £20 and a free glass of wine.
  • We also have another little offer for you; we recently launched the Sunday Night Saver - get any of our burgers or sandwiches for a tenner.
  • When you pop in during the evening, you need to indulge in our dedicated chip menu - the chilli cheese chips are the staff favourite.
  • Happy Hour - join us for good times and cheaper drinkies from 5-7pm daily.
  • Yikes, it’s time to think about booking your Christmas party. We’ve just launched our Christmas menus, click here to check them out. We’re doing a set Christmas Lunch menu for £15 per person.
  • We run SW London’s busiest and best brunch, starting at 9am each day.
  • Come and check out the new brunch menu, we’ve added French Toast, Huveos Rancheros and a Smoked Salmon Bagel amongst other things.
  • Reckon you’re a bit crafty? You should come to the Crafty Pint workshop on the 8th October – design and keep your own Tote bag.
  • On the crafty front, check out the Colporter pop-up - leave the Canteen with a full tum and some awesome pieces for your home.
  • Oh, you should also check out our new bar snack, beef jerky from Billy Franks. The cheeseburger flavour is awesome as is the BBQ and the Holy Fuck Sauce (from The Rib Man) flavour.
Ben's Canteen, Best Local Restaurant 2012

Ben’s Canteen, Best Local Restaurant 2012

 

Best Local Restaurant in South West London & Surrey

Posted on by
Reply

On Monday the 17th September it was the Time & Leisure, Food and Drink Awards 2012.

Ben’s Canteen had been nominated for Best Local Restaurant and were up against some awesome venues but we’re delighted to say that we won!

We’d like to thank everyone who voted for us and all of our lovely customers who choose to hang out with us up on St John’s Hill (in Battersea, just a few mins walk from Clapham Junction).

The award comes on the back of us recently celebrating our 1st birthday and is a lovely thing. We always hoped that if we created our alternative to a pub, that also does awesome brunches with top notch coffee, and made it relaxed and served up comforting food with a few twists, coupled with some interesting drinks that people would come. And not only come but enjoy what we’re doing and treat the venue as their canteen. A place where they can come on their own and enjoy banter with the staff or just do their own thing. A place where they can bring friends for a hungover or blowout brekkie, a simple dinner or celebrate special occasions in an informal atmosphere and space. And based on how busy we are of late, and this award, it’s seems that this vision is being realised – and for that we are very honoured. Thank you.

We’d also like to say a big thank you to the team at Ben’s Canteen, they do all the hard work and this award is recognition of that fact and the environment they create. All the weird and whacky things you hear about restaurants have probably happened since we opened but they’ve overcome them all!

We won’t be sitting back on this award, we’re going to use it as a spur to complete all the projects we have in the pipeline – look out for new menus and plenty of refurbs over the coming months. Good times.

Ben couldn’t be at the awards ceremony but rather than do a live video link up he sent his big Sis to pick up the award.

Best Local Restaurant Award for Ben's Canteen

Ben’s Canteen – The Weekend

Posted on by
Reply

This week we’ve been loving the sunshine and reflecting that if you want breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner or just drinks around Clapham Junction, Wandsworth, Battersea or Clapham then St John’s Hill is a belter of a street for it.

Anyways, here’s what’s going down at the Canteen…

  • We’re now keeping our kitchen open all day on Saturday, normally we close it between 4 and 6pm but no longer.
  • We’re getting massively into Sipsmith’s Summer Cup, this genuine rival to Pimms is going to make your weekend an awesome one.
  • We run a super popular brunch but we wanted to spice it up some more. So, we’ve created a Bloody Mary menu - come and try it out this weekend.
  • On the subject of booze, we’ve never been so excited about a shelf, behold our Gin Shelf.
  • Ditch those Sunday blues with our  Sunday Roast. We serve it from 2pm every Sunday. Enjoy Roast Orkney Beef, Pork Belly or Roasted Chicken with roasties, cauliflower cheese and broccoli, greens, root veg mash and yorkies.
  • With an eye on next week, you should come and try out our new lunch menu – we’ve added a bunch of news salads, fish cakes and more.
  • Time and Leisure just nominated us as one of London’s best local restaurants, if you like us then would you be so terribly kind as to vote for us here?!
  • Also, Ben recently got interviewed by our friends at Le Cool, click here to read the interview.
  • To add to our British food, done well ethos and British beers we’ve added a selection of English wines (British wines means something else), including a cracking sparkling by Chapel Down. Come and run the rule over them this weekend and let us know what you think.

Sipsmith Summer Cup

Ben’s Canteen – The Weekender

Posted on by
Reply

This week has been all about The Fabulous Feast on St John’s Hill – and this weekend sees the street’s celebration of food and drink go up another gear with all sorts of events and activities taking place, including a bunch of pop-up stalls.

Here’s what’s going down at the Canteen…

  • We’re going to keep our kitchen open all day on Saturday, normally we close it between 4 and 6pm but not for The Fabulous Feast.
  • We run a super popular brunch but we wanted to spice it up some more. So, we’ve created a Bloody Mary menu - come and try it out this weekend.
  • On the subject of booze, we’ve never been so excited about a shelf, behold our Gin Shelf.
  • Ditch those Sunday blues with our  Sunday Roast. We serve it from 2pm every Sunday. Enjoy Roast Orkney Beef, Pork Belly or Roasted Chicken with roasties, cauliflower cheese and broccoli, greens, root veg mash and yorkies.
  • Sunday night, at 8pm, will see Murderous Cupcakes in the Canteen, we think it’s going to be fun, you should come.
  • We’re getting massively into Sipsmith’s Summer Cup, this genuine rival to Pimms is making us feel all summery in lieu of any actual sun.
  • Time and Leisure just nominated us as one of London’s best local restaurants, if you like us then would you be so terribly kind as to vote for us here?!
  • Also, Ben recently got interviewed by our friends at Le Cool, click here to read the interview.
  • To add to our British food, done well ethos and British beers we’ve added a selection of English wines (British wines means something else), including a cracking sparkling by Chapel Down. Come and run the rule over them this weekend and let us know what you think.

London gins

Ben’s Canteen Weekender

Posted on by
Reply

Ah the weekend, everything is going to be better.

Here’s what’s going down at the Canteen…

  • We run a super popular brunch but we wanted to spice it up some more. So, we’ve created a Bloody Mary menu – come and try it out this weekend.
  • On the subject of booze, we’ve never been so excited about a shelf, behold our Gin Shelf.
  • Ditch those Sunday blues with our  Sunday Roast. We serve it from 2pm every Sunday. Enjoy Roast Orkney Beef, Pork Belly or Roasted Chicken with roasties, cauliflower cheese and broccoli, greens, root veg mash and yorkies.
  • Don’t forget that next week is The Fabulous Feast food festival on St John’s Hill. We’re launching it with a pop-up dinner from Ben Spalding (now sold out) and then every night we have a £15 menu available.
  • Next week will also see Murderous Cupcakes in the Canteen, 8pm Sunday night.
  • To celebrate our burger being named as one of the Top 10 in London we made a film of it being made - click here to watch. We serve it all day on Saturday and Sunday so you’ve got plenty of time to come and take it on.
  • Time and Leisure just nominated us as one of London’s best local restaurants, if you like us then would you be so terribly kind as to vote for us here?!
  • Also, Ben recently got interviewed by our friends at Le Cool, click here to read the interview.
  • To add to our British food, done well ethos and British beers we’ve added a selection of English wines (British wines means something else), including a cracking sparkling by Chapel Down. Come and run the rule over them this weekend and let us know what you think.
  • We recently introduced a Retro Lunch menu, served from 12pm to 4pm Mon-Fri. Our current favourite from the menu is the chicken in a basket – you can actually eat the basket! Don’t forget we also serve brunch every day, not just at the weekends.

London gins

Some things for the weekend

Posted on by
Reply

Whatever the weather this weekend we are here to make sure you are fed and watered with top notch British food, lovely wines (including English ones) and some cracking craft beers from small brewers such as The Kernel and local lads Sambrook’s.

Here’s what’s going down at the Canteen…

  • To celebrate our burger being named as one of the Top 10 in London we made a film of it being made - click here to watch. We serve it all day on Saturday and Sunday so you’ve got plenty of time to come and take it on.
  • Time and Leisure just nominated us as one of London’s best local restaurants, if you like us then would you be so terribly kind as to vote for us here?!
  • Also, Ben just got interviewed by our friends at Le Cool, click here to read the interview.
  • Our Sunday Roast is super tasty. We serve it from 2pm every Sunday. Enjoy Roast Orkney Beef, Pork Belly or Roasted Chicken with roasties, cauliflower cheese and broccoli, greens, root veg mash and yorkies.
  • To add to our British food, done well ethos and British beers we’ve added a selection of English wines (British wines means something else), including a cracking sparkling by Chapel Down. Come and run the rule over them this weekend and let us know what you think.
  • We recently introduced a Retro Lunch menu, served from 12pm to 4pm Mon-Fri. Our current favourite from the menu is the chicken in a basket – you can actually eat the basket! Don’t forget we also serve brunch every day, not just at the weekends.
  • If you haven’t experienced our All Day Breakfast Scotch Egg then you need to change that this weekend. Like the burger it’s served all day. It got 5 stars from the leading light on Scotch Eggs - it’s a serious orb.
  • In our opinion brunch should be accompanied by Bloody Mary’s, have you tried ours yet? We use Sipsmith Vodka, they’re based in Hammersmith and it’s lovely stuff.
  • On the subject of local booze, we make our cheesecake using Powerhouse Porter from local brewers Sambrook’s. It might sound a bit odd, making a cheesecake from beer, but blimey it tastes good.
  • Oh by the way, Monday is St George’s Day – to celebrate we’re doing a free pint offer, click here for deets.

Ben's Canteen Scotch Egg