Tag Archives: English Wine

Eating and Drinking in Clapham Junction, Battersea

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Last week was the St John’s Hill Fabulous Feast, a week long celebration of food and drink. It reminded us that St John’s Hill is a seriously good spot for food and drink.

You’ve got The Plough, Powder Keg Diplomacy, The Birdhouse, The Fish Club, Adulis and more… all of which surely makes it a wee bit more interesting than Northcote Road and probably the most exciting street for bars and restaurants in Battersea, especially as it’s a stone’s throw from Clapham Junction?!

So, what do we here at Ben’s Canteen bring to the street?

Ben's Canteen, St John's Hill, Battersea

Well we see ourselves as an all rounder, we aim to serve you a top notch coffee with brekkie or brunch, something tasty for lunch, a treat for tea and a cracking dinner with drinks being served via our bar all day and night.

Chiefly, we see ourselves as an alternative to the pub. Don’t get us wrong, we love a boozer but we got a bit bored of tap after tap of beer (most of them generic continental lagers) and numerous big screens with Sky Sports News on loop but where do you go to escape that? Whilst keeping everything equally relaxed? That’s what we strive to be.

We want to be that place where you can drop in on your own or grab some friends and catch up over drinks and simple but super tasty food. We love the fact that Clapham Junction is just a short stroll from the Canteen as it means you should be able to persuade your friends who live that little bit further away to drop in and hang out with you.

To help become this place we serve breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner every day. We serve British food, done well. We’re infamous for our All Day Breakfast Scotch Egg and the BC Burger has been named as one of the Top 10 in London.

Ben's Canteen Burger

Obviously to become your alternative to the pub we need plenty of booze, we’ve tried to make it interesting and a little different. So, we work with small independent brewers, such as local boys Sambrook’s. We’ve put together an interesting wine list that features some English wine, not least a sparkling one in the form of Primrose Hill by Chapel Down. We’ve put in a special Gin shelf which features gins from small London distillers such as Sipsmith, SW4 and Portobello Road.

Gin shelf at Ben's Canteen

Remember, that unlike a lot of new trendy hangouts, you can actually book a table at Ben’s Canteen - click here to reserve yours now.

Ben’s Canteen – The Weekender

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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

A right royal celebration of English wines with Bibendum

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English wine is actually rather good and to celebrate us adding some English wines to our list, the arrival of Summer (fingers crossed it’s actually a good one) and the Queen’s Jubilee we’ve teamed up with Bibendum to put on a special dinner for you guys.

Primrose Hill by Chapel Down

On the 5th June we will be doing a 3 course meal with Bibendum.

Free glass of Primrose Hill by Chapel Down (English sparkling wine) on arrival

a’Becketts Pinot Auxerrois wine cured salmon tartare with quail’s eggs and pickled radish (served with a glass of said wine)

Ballotine of chicken stuffed with mushrooms and Furleigh Estate Bacchus Fume wine butter with a broad bean mash and cep gravy (served with a glass of said wine)

Strawberries and cream with a hot a’Beckett’s Rose jelly (served with a glass of said wine)

Tickets for this awesome celebration of English wine cost just £60. Drinks will be served from 7pm with food being served at 7.30pm. Food will be served supper club style, i.e. everybody will be served at the same time, so don’t be late or you’ll miss a course.

Please note that you need to book online in advance by clicking here.

Some things for the weekend

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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

Some things for the weekend

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Here at the Canteen we like to try and make your weekends even better and we’re seriously excited that this one might be a hottie (certainly today is a-mazing).

Here are some of the things going down at the Canteen…

  • English wine – we’ve just added a bunch of English wines to our menu, including a lovely sparkling, Primrose Hill by Chapel Down (it’s a staff favourite). To find out more click here.
  • We’re very proud that our BC Burger has been named as one of the Top Ten in London. It’s all about the homemade corned beef slice and homemade burger sauce (which includes 8 separate ingredients).
  • Also getting some serious loving is our All Day Breakfast Scotch Egg. The leading light on scotch eggs gave it 5 stars.
  • Come and join us for SW London’s busiest and best brunch. Going back to that All Day Breakfast Scotch Egg, pair it with a Sipsmith Bloody Mary to set you up for an awesome day or to recover from the rugby.
  • Canteens are for friends – get them down for a Sunday Roast.
  • Try our cheesecake – we make it using Sambrook’s Powerhouse Porter and it’s remarkably tasty.
  • Sign up to our newsletter by clicking here.
  • Book a table and settle in for a damned good time whilst you enjoy British food, done well.

Ben's Canteen, Top Ten Burgers in London

English Wines at the Canteen

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At the Canteen we serve British food, done well. We also want to extend the British nature of the Canteen to our drinks, this is why we stock beers from Sambrook’s, Meantime and The Kernel amongst other British brewers. And now we’ve got some English wines on our menu too (we would call them British wines but apparently that means something else and is rather negative)!

Primrose Hill by Chapel Down

Primrose Hill by Chapel Down

  • This sparkling wine is very popular amongst the staff at the Canteen. Made in Tenterden, Kent, it is rich yet refreshing with both breadth and finesse, the fresh lemon characters and delicate, soft bubbles we believe will appeal to all.
  • Did you know that Chapel Down is the first ever English producer to win a gold medal for sparkling wine at the prestigious International Wine Challenge.

a’Beckett’s

  • Located not far from Stonehenge, a’Beckett’s is a boutique winery that produces quality wines from native English grape varieties.
  • We stock two of their wines,
    • Pinot Auxerrois: a light, off dry wine with citrus and elderflower notes. Great on its own or with light salads and chicken dishes.
    • Estate Rose: a deep pink, off dry rose with flavours of crushed cherries and strawberries. Deliciously gluggable and the perfect accompaniment to an English summer’s day.

Furleigh Estate Bacchus Fume

  • A former dairy, Furleigh Estate now boasts a sleek, modern winery and state-of-the-art equipment, situated in one of our favourite counties, Dorset.
  • A rich, crisp white wine with aromas of elderflower, lychee, citrus and vanilla. These flavours are complimented on the palate by a refreshing citrus note and long finish, characteristic of Bacchus grapes.