Tag Archives: St John’s Hill

Now that is a tasty burger…

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Whilst the daytimes at Ben’s Canteen are all about treating yourself to an indulgent brunch (if you’re working from home or are lucky enough to have a day off then we certainly suggests some eggs, Allpress coffee and just maybe a cheeky Bloody Mary), night times are all about dirty burgers.

All of our burgers are handmade on site, using a house mix to make a serious beef patty, homemade burger sauce and a glazed ‘American’ bun.

BC Burger

In the case of the original BC Burger, we brine topside of beef for 24 hrs before slow cooking it for 8 hrs. This is then sliced to order, topped with smoked cheddar and placed on top of the beef patty – it’s epic and has seen MSN Food name us as one of the Top 21 Burger Places in the UK, Scout Magazine rate it as one of the top 10 in London and ShortList view it as one of the UK’s best.

We also have the Big Benny Melt, which is a burger topped with Mac & Cheese and the Sloppy Ben, a burger topped with Chilli Con Carne and a slice of rather retro American cheese.

If these burgers aren’t doing it for you then you can always tuck into the Sea Dog which is basically a jumbo posh fish finger roll, the BC Chicken Burger, a Pulled Pork Bap with Deep Fried Pickles or a veggie friendly Mushroom & Peach Burger.

To go with a dirty burger we suggest you get stuck into a cocktail (we’re thinking an Old Fashioned) or take down a Boilermaker (a shot of Maker’s Mark followed by a more leisurely pint of Meantime Pale Ale). We’ve also got the brilliant Meantime London Lager on tap as well as beers from the local brewery, Sambrook’s. Or a fun wine list that offers plenty of value and some very drinkable reds to wash down all that beefy goodness.

Now, go round up some mates, and come hang out with us on St John’s Hill.

Weekend Booze & Bites

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This week has been a busy one at the Canteen, we agreed a tie up with the Wandsworth Foodbank (click here for details) and we released a little film our friend made to show off the Canteen and St John’s Hill at night.

Ben’s Canteen – The Place on the Hill from Ben’s Canteen on Vimeo.

We also released details of our £15 menu for The Fabulous Feast, a week long food and drink festival on St John’s Hill (Battersea’s best street).

Anyways, on to the weekend! Come try our new Spring Brunch. We’ve added smashed avocado on toast with a poached egg (and we seriously recommend adding spicy chorizo to this magic combo), mushrooms on toast with truffle oil and a fried egg and a pair of new salads. Hit up the Canteen this weekend, give them a whirl and let us know what you think by clicking here. Don’t forget if you Instagram them then you can score yourself a free Bloody Mary.

Talking of Blood Mary’s we’ve made a video of our Sipsmith Classic Bloody Mary - click here to learn how we make it. We’ve also added a couple of new drinks, inject some Italian style into brunch with an Aperol Spritz or force yourself back into the game with our Hair of the Dog.

Smashed Avocado & Poached Egg with Spicy Chorizo

Of course, the weekend isn’t just about brunch…

  • Get involved with our cocktails. A pre or post dinner Old Fashioned always sounds good to us whilst the girls at the Canteen love the Damson in Distress (Damson Vodka, Prosecco & Cranberry) and the Vanilla & Chilli Caprioska is a firm staff favourite.
  • Our range of dirty burgers are proving so popular that MSN Food recently named us as one of the Top 21 Burger places in the UK. We don’t just do burgers though, we’ve got some lighter bites such as a Mackerel Nicoise salad and the Benny Benny Chicken which is a carb free number.
  • Dinner now starts early, join us from 5pm and on Fridays and Saturdays the kitchen is open until 11pm, meaning you can join us for late night bites.
  • Book in for an early dinner, from 5-7pm and we’ll give you some  extra value in the shape of a free glass of wine and 2 courses for £18.
  • And check out our new wine list, which includes some left field (but awesome) choices such as Portuguese, Croatian and Lebanese wine, and a seriously top notch Greek wine (Hedgehog) which is like a Barolo, alongside the more expected.
  • Make your weekend last longer by joining us for the Sunday Night Saver - all burgers and sandwiches for a flat tenner, that’ll help banish the Sunday night blues.
  • Also, if you Instagram your food, or drink, at the Canteen then you can get a free dessert or Bloody Mary, click here for details.

And other stuff,

Ben's Canteen, Best Local Restaurant 2012

This weekend at Ben’s Canteen

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The snowpocalypse has hit! And as you can see it’s starting to settle up here on St John’s Hill.

Snow on St John's Hill

So, settle in is exactly what you should do this weekend. De-ice with a Sipsmith Classic Bloody Mary,

Bloody Mary

 

our new Marmalade Martini or a Hot Chocolate with Amaretto or if you’re doing the whole dryathon thing then get stuck into Allpress Coffee or a We Are Tea cuppa (and if you don’t need warming up, a smoothie – we’ve got a whole new range, fresh for this weekend).

Also, this weekend,

  • We have a new dinner menu! It’s full of dirty burgers (e.g. the Big Benny Melt – a burger topped with mac and cheese) and hot dogs but we’ve also added in some lighter options such as the Benny Benny Chicken which is a chicken breast with salad and a mayo free slaw, to balance things out.
  • Dinner now starts early, join us from 5pm and on Fridays and Saturdays the kitchen is open until 11pm, meaning you can join us for late night bites.
  • Book in for an early dinner, from 5-7pm and we’ll give you some  January value in form of a free glass of wine and 2 courses for £18.
  • You can book a table online or by calling us on 020 7228 3260.
  • We’re proud to run SW London’s busiest (and we like to think), best brunch - join us every weekend from 9am-4pm. We don’t take bookings for weekend brunch but tables do become available quickly, grab a coffee and/or a bloody mary at the bar whilst you wait.
  • Make your weekend last longer by joining us for the Sunday Night Saver - all burgers and sandwiches for a flat tenner, that’ll help banish the Sunday night blues.

And other stuff,

Ben's Canteen, Best Local Restaurant 2012

First weekend of 2013

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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

Canteen Weekender

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St John’s Hill is looking very Christamassy with all the trees lit along the street and the festivities are starting to kick in. At the Canteen, we’ve already hosted a bunch of Crimbo parties, and we have plenty more coming up – if you want to have yours here, then click here for details of our menus. Or keep it casual and simply pop in for a mince pie, from the Bad Boys Bakery in Brixton Prison, and a Gluhwein (pimp it with a shot of Amaretto to feel extra festive).

If you’re looking for a different sort of Christmas then you must come to our Tropical Christmas dinner on the 19th – we’ve teamed up with Yummy Choo who runs Mauritian Supper Clubs, it’s going to be quite an event, especially with 2 cocktails included in the ticket price!

In other hot news – Sunday Roasts are back! Join us from 12 on Sunday for roast beef and roast chicken (our normal brunch menu is also be available).

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

  • Friday: we’re very much open for brunch but we are closed in the evening for a private party, sorry about that but do come and join us for the rest of the weekend.
  • Our kitchen is now open all day, come and chill on the hill and join us for brunch, dinner and drinks from 9am. Note, dinner now starts at 5pm.
  • If you do join us for an early dinner then you can get a little extra value with our 2 courses for £20 and a free glass of wine (available from 5-7pm).
  • And for those of you who don’t do early, our kitchen is also open later now on Fridays & Saturdays, you can get some munch bunch until 11pm.
  • Sunday Roasts are back in the Canteen – join us on for roast beef or chicken from 12pm (note we run the normal brunch menu alongside it).
  • You should also try out some of our new cocktails, our Bacon Bourbon Old Fashioned has just been featured in GQ Magazine, we’re also big fans of our Sipsmith Sloe Gin Negroni and the Damson in Distress (with Damson Vodka).
  • We’ve started a movement to make your weekend last a little bit longer; the Sunday Night Saver - get any of our burgers or sandwiches for a tenner.
  • Still looking to organise a Christmas party? Check out our menus, starting from £15 per person. We do still have some availability, especially for lunch.
  • We’re now serving Allpress Coffee, absolutely top notch stuff, and for tea fans we now serve We Are Tea, like our coffee, it’s top drawer and helps to make our brunch the best in SW London – join us from 9am each day.
  • Speaking of brunch, have you picked up your midweek loyalty card yet?
  • In need of a present? Check out the Colporter pop-up and Flights of Nancy bags too – leave the Canteen with a full tum and some awesome pieces for your home.
  • Something to bust the January blues; Ryan Stafford will be Mixing It Up at Ben’s Canteen on the 23rd Jan. Ryan is a former Masterchef: The Professionals finalist and super talented – check out his menu and booking details here.

Ben's Canteen, Best Local Restaurant 2012

Canteen Weekender

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Ho, ho, ho it’s the weekend and the ‘Street of a 1,000 Trees’… come to St John’s Hill on Saturday at 6pm for the turning on of the Christmas Street Lights.

In other hot news – Sunday Roasts are back! Join us from 12 on Sunday for roast beef and roast chicken (our normal brunch menu will also be available).

And even further hot news: we’re having a Tropical Christmas with Yummy Choo Eats and in January we’re doing a supper club with the super talented Ryan Stafford.

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

  • It’s looking like it’s going to be a super busy 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 5 & 7pm and you can claim 2 courses for £20 and a free glass of wine.
  • Or take advantage of the fact that our kitchen is now open until 11pm on Fridays & Saturdays and book a late table.
  • Please note, from Friday we’re no longer closing the kitchen from 4-6pm, it will now stay open all day with dinner starting at 5pm.
  • Sunday Roasts are back in the Canteen – join us for roast beef or chicken from 12pm.
  • You should also try out some of our new cocktails, our Bacon Bourbon Old Fashioned has just been featured in GQ Magazine, we’re also big fans of our Sipsmith Sloe Gin Negroni and the Damon in Distress (with Damson Vodka).
  • We’ve started a movement to make your weekend last a little bit longer; the Sunday Night Saver - get any of our burgers or sandwiches for a tenner.
  • Yikes, it’s time to think about booking your Christmas party. We’ve 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.
  • We’re now serving Allpress Coffee, absolutely top notch stuff, make sure you come try a cup. And for tea fans we now serve We Are Tea, like our coffee, it’s top drawer.
  • Speaking of brunch, we now offer a loyalty card for those joining us for midweek brunch, click here for details.
  • In need of a present? Check out the Colporter pop-up and Flights of Nancy bags too – leave the Canteen with a full tum and some awesome pieces for your home.

Ben's Canteen, Best Local Restaurant 2012

We Are Tea at Ben’s Canteen

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Most people probably know that here at Ben’s Canteen we love our coffee (and we absolutely love the Allpress Coffee we recently started serving) but what they may not realise is that we also love a good cuppa.

That’s why we’re delighted to be stocking a range of teas from the brilliant We Are Tea.

We Are TeaWe’re currently stocking their English Breakfast, Gunpowder Supreme (green tea), Revitealise, White Chamomile Flowers and Earl Grey but we’ll be adding to that in the coming weeks.

So the next time you’re around St John’s Hill or indeed Clapham Junction, Battersea Rise or Northcote Road make sure you pop in and try one of these fantastic teas. Perhaps have it with a slice of treacle tart from the Bad Boys Bakery (the bakery Gordon Ramsay helped set up at Brixton Prison)?! And don’t forget, ending your dinner  at the Canteen with a tea is a great way to round off a night. We serve our tea from 9am right up until we close late at night.

 

Midweek Nights at the Canteen

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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.

Midweek Nights at Ben's CanteenWe 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.

Best Local Restaurant in South West London & Surrey

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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

Canteen Weekender

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We bloody luv the weekend! Come and chill on the Hill with us to find out why – although we can’t promise it will be as lively as last Sunday – the St John’s Hill Festival was brilliant and it was great to see the street buzzing with so many people. We’d love if it inspired more people to set up shop here (by the way we think the new Thai place opens this weekend, a very welcome addition to the Hill).

In other good news, this Saturday we are NOT closed for a private party, so come and join us for dinner from 6pm.

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 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.

Good times!

Ben's Canteen Scotch Egg