The Waterman’s Arms
We moved to SW London from East London quite a few years ago, and one of the things I remember about moving here was how lovely and green it is, how close to nature you feel with the river and Richmond Park nearby… surely it had all the right ingredients for people who love the offerings of London and appreciate the outdoors (my partner and I are originally from the North and missed the vast open spaces of the Peak District). BUT and it was a BIG one - where were all the good restaurants? It. Was. Crazy.
This is a lovely area, it has a duck pond! It is affluent enough for a Ginger Pig to thrive - so why oh why didn’t the residents appreciate great restaurants?? In Islington we’d had the choice of London’s best gastropubs and the awesome Trullo opened on our doorstep. Nothing like that in SW13. In Dalston we’d had the pick of the best Turkish food and exciting new supper clubs and pop-ups with walking distance. Not a chance in SW14.
We settled, learned to cook properly ourselves (lots of BBQS) and have now been here long enough to have children, welcome the local Farmers Market to our bank account, and to establish local favourites. There were a couple of places we fell in love with - mainly Riva of 90s celebrity fame - which is always delicious - and is our family go-to (and for the record: zero sightings of Hugh Grant). Why am I writing about this? Well it’s because our other restaurant love is The Waterman’s Arms and I wanted to set the context of how it has very much restored my faith in our local neighbourhood. Just that, really.
The Waterman’s is a contemporary restaurant set in an old riverside pub, it’s furnished in an unfussy sort of way, which I like and which points to the main event - the food. The restaurant has been here for a couple of years now and has been warmly welcomed by both the locals and the wider London food scene. Welcomed mostly because the food is brilliant: very tasty, inventive dishes and flavours that might look questionable to my untrained eye but always work SO well. Some plates I know and some I don’t - but they are always explained politely with accurate recommendations dependent on group size etc. The last time we went we shared with friends the Arroz de Marisco, some friend chicken, Friggatelli Tonnati and a whole Turbot with sides. We all left feeling totally in love with the food. There’s a good wine list which seems to get better every time we go and again, the team there are always happy to recommend a new Greek wine or a classic Burgundy.
We meet old friends there, we take new-ish friends, we’ve taken most all the family and our cocker spaniel - she loves it too. Most of all we love to go there at the end of a busy week, catch up over a drink and know that whatever is put in front of us will be considered and cooked perfectly. It’s not cheap, but we don’t have to pay to travel to East London, which I might argue is the only place you’ll find this mix of fresh, contemporary cooking with the highest quality of ingredients, so that’s a saving right there. The Waterman’s Arms is a gem. And our neighbourhood now has a food scene - it was worth the wait.
