Ganapati

This seems to be a new breed of hipster-​Indian restaurant. Food is extremely delicious and innovative. Lovely décor and great service too. Hard to get a table though. Also be warned chili-​phobes, as far as I can tell, every dish is spicy

We always enjoy eating such great South Indian food at Ganapati. The thali was reliable as ever, his goat curry was a little less delicious than other dishes we’ve tried here before. The parathas are amazing. Good cocktail list and excellent cider chosen to work with curry. Lovely staff.

Delicious food in a very intimate and exotic setting. You will be delighted by the food you eat. Whether you are vegetarian or a meat eater you will be happy here. One advice though: make sure you book in advance. Pick a side with your main dish or you will starve. The dishes are quite spicy but very very tasty. One of the best restaurants in Peckham!
In case you haven’t booked but really feel like having Indian food, you can always walk for five minutes and try their takeaway cuisine at the Ganapati Takeaway shop– same price but don’t stay there to eat, the setting is definitely not as nice.

The food was authentic south Indian, and fresh. All 4 of us (3 South Indians and me the American) ordered the Thali. I generally find it hard to eat a full thali, but I ate every thing (did not eat all the rice). This was accomplished due to the fact that the food was great and I did not over load on the rice like I normally do. I would highly recommend this place. The only down side was that we sat at the end of a long table and the man sitting on the other end had to get out of his chair every time one of use needed to go to the loo. He was nice about it, but his meal was interrupted about 5 times because of this. Nice music in the background, server knew a lot about the food.

Tucked down a little side street in Peckham this is a hidden gem. I had a really interesting and delicious vegetarian thali. I particularly liked the dahl as well as the beetroot dish.
Friendly if a little slow service, and a touch more costly than the cheap South Indian places of Tooting. However you get what you pay for with a comfortable ambiance and pleasant vibe.

Best Indian food! I love it and come here all the time. Perfect for Vegans. One tip: get the paratha — a flaky, fried bread as a side. It’s amazing!

Amazing food! So many new and exciting flavours — Ganapati searves a really different type of Indian cuisine than you can find in a lot of places in London. Amazing for vegetarian options as well. Everything is fresh and home made with love. The staff are very friendly and efficient. Probably my favourite place to eat dinner in Peckham!

Hands down one of the best Talis I have ever had! Food is cooked fresh and the smell when you walk in the door is enough to make you want to order most of the menu! There is a great selection of both meat and vege dishes and I would encourage you to try going meat free — really the spices in the vegetarian dishes make up for the lack of meat. I promise! This is a slightly more casual dining experience — which I love. Prices are great for the quality of food — this is not your local curry take out fodder. No curry sauce here! Staff are friendly and the bustle of the intimate restaurant is enough to make you want to come back time and time again. On a winters night get your self in, grab a bottle of wine, poppadum’s and pickles = perfection!

Eaten here a couple of times now. The food is very good and freshly cooked without being too heavy or oily, portions are a bit light but the service is very friendly. On the whole I preferred the vegetarian options on the menu to the meat ones. No value star though (not the best place to go when ravenously hungry…) but it’s a good place for a fancy sit-​down meal.

This little place is a pretty popular place compare to its location, and I guess the lack of choices kinda leads you here.
We couldn’t get a table, so I told the lady to give me a call if something is available, which of course — she didn’t.
But good news everyone! just two blocks away they have a take away place, as everything is very crowded in little peckham, we found our selves over there.
It takes forever to get the dish done, and I was so hungry already I could eat the whole menu.
So the moment of truth has arrived and we finally got our dishes — they say it’s no ordinary indian and this food represents south India if I remember correctly.
Any how — the lack of salt is not representing anything, I also asked them to make my dish spicier — throwing in one dried pepper will not do friends.
The pickled garlic saved the day and gave some flavor to my food! thanks for that.
The lamb samosas were pretty good, well prepared.
The lemon rice was a big disappointment — couldn’t see any connection between this to lemon,
And my main dish [one of the chicken curry dishes] was suffering from a big lack in taste, even though the chicken was very tender and well cooked.
Sorry fellas, there were some high expectations. but it’s a no go.
Don’t really see the fuss about this place, had much better indian before.

There are some really good vegetarian curries here. I had a black bean and potatoe varient while my wife went for the green chilli and okra. Both very tasty as was the masala dosa that we started with, the mysterious orange sauce that came with it being particularly good!
It’s a very cute and pleasant place… not like any venue that I have been to for a curry before.

Ideal for big parties since everything on the menu is amazing and this way you can share. Get reservations because they fill up fast. Try the cardamom ice cream.

I ate here a couple of months ago with very high expectations — as it’s so hard to get a table!
There is a lovely atmosphere and the menu is short and very interesting, but have to say I was a little disappointed as it didn’t quite meet my expectations on flavour. Maybe it was what I ordered.
Definitely try it but if you can make it over to ma goa in Putney which, despite the name, seems to serve a wide range of ‘high Indian’, regional dishes, and is therefore in my opinion quite similar. See which you prefer!

Came here for a birthday dinner and absolutely loved it. Everything was delicious and tasted very fresh. Lovely service. Will definitely return.

When people come to visit me and they want Indian food, I take them here. I’ve been back with my parents, various friends, my brother… the food and service are consistently good and Ganapati continues to be a real hidden gem in London’s Southern-​style Indian cuisine scene. Plus the intimate and stylish ambiance (and the fact it is a bit of an adventure to get there) make this an excellent date location, imho.
Try to save room for dessert, they are worth it. Mmm cardamom ice cream… It is also nice that they take online bookings on open table/​top table.
Now that Peckham Rye has been connected by the Overground, it is no longer is such a difficult to get to spot and I hope to come more frequently.

Wow this place was amazing! I loved every bit of my meal! People were really friendly and the atmosphere was fun and great for groups! I can’t wait to come back.

There’s something really satisfying about finding awesome food in ‘unusual’ areas. I will admit that I am often rude about Sarf Lahndan. However, I am all-​too-​happy to venture out to Peckham Rye to visit Ganapati, a true gem of a restaurant. Having been brought up on rather standard Indian food here, I first encountered Southern-​style Indian food in SE Asia which I absolutely fell in love with on the spot (although I think my neighbouring diners were less impressed as I tend to leave a massive pool of sweat where I’ve been sitting. I can’t help but eat the dried chillis.)
Ganapati offers a range of southern Indian dishes and, in particular the thali, which I’m sure The Metro would describe as an «Indian bento box». I’ve enjoyed pretty much everything I’ve had here — first off, the poppadom chutneys are extremely tasty and much more interesting than your standard mango chutney/​raita combo. I do think that the starters could be a little better as they tend to get overshadowed by the mains (although they’ve always been good). The mains are fantastic — the food has been excellently seasoned: off the top of my head, I’ve tried the Kerala chicken curry, Kuttanadu duck curry, and Pala fish. I’ve immensely enjoyed them all, but the duck has probably been my favourite so far, I really enjoyed the spice combination, and the duck was falling off the bone. The sides are also in keeping with the rest of the dishes — I’d definitely recommend getting a paratha (flaky, buttery flatbread) which is both flaky and not over-​greased.
I’m usually too full for dessert here, but they usually offer interesting ice creams and sorbets (I really like the white choc/​cardomom flavour). Oh, and before I forget, try the lassi. As Andrew just said, they’re not huge, but they’re really tasty.
It is more pricey than your average Indian, but it’s worth both the journey and the price, I’ve never had a bad meal. Bookings are essential, and it does get quite warm (but I guess that adds to the experience…). As I’ve said though, if you’re looking for something a little bit different and a little out the way, it ticks all the boxes.

Really delicious. I had the lamb dalcha with coconut rice (£12.75), while my friends had roti and raita, papadums with chutneys, and a thali. It was all quite tasty and smelled amazing. From what I know of traditional South Indian cooking, it also was pretty authentic. From many Indian dining experiences in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where Indian is quite standard, I’d say this compares with what I’m used to in terms of deliciousness :)
I liked the interior, which felt both trendy and laid-​back at the same time. The location’s nice, right near the Peckham Rye station. Service was friendly and I was given extra hot peppers to accompany my meal at no extra cost.
The only drawback, for me, are the prices, which seem to be on the high side. Of course, since we aren’t in Kerala, we can’t get an entire, delicious, gigantic meal for under £5. We’re in London, so prices are higher. But this place would be more of a gem if it’s prices were a little more appealing.

I am a keen patron of South Indian restaurants, and I have to say this a is the closest I’ve come to finding the smells and the tastes of Kerala. This is down to the food range on offer and minutiae like the stainless steel plates and beakers.
The food was excellent and was definitely well researched. That said, I won’t be returning. The place is a little over stylised and expensive for the fare. £15 for a vegetable thali is extortionate and limiting the alcohol selection to the pricey Meantime range is a complete unknown. There’s an over-​confident air to the delivery here, despite the backpacker vibe. You have to worry about any Indian restaurant that starts shouting about its stellar wine list.
One half of my family are from Kerala, but I know they wouldn’t enjoy this restaurant. It fits with the somewhat trendy Peckhamites, but not for traditionalists (I was the only diner with any Indian heritage here; always a telling sign). Best in class? No. Best in vicinity, for sure.

We had a lovely feast of food inspired by Southern India at Ganapati on Easter Sunday evening. It has been a couple of years since I last had the pleasure of eating here and I’m pleased to be able to report that the standard of food and service are both still excellent.
We booked a week or so in advance of our visit as this is a very popular local restaurant and on our arrival at 9pm we were shown to one of the long sharing tables, which seat 8 people in comfort, at the front of the restaurant. There are a few smaller tables available if you don’t like sharing and there is a lovely outside terrace for when the weather is a little warmer in the evening or if you don’t mind wrapping up well.
The décor is simple but effective. Lots of light wood, very fetching light green walls, with the odd one in red, and a view into the bustling kitchen makes this a charming, chilled space in which to enjoy your supper.
We started with a few poppadoms with some of the excellent home-​made sauces and chutney while we tried to make our choice from the very appealing menu. Plenty of tasty options for vegetarians and some interesting fish dishes.
We started by sharing a portion of the tasty street snacks which went down very well, although I seem to remember having a larger selection of snacks on previous visits. B moved onto the Chennai Kozhi Curry which came with a very rich almost sticky sauce. She teamed this up with a portion of the curd rice which was pretty divine and was in danger of bringing on a bad case of the food envy. However, as I tucked into my crispy masala dosa which came on a metal serving tray with separate sections for its various, very flavoursome, condiments I decided I was more than happy with my selection.
We washed this down with plenty of tap water which came in a lovely metal jug for you to help yourself and was drunk from beautiful hand crafted «cups» made by a local potter (these were available to buy/​order via the restaurant). We also ordered a bottle of the Sibarita Selection Riesling 2010 from Chile which was a great wine; a big mouthful with lots of rich fruit but a very dry finish. We liked that bottle a lot and it was a great compliment to the food.
We shared some home-​made vanilla and cardamom ice cream to finish which was expertly made with a delicate flavour and a fine texture.
By now it was well gone 11pm and the restaurant was empty bar for ourselves but we didn’t feel in any way rushed to leave by the very friendly, laid back staff.
If you don’t live in the area Ganapati is a special little place which is well worth making a trip across town to visit.