Ten new Peckham openings worth your time

Peckham opens and closes restaurants faster than anywhere else in south London. Kudu shut its original Queens Road room. Fat Boys came off Level 6 at Peckham Levels. Meanwhile a dozen places arrived that nobody has written about yet.

We track new openings through the Food Standards Agency register, which every food business in England has to sign up to before it can trade. That makes it the most reliable early warning system there is: a place appears there weeks before it appears anywhere else. Here is what has landed most recently.

Moka Love, Old Kent Road

Newly registered and not yet inspected. A cafe doing coffee, breakfast, sandwiches and cakes on a stretch of Old Kent Road that has been badly served for years. Worth a look precisely because nobody has been yet.

Blue Nile, Meeting House Lane

East African, Ethiopian and Eritrean stews and vegetables on injera. Meeting House Lane is not a street anyone walks down by accident, which is usually a good sign.

Pizza Nerds, Bellenden Road

Bellenden already had 081 and now has this. Freshly baked pizza, eat in or take away, and enough confidence in the name to suggest they mean it.

Ba Ba, Peckham Rye

Not new exactly, but newly named. Banh Banh became Ba Ba in 2026, after the family grandmother. Same five siblings, same Saigon recipes, new sign.

Suboca, Nunhead Green

Nunhead Green quietly became a food street while everyone was looking at Rye Lane. This is the latest addition, awaiting its first inspection.

Ukkei, Rye Lane Market

A coffee roaster working out of a counter in Rye Lane Market. Five out of five on hygiene at its first inspection, which for a market unit is a statement.

Lai Rai, Rye Lane

Banh mi and Vietnamese coffee by day, small plates and cocktails by night. Already picked up by the Michelin guide, which for a room this size on Rye Lane is unusual.

Daydreamer, Market Peckham

The daytime cafe inside the Rye Lane workspace. Coffee, pastries, light food, and somewhere to sit that is not a chain.

Maiz, Peckham Rye

Corn-led Mexican food built around masa and tacos. The Peckham Levels trader came first, the Peckham Rye room followed.

Elm, Choumert Road

An independent restaurant and wine bar with a compact menu that changes with the season. Choumert Road continues its run.