Full of charm, this smart-casual bistro boasts a varied menu of high-quality food, friendly staff and, er…a tree growing up through its main dining room. Ingenious!

The Venue
Scoffers resides in a prime location at the top of bijou Battersea rise, right next to Clapham Common. It’s attractive both inside and out, having the chic but informal air of bistro. There are a few dining rooms inside with uncoordinated design schemes but this doesn’t detract from its appeal. And, of course, there’s the centrepiece – an indoor tree which sprouts up from the floor of the restaurant, right up to the roof. This is a lovely touch and gives you the odd effect of being outside and inside at the same time.

The Atmosphere
Situated in a young, professional area, the restaurant’s crowd are naturally chatty and create a decent ambience. On Saturday nights it’s usually full, but you get the impression lunch here might be a more chilled affair. The staff are friendly, explaining the specials and able to answer questions about the food authoritatively – much better than the cursory ‘everything tastes nice’ fob-off you get from many a London waiter or waitress these days.

The Food
The menu changes monthly, but you can expect modern British food with international influences. For starters, chicken liver parfait £6.95 – a rural French style pate – comes with spiced apple and pear chutney on a toasted brioche is well executed, the chutney the perfect sweet accompaniment to the savoury coarseness of the pate.

Mains on the whole are also good; the Cumberland sausages (£9.50) are delicious, with succulent, quality meat and nicely seasoned. The char grilled seabass tastes fresh and is simply cooked, but is not that exciting for the price. It's accompanied by lemon sauteed summer vegetables with orange olive oil dressing which are crisp and satisfying, but again not a taste innovation.

The desserts here change regularly as well and generally belong in the comfort food bracket. Try the sticky toffee pudding (£4.50) for an indulgent treat – it has a homemade malty flavour that stops it tasting too sweet, and comes liberally topped with cream.

The Drink
All the wines are very reasonably priced and carafes are available, perfect if you’re on a budget. The Casa Silva, Cabernet Merlot (Chile) is pleasantly smooth for its price of £15.95 per bottle and £10.55 per carafe, and suits both the sausages and the seabass perfectly. Glasses start at £3.95 for the house wine.

The Last Word
Scoffers offers a friendly atmosphere and is a great place for an evening meal in this attractive part of South West London. The prices are by and large justified, though a few things slip the net. However, with such a reasonably priced wine list, you’re happy to pay the bill at the end. Add to all that the spectacular indoor tree, and you may have found somewhere you’ll want to visit again.

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