Everyone’s got a pub for this, and a pub for that. One that’s just for winter, ’cos it’s whiffy in summer. Another where you go for the pool table, not for any pleasantries. The gaff that’s good for cheap pints, but bad for locals in rollerblades. Great food doesn’t often come into this, but that isn’t the case at The Camberwell Arms.

The Camberwell Arms isn’t a sticky carpet and jägers type of boozer. It’s a sticky pork fat and scotch bonnet on toast type of pub. From the moment you walk in, you can smell the beer in the floorboards and the butter in the air. To us, this is a kind of pub Bat-Signal that says: help, we need you to eat and drink everything. And you should be ready to do just that.

The front bar area is where you come for pints and picky things. A bowl of crab soup (with side-toastie for dipping) is a top-notch lunch to have looking out the window, while attempting to avoid the temptation of a swift pint. Once you fail this test, you may as well stick around. Get some friends down. Sit. Stand. Do whatever. It’s a pub. Just don’t dismiss the artichokes with walnut mayo. Not only are they an absolute treat, they also go delightfully with a Guinness.

If you haven’t booked a table, you’ll reach a point here - when daytime turns to nighttime, or pint-time turns to dinner-time - when you realise the only place you want to be is at a table in the dining area, sharing a Fred Flinstone-ish pork chop, with a feck-off pile of chips. So book. You won’t regret it. Especially if the oxtail risotto is on the menu. It’s a plate of adult baby food so good that you’ll throw a tantrum if you don’t get more. So make sure you have table room for it, because one is definitely not enough.

Similarly, one person isn’t enough for some of the menu at The Camberwell Arms. Their stalwart beef and bone marrow pie, as well a few of their (incredible) roast options, are strictly sharing only. They’re very much worth it, but not everything on the menu always is. We’ve had some so-so gnocchi and an okay fish stew in the past, but these feel more like short straws. By and large, the food here is excellent.

Pubs with food this good often feel more like restaurants than anything else, but that isn’t the case with The Camberwell Arms. You may not get rat-arsed here, but you’ll certainly get tanked up on delicious food and drink at a reasonable price. And this is something that people will always want from a pub.