Places: Cafe on the Common

From a distance, it looks like the changing room for Clapham Common's sweaty footballers, but a closer look reveals an intricate, glittery mosaic on the front and punters spilling out into the yard. Once inside the Cafe on the Common, you'll find candlelit tables, artwork all over the walls, friendly chatter and a range of delicious and inventive vegetarian food - from Thai red curry to mountainous vegeburgers - all for under a fiver. The vast all-day vege-breakfast (pounds 3.50) is highly recommended.

As popular with wide-eyed clubbers, sipping tea and cappuccinos, as with families, the former munitions store is being put to colourful use by the team who once ran Battersea's now-defunct cult cafe, Fungus Mungus. In winter, the cafe only opens weekday evenings for parties (pounds 12.50 per head, for 20 to 30 people, three courses, tea/coffee, corkage). Some meat is available for die-hard carnivores and vegan food is also on the menu. Bring your own booze.

Cafe on the Common, 2 Rookery Road, London SW4, 0171 498 0770.