11 Rushcroft Road, London SW2 1JS

We’ve been running this blog for less than a year and we’ve already covered almost 50 places where it’s worth eating out in Brixton. That’s 50 places just a short walk from where we live and I also work. There can’t be many places that offer such a rich diversity of food, most of it good and at reasonable prices. And that’s not counting the places we haven’t managed to get too yet. For example, we have yet to cover all the pubs that offer reasonable meals. (fn1)

But there is a drawback to all this richness. Sometimes it is simply difficult to keep up, which means that some places get missed out, even though they are excellent. So I was concerned when I read on the Urban 75 Brixton forum that Cafe Sitifis is “is struggling to stay open”. (see the thread here http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/cafe-sitifis-review-rushcroft-road-great-for-kids.269737/) I’ve already been a couple of times and it’s great but I never got round to writing a post. I have to admit that I’m not as good at writing up reviews as other members of the team. So I’ve just been again, just to check it still delivers, and I’m pleased to report that it’s as good as ever.

Cafe Sitifis is named after a town in Algeria which is where the owner comes from. So the food is North African. What it offers is straight-forward – a range of meze served with flat bread and a choice of cakes. And coffee or tea to drink. Within that there’s a wide choice of dishes but, because it’s such good value, I’ve always had the Chef’s Special, which is simply a bit of everything crammed onto a plate.

I actually lose count of what’s on the plate but it’s uniformly excellent. But this time I had the vegetarian version which included hummus, olives, couscous, tomato and cucumber salad, aubergine salad, marinated peppers, dolmades, tzatziki, lentil salad and so on. It comes with a dressing that’s just asking to be mopped up with the bread. This latest time I had the mint tea but I’ve also had the coffee, which are both great. This all costs £7.45 but there are cheaper dishes with, in effect, your choice of meze out of what’s on offer. The fresh cakes and middle-eastern pastries all look good as well.

So this is a strong recommendation if you want a light meal at lunchtime or maybe just a coffee and a pastry during the day. However, it’s not open in the evening. It’s got a welcoming atmosphere and, more practically, wifi.

fn1. The coverage excludes the Brixton branches of chains, which we don’t cover as a matter of policy, and a handful of other places that we know from bitter experience simply aren’t worth including. But please let us have your recommendations if you think there is somewhere else in Brixton we should cover.