Month: January 2022

La Nonna

~ eatinbrixton ~ Leave a comment

Address: 7 Market Row, Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8LB 

Telephone: 02035896645

Email: ciao@lanonnaldn.com

Website: https://lanonnaldn.com/

Delivery with ubereats and deliveroo

We have tried to get a table by just dropping by and didn’t have any luck so this time we booked online for lunch. Saturday lunchtime is not so busy and there were tables (inside and out) and counter service while we were around. This is a minimalist restaurant – a few photos on the walls and a bar along the wall. It is in the space that used to be Seven. It started in a market elsewhere and moved to Brixton in the summer. The website says that the pasta is made daily with Italian zero zero flour and all the sauces are made in- house and that fresh pasta goes better with butter based sauces and fillings (they say).

They have antipasti, pasta (all fresh of course) dolci (desserts) and even a kids meal section. We chose some foccacia and polpettine di melanzane con bagnacauda di peperoni (aubergine balls with pepper sauce). The foccacia was crispy and salty on the outside and came with olive oil and we wished we had had more to dip into. The aubergine was very good but mainly because the sauce was delicious – I want to know the recipe.

Then we ordered mains – ravioli a la zucca mantanova (pumpkin, leek and ricotta ravioli, with sage butter and 24 month parmesan) see above, and below is Cozze e N’duja tagliolini al nero di seppia (nduja, mussels, anchovy pepper sauce, breadcrumbs). The ravioli were really good and the sauce incredibly rich and delicious, but, not advertised on the menu, was a crumb of biscuit so it was incredibly sweet. The Parmesan was very sparse so I asked for more.

The black pasta with mussels was fantastic – salt might be added as the only salt is the anchovy in the sauce – but that is a little niggle.

We drank the house red and a blood orange San Pellegrino – water came from the tap. The food came to £32.75 and because i was not at all keen on the biscuit addition to the pasta, they offered a free dessert, but by that stage we were too full. We can’t remember what the drinks cost. We will be going back, but will choose wisely and check for potential sweet additions to the pasta mains.

A short bus ride – Rock Steady Rum Lounge

~ eatinbrixton ~ Leave a comment

Address: 128 Gipsy Hill, London, SE19 1PL

Telephone: 020 8670 4030

Open For Dine in: Wednesday – Saturday 5pm – 10pm

Deliveries: Tuesday – Saturday 5pm – 10pm, Sunday: 4pm – 9pm

​website: https://www.rocksteadyrumlounge.com/

This is a restaurant next to Bull and Finch where you can get a pre-prandial beer or cocktail – even a good supply of no/low alcohol beer. But the small restaurant on Gypsy Hill is definitely good for a visit. With friendly staff and reasonable food. They have a thriving delivery service, but not many people in the dining room (in fact only the four of us and a couple who came in later). We will tell you now that we didn’t have any rum and, as we live in Brixton, we know how filling festivals are (sweet fried dumplings), so in the interest of trying several dishes we steered clear. We did share a starter but we now cannot remember what it was – the menu online was no help.

So what did we try – Brown Down chicken stew, Jerk Chicken and the fish Escovitch…….with sides of plantain and rice and peas. Totally too much so our advice is to ditch the extras unless you are only having the mains.

We liked the jerk chicken with its crispy skin (warning – it is fiery), and the Escovitch was delightful. We were a little disappointed in the Brown Down Stew as the chicken was a little dry, but the sauce was lovely. Despite not needing the plantain, it was very soft, slightly spiced and was definitely good next to the spicy sauces. The rice and peas was also really tasty.

We also ordered desserts but shared them – lemon tart and a chocolately thing. You don’t need them and they are not inspiring so we suggest going to town on the mains.

We drank beer and homemade lemonade for the designated driver (although you can catch the No. 3 or the 322).