Author: eatinbrixton

Nanban

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Address: 426 Coldharbour Lane, London SW9 8LF

Telephone: 020 7346 0098

Website: http://www.nanban.co.uk/

Opening times:
Mon – Thurs 5pm-11pm, Fri 5pm-12am, Sat 12 noon-12 midnight, Sun 12 – 11pm

We visited Nanban a little time ago, but put off posting this review, in case it interfered with the recent voting for Brixton’s best restaurant. We have been before, of course, and the previous review is here, and we have been since. This is undoubtedly one of Brixton’s top places to eat, if not the best. We ate in the add-on part of the restaurant in a booth and it was quiet for a meal with friends we had not seen for many years.

There is now a longer menu with summer specials and an added glossary, so you can understand the naming of dishes. The four of us chose from different sections. One went for a selection of starters: edamame with black sesame salt, some crispy fried marinated jackfruit with a honey miso-mayo  and finally Nasu Dengaku, which was roasted aubergine topped with almonds and a sweet miso sauce. I chose the Lazy Goat Ramen, which had slow-cooked boneless goat leg, thick noodles in a rich Indo-Caribbean curry sauce, topped with seafood sawdust, fried shallots and a tea-pickled egg. I asked for no scotchbonnet pickled bamboo shoots as I know it is spicy-hot enough. The other two ordered  – the spicy sesame udon salad with crab (spicy sesame-lime dressing with cucumber, red cabbage, cherry
tomatoes, fresh mint and chilli oil – only 3 chilis) and the Yuzo-sesame salmon – both on what was then the summer specials menu.

The goat was, as usual, exactly as described -soft, full of layers of flavour and I really love the tea-pickled egg – cooling when sweat starts to break out. The photograph (below) shows a part eaten version.

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The crab and the salmon dishes were both well received, with the appropriate level of palette-tingling heat in the spicy noodles. At first glance the portions look on the small side but, in reality, there’s well enough to keep you satisfied.

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nanban24Warming edamame beans and jackfuit fritters were easy finger food. The aubergine though was a little harder to tackle with chopsticks. All were pronounced exactly right by the person in our midst who has an allergy to too much chili.nanban26

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The bill with service came to £94.61 and included fizzy water and four beers. We were full and contented but when we got home we had Brixton apple crumble for dessert.

The Winner – Best Restaurant in Brixton 2019

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Apologies to those of our readers who have been on tenterhooks waiting for the results of our annual poll. But finally, after a few weeks (maybe a month, but we went on holiday, so apologies), we can finally announce the winner of the coveted Best Restaurant in Brixton for 2019 goes to …

drumroll … Continue reading →

Best Restaurant in Brixton 2019 – Final Vote!

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After many weeks of voting in the long-list we can officially reveal our top three will be going through to the final round of voting:

Naughty Piglets

Nanban

Salon

Both Nanban and Salon are previous winners of the Best Restaurant n Brixton award – perhaps they can snare it for the second time this year!

This final vote will be open until Friday 11th October so get voting now!

Best Restaurant in Brixton 2019

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With the possibility of a potential autumn election up in the air, how about we distract you with our own vote…hopefully it’s a lot less divisive.

We’ve been running the Best Restaurant in Brixton award since 2015, with past winners including Nanban, Donostia Social Club (RIP), Mama Dough and Agile Rabbit.

Continue reading →

Salon

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Address: 18 Market Row, Brixton, London SW9 8LD

Website: http://salonbrixton.co.uk/

Phone: 020 7501 9152

Opening hours:
Tuesday – Friday 12:00 – 15:00 & 18:00 – 23:30
Saturday 10:00 – 15:00 & 18:00 – 23:30
Sunday 10:00 – 15:00

Salon is now a long-standing presence in Market Row and is one of the places in Brixton that takes food seriously. We have reviewed Salon before in its present incarnation here and here. But we like to catch-up, especially when this restaurant is a past winner of our @eatinbrixton public vote for Brixton’s favourite. It hasn’t changed much except that there are a few more seats and the tables don’t wobble.We had booked but the place wasn’t full for most of the time we were there. Continue reading →

Alpes

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Address: Pop Brixton 49 Brixton Station Road, SW8 8PQ

Website: https://alpes.london/

Phone: 07586746181

Described as a small Alpine bistro in a shipping container and it’s true. Perched above the entrance to Pop Brixton, this small restaurant (well it is a shipping container) has tables outside and inside. As it was a family meal for four of us, we decided on the inside, so we could converse about work, play and holidays. Bench seats and stools were pretty comfortable. Continue reading →

Pipoca

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address: 224 Brixton Rd, London SW9 6AH

Telephone No.: 020 7501 8539

https://www.facebook.com/pipocavegan

Open every day except Monday

This is a Vegan restaurant/cafe offering food and shopping. Bar stools and small tables are included in the cafe but you can (and we did) sit in the most charming section in the shop with our own private table in the window surrounded by jars and bottles. Those with long memories will recall that once upon a time here was Floridia Bakery. Continue reading →

Halo Burger – Pop Brixton

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49 Brixton Station Road, SW9 8PQ

https://www.haloburger.co.uk/

Opening hours:
Mon-Thurs: 12noon – 10pm
Friday – Saturday: 12noon – 11pm
Sunday: 12noon – 10pm

This is a burger joint unlike any other – no cows were involved in their production as they are vegan. It’s in Pop Brixton, on the ground floor and down the aisle on the left as you go in. It looks much like any other take-away food joint, with some stools to sit on if you want to eat in. Continue reading →

Max and Taff’s at Brockwell Blend

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Address: Brixton Blend, 19 Tulse Hill, Brixton, London SW2 2TH

Reservations: maxandtaffs@gmail.com

On Thursday and Friday (6.30 to 10.30 pm) but only until the end of July there’s this pop-up at Brixton blend. It describes itself as South London’s premier Vegan, Asian Fusian, Pasta Makers. Really hard to live up to but THEY DO. Interesting food, not expensive and great wine. Oops not much to write about now … but I’ll try. .

The menu is short, organised and requires little regret, as everyone can choose something. There are two starters – crunchy red cabbage slaw (with sesame and other seeds) and smacked cucumber (with chilli and other bits) – we chose both. They were definitely crunchy and the smacked cucumber is spicy but not blowing your head off hot. They woke up our sleepy tastebuds.

Then there are two two types of pasta as mains. The first is Cavatelli (small pasta shells from eggless semolina dough) with two toppings: sweet tomato, Chinese cabbage and sichuan pepper or squash, miso and pumpkin seeds. The second pasta is hand pulled noodles with either kale, spring onion and chilli oil or, the less daring, aubergine, cherry tomato and basil.

Max, the chef, makes everything fresh, so the dishes come one by one. So you get to share. The first to arrive was the pulled noodle with aubergine followed by the cavatelli with tomato, cabbage and pepper. In this restaurant pasta is definitely al dente. But the aubergine was comforting and the cavatelli with pepper gave a punch, but not as big a one as the chilli oil on the table.

We finished it all off with a chocolate truffle each –  orange and chilli (there is a theme). Both were the size of rocks.

The wine list has two whites and one red – we had the red, Pinot Nero – the most expensive at £32.50 a bottle. The bill came to 52.50 including the wine and without a tip so you can see the teetotaller would get a bargain. Go now before they close down for the summer.

Maremma

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36 Brixton Water Lane, London, SW2 1PE

Tel no: 020 3186 4011

email: info@maremmarestaurant.com

Internet: https://www.maremmarestaurant.com/

This is a new joint in town, near to Naughty Piglets and Hottananny in an area that seems to have had a peppered history of restaurants opening and closing. But this one seemed to be booming after just a couple of weeks of a soft launch. By booming we need to stress – book in advance. We went at lunchtime on Saturday and were lucky to find a perch. Maremma is on a corner, where the Montego Inn used to be, so has lots of light, but of course, there is only so much room for a bar and tables. They have squeezed in additional seating with bar style counter seats that are fine, as long as there are only two in the party. Downstairs offers more traditional style dining with tables and chairs. Bare tables and tops but linen napkins, so you know this place will be expensive.

The name Maremma is chosen after an unspoilt region of Tuscany and the restaurant offers regional and seasonal specialties, including fresh pasta.  There are starters (vegetarian and meat options), primi (mainly pasta) and secundi (larger plates). We chose a starter and primi and were so stuffed we couldn’t even consider the desserts. Our starters were octopus and fava puree and beef battuta (like beef tartar). The octopus was nice and charred mostly, although the fat end was a little chewy, and the beef needed a little salt which came in a small pot.

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Next we had the squid risotto and a regional specialty of a chickpea pancake with three different kinds of artichoke. The risotto was brilliant – with plenty of seafood and the addition of the lemon zest a particular joy. The chickpea pancake was “interesting” and most was eaten. The garlic chips were really tasty but the artichoke hearts came with some very hard leaves making it impossible to cut and most was left on the side (a complaint to the waitress produced no response from the kitchen, but it is early days). We added a bread selection – the foccacia was very good and a side dish of spinach.

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Water came straight away and there was a choice of still or sparkling.We washed everything down with a carafe of Tuscan wine (375ml or half a bottle). There was a good choice at very reasonable cost. Our bill for two people came to £86.08 including service. They helpfully divide the bill to show what each guest should pay on the bill, which prevents the rush to the phone calculator. It was expensive for lunch but we would return for dinner. The food was good but we are not raving about it until we have tasted more.