We’ve posted about A&C Continental Delicatessen; The Moroccan Cafe; L S Mash & Sons; and Cinco Quinas and they remain among our favourite places in Brixton. We are so lucky to have food shops and places to eat in Brixton that offer such good value and high quality. But unfortunately, as many readers will already know, their future is under threat. Their landlord, Network Rail, is giving all of them notice to quit, along with all the other businesses in the triangle between Atlantic Road, Brixton Station Road and Popes Road. Similar action is being taken against shops under the railway arches in Herne Hill. The stated reason is that they want to renovate the arches under the railway line but the real objective is to make more money by upping the rents.

A storm of protest has ensued, unsurprisingly. Vague suggestions have been made that businesses will be allowed to return when the work is complete but it must be open to question how many will survive, given the interruption to their trade and the certainty that rents will be significantly higher. Without doubt it would be good to improve the entrance to Brixton Station but much more would be tragically lost, especially those businesses that make Brixton special. See this and other posts on Brixton Blog for more details

Network Rail do have a responsibility to use its resources efficiently. But it also has a legal responsibility to protect the environment in which it operates. Article No. 37 in its Articles of Association sets out the Objects it is expected to follow. It starts out with all the stuff you might expect about running a railway but it includes, some way down, the following section:

“37.1.28 To have regard to the protection of buildings and other objects of historic,architectural or other significance when formulating and implementing proposals and more generally to participate in, manage and co-operate in projects or works designed to restore, preserve, improve or protect the environment.”

It’s that time of year again when romance is thrust upon the British public, so to make it easier for our readers we have put together another short guide to how to survive Valentine’s day in Brixton.

Our ideas are set out below, with links to our full reviews if you want more details. In terms of special deals we couldn’t really track many down (but do let us know if we missed any!).

Satay Bar have their own special menu, including a Lotus sharing platter to start and specials such as slow cooked lamb cutlets in a sweet soya and chilli sauce and pan fried salmon curry. In addition, the slightly alarmingly named ‘Happy Endings’ dessert menu is also new, with a Valentine’s chocolate box and pink champagne sorbet. This place tends to be quite lively, particularly on a Saturday night, so isn’t ideal if you are looking for an intimate, quiet night.

The Lido Café are also offering up a special set menu. We actually gave this place a big shout out on Valentine’s guide last year. In the crassest way possible … this place is SO pretty. Alongside a Rhubarb Fizz, some of the choices include a scotch egg and oysters to start, with trout and guinea fowl for main. To finish there is a Valentine’s sundae for two and a chocolate mousse. The set menu will set you back around £45 for three courses and a coffee. This is a bit pricey but as more people seem to throw all the money they can at Valentine’s these days, I’m sure this won’t be a problem for some.

Seven have hinted at some special hundreds and thousands themed cocktails so definitely head there for a nightcap or as a beginning to the evening. It’s filled with candles, so that’s got to be romantic right?

Other venues we’d suggest for something a bit special include:

Salon – much like Seven as it’s intimate and filled with candles, plus the food is wicked

Casa Sibilla – mainly for their Prosecco and Italian tapas, perfect to share.

Effra Social – they’ve got an amazing hidden dining room in the back and have also got a sharing menu (get the duck for two!)

As it’s not all about the food, in terms of drinking venues we would suggest the aforementioned Seven, the new Brixton addition Shrub and Shutter down Coldharbour lane and The Wine Parlour on Atlantic Road.

If you don’t fancy any of this I suggest heading to Effra Tavern or Trinity Arms for the evening (or whole day) and grabbing a pint of Red Stripe and a packet of pork scratchings, because it’s just another day, and a Saturday at that. Just make sure to finish off the day with a takeaway from Refill.

Big love to you all x

Attempting to provide more round-up entries in response to requests by friends and followers means we are being a bit slower than usual in the rate of posts. There is, after all, some sort of limit to the times we can eat out. And this one also took a little time because although we are prepared to eat almost anything in serving our readers, the weight we added over the Christmas celebrations has meant some dietary restrictions. This particular topic has doubtless increased our cholesterol level.

Breakfast to us is the first meal of the day – luckily Wikipedia agrees. This, of course, means it can be taken at any time and, although we are not late risers during the week, we certainly are at weekends. However, all the breakfasts described in this post were eaten before noon. This is really just the first installment in covering a substantial topic that illustrates the variety of what’s on offer. In particular, there will be more to come on that topic of regular debate; where to get the full English variety. Continue reading →

Eatinbrixton’s intrepid explorers went out for a night (well actually more than one) in search of Brixton’s perfect cocktail. Our recall is helped by the pictures, although our joint memory is hazy on a few establishments that came later in the evening just prior to going home and pouring ourselves into the sofa. We have already reviewed most of the places we went to for their food (see links), although in some cases it’s surprising to see how long ago this was.

Altogether we visited the following –

1. Shrub and Shutter: (see our full review here) (http://www.theshrubandshutter.com/)

2. Tea and alcohol (@tea_and_alcohol  #drunkontea)

3. Rosie’s (see our full review here) (http://www.rosiesdelicafe.com/deli/deli/deli.html) 

4. Three eight four (http://www.threeeightfour.com/)

5. Kaff (see our full review here) (http://www.kaff-bar.co.uk/) 

6. Satay Gallery (see our full review here) (http://www.sataybar.co.uk/)

Continue reading →

This is the first in our brand new series of blogs on how to eat in Brixton and also cater to any special dietary requirements you may have. First up we are tackling a diet that has plagued one of us for many many years – how to eat gluten free.

With gluten free diets now being synonymous with celebrities, for our youngest writer her childhood was full of the struggle to steer clear from the dreaded wheat. Although home cooking meant meringue birthday cakes and rice krispie treat eggs for Easter (mum was a proper hero) when it came to eating out, gluten free never appeared as an option on menus. However this has drastically changed in the past few years with it being given the same status as vegetarian and vegan in some restaurants.

In Brixton of course there is the obvious Vozars which provides a fantastic set of dishes which are all gluten free so you don’t have to study the menu too carefully. But there are several other restaurants that provide low gluten meals without really advertising them, so we have made a short list and would be happy to add to it through suggestions from our readers. We have mentioned those dishes that are definitely low gluten or no gluten but there are always pitfalls, so we cannot guarantee no wheat. We also mention if they sell gluten free alcohol – this is beer as, of course, wine is fine!

1 Vozars – has a wide range of gluten free offerings from a Venison burger to Risotto cake. They also have desserts, like the best Victoria sponges I have ever eaten! They are light and smooth but not too sweet. The also offer gluten free beer too.

2. Ichi-ban Sushi – being a Japanese restaurant there is always a problem with soya sauce, however you can avoid this or ask if they have a low gluten option. This is one of our favourite restaurants which is now open on more days since Ichi-ban boy has taken over from his Dad. We particularly like the Donburi dishes and their homemade Teriyaki sauce as well of course as all the sushi.

3. Mama Lan – is Chinese so has the same soya sauce problem and there is an overall shorter series of dishes on offer to those who are gluten intolerant. We would recommend the spicy chicken wings and the ribbon tofu.

4. Honest Burger – now do a gluten free burger bun which you just ask for when ordering your burger (there is a slight price difference). It’s definitely one of the best gf burger buns we’ve ever had, and it doesn’t fall apart in your hands (horray!). We aren’t certain whether the chips are covered in flour – so please ask about that.

5. Wahaca – have a policy of telling you what to avoid if you have a high gluten intolerance level. This is completely different from providing a limited choice and we hope that others will follow this policy. They tell you to avoid the guacamole and the sweet potatoes (I think they coat them with flour when they fry them) but there are loads of things left to choose from. So try the steak and the corn tacos.

6. May Foods – It is easy to eat gluten free here as the main starch is cassava or yam. So be brave and try the Banku, the Kenkey (fermented corn dough) and the Jollof rice

Do let us know if we have missed any!