Author: eatinbrixton

Effra Social

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address: 89 Effra Rd, London, Greater London SW2 1DF

telephone: 020 7737 6800

http://effrasocial.com/

After making a visit to their tasting night a few weeks ago we went again incognito to see what the place was really like.

Effra Social used to be the home of the local Conservative Club and was recently taken over and re-furbished (?) to provide a rambling retro-style building with an outside set of tables for drinkers, an internal “snug bar”, a large room with a stage and finally a restaurant at the back of the building. I met my companion at the restaurant and I saw every room while searching for him. The most daunting part was crossing the large room as there was a comedy night and there seemed to be a risk that anyone crossing to the restaurant would become part of the show.

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Effra Social – Tasting Night

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89 Effra Rd, London, Greater London SW2 1DF

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Effra Social is one of my favourite new haunts in Brixton. In an old working man’s social club just next to Hootanannys on Effra road this is another of Antics many bars in Brixton (Dogstar, Gremio de Brixton in St Matthews Church, and the new, unnamed bar behind TK Maxx). Very kindly a few weeks ago EatinBrixton was invited down for a tasting session, a chance to try everything on the menu and to give feedback on what you thought on the food, atmosphere and price. A baking hot day it was a shame we had to hide ourselves in the back room that serves as a restaurant, this is definitely a place to spend your Autumn/Winter evenings rather than in the summer.

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The Botanical – pop-up cocktails

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address: 65 Brixton Village Market, Coldharbour lane, London, SW9 8PS

telephone: 07919542233

emailt: Brixtoncornercopia@googlemail.com

http://brixtoncornercopia.co.uk

Botanicals is a pop-up cocktail bar in Brixton Village which is in one of the main parts of Cornercopia. Look for the large martini glass in lights. There is no booking for the bar but it is open just after the sun goes under the year arm so if you get there early you are allowed to use the tables outside and inside until diners arrive.

We visited on a Tuesday and it was empty, so a seat in the alleyway watching the Village fill up was perfect. The list of cocktails is not extensive -only 10 – but they are all definitely unusual. The ingredients have a bias towards the English fare served in the restaurant with Boxer Gin and Old Salt Rum and Chase Vodka (which according to their website is best in the world above Russian makes). Some of their bitters come from across the alleyway – Federation Coffee bitters.

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Cornercopia

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Cornercopiaaddress: 65 Brixton Village Market, Coldharbour lane, London, SW9 8PS

telephone: 07919542233

emailt: Brixtoncornercopia@googlemail

http://brixtoncornercopia.co.uk/

This was a small restaurant but it has grown and grown into the surrounding shops and now has more than 30 spaces. Also acting as a deli, Cornercopia uses locally sourced products not just including buying from the market but also foraged from local allotments. Even the honey comes from South London bees although we have no idea how they can be certain they haven’t made it across the river.

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Pangea

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Address: corner of Brixton Station Road and Pope‘s Road – along from the Recreation centre

www.pangeastreet.co.uk

Street_food-01If you had ever wondered what happens to people who appear on Masterchef then wonder no more….. they graduate to the now well established food destination of Brixton! Ollie (one of the brothers in the last series) and Hayden are serving food as part of the new food corner on Station Road. There are about 9 or 10 street vendors that add to the jerk chicken and falafel stalls which are an everyday occurrence outside the Brixton Recreation Centre. We are trying to review them all so will hopefully manage to get round them all by the end of the summer.

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Curry Paradise

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address: 87-89 Brixton Hill SW2 1AA
Tel no:  020 8678 1379

Curry Paradise has been discussed on local blogs for a while but, up to now, it’s one of the handful of restaurants without our review. It describes itself as a premium Indian takeaway but it also has an attached restaurant. The place is small and classy – linen tablecloths but paper napkins. The class is also in the choice of white plates which are indented so the inner square is slightly off centre – fine when sober but I imagine not so much after a couple of beers. But in good taste even the salt and pepper came in white slanting towers. The vase of flowers was a single green spray of chrysanthemums to finish the stylish decor. So how did we know it was an Indian restaurant? The entrance was shaped like a dome, there was a picture of Buddha on the wall together with a wall hanging and a sitar. No flock wallpaper, no dim interior – it was light and airy with interesting lamps hanging over each table.

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Fish Wings N Tings

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address: 96 Coldharbour Lane,

tel number: 020 7733 3401

Street_food-13Fish, Wings n Tings is in a corner of what is now known as Brixton Village. Given  the huge Carribean population in Brixton we were glad to visit a restaurant that might have home-grown food and make up for the loss of those wonderful greengrocers in Granville Arcade (aka Brixton Village) selling yams and stuff that might have been a vegetable or a pudding. There are three places to “eat in” comfortably in Brixton that serve Caribbean food – Bamboula (waiters have a lot to be desired), Verandah (great food and classy) and this place.  It is very small with an outside area which was a bit chilly given our current summer (rain with a hint of sun). Garden tables and chairs tightly are squeezed into the tiny space so the waiters have to shimmy around and each time we wondered if a plate would break free on a customer’s head.

On our visit we decided (as it was midweek) not to hit the cocktails but we saw some being made and thought they looked interesting. The menu is short and to the point – fish, chicken or goat. We had the jerk chicken and the goat curry with rice and peas. The jerk chicken was not as marinated as we hoped it would be (but more of that later when we do the full comparison). The goat was tender and spicy but also pretty dry and on overhearing my comment a jug of gravy was hurriedly provided. The rice and peas were pretty good too. However this is a short review because this is all we could manage as the rice and peas were pretty filling for a side.

We spent about £15 including a couple of beers and in terms of recommendations this is a hard one. We are really reviewing a meal and not the place. The waiters were helpful and the owner realising a problem put it right immediately….but caribbean food (except in Veranda) is homely and filling. If you are hungry then visit here – you will certainly not feel any further pangs for many hours afterwards.

Wing Tai Supermarket

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Wing_Tai0413 Electric Avenue

SW9 8JY

Tel:  020 7738 5898

This is the second in our reviews where we have set ourselves the task of buying all the ingredients (or at least the majority) for a meal from one local shop. We lay out the prices, what they have and hopefully promote buying from local shops in Brixton. This time the dish is Pad Thai and the place to go for all the ingredients is the Wing Tai supermarket in Electric Avenue. Pad Thai is one of those dishes where everyone has their favourite recipe – I’ve used the one on the BBC food website http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/padthai_67953 I’m not an expert but the end result is reasonably similar to the sort of thing I got at cheap local restaurants years ago when in Thailand.

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L’Express

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Express01Address: 15-17 Market Row,  London SW9 8LB

Telephone number: 07448831937 text for bookings

email: johanna.anselmo@gmail.com

for up-to-date menu –  https://en-gb.facebook.com/lExpresscafe

You have passed by the Express Cafe in Market Row during the day and you may even have popped in for a bacon sandwich, a mug of Nescafe or one of the cheapest espressos in Brixton. But each evening from Thursday to  Saturday and Sunday (9.00 – 4.00pm) this basic cafe metamorphoses into a French Vegetarian restaurant “L’Express”. The interior is from another era with 1950s cream decor and a bit of half timbering. The tables and chairs from the formica 1960s and, rather startlingly, there is a ceiling fan reminiscent of a Magritte painting as it is stuck up against a wall so cannot turn – presumably a leftover from an early renovation. Lighting is muted with table and standard lamps, flowers adorn each formica top and the pictures are eclectic. An old gramophone and a fruit machine provide further colour although we were not sure either worked. The music when we visited was rock and roll but it depends, we thought, on who brought the CDs or whether their live musician turns up.

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Bombay Kitchen

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Bombay_Kitchenaddress: 384 Coldharbour Lane SW9, SW9 8LF

telephone: 020 3417 7309 & 020 7733 2727

http://www.bombay-kitchen.co.uk/

We cannot now remember what this shop was before it was a restaurant. It is next door to the popular Asmara but is completely the opposite. Asmara is dark and Bombay Kitchen has all lights blazing with a glass frontage. This is not the traditional Indian in terms of décor  There is no flock wallpaper for one thing. It describes itself as contemporary and has a clean design with a small open bar and chairs and table that match – unlike many places in the heart of Brixton. There is piped music and it is Indian again unlike the musak that most of the flock wallpaper brigade provide for its clientèle.

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