Author: eatinbrixton

London French Dip – Market Stall – No longer attends the market

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With absolutely no idea what a French Dip consisted of, but hearing plenty of buzz about it on Twitter we headed down to the Station Road Saturday market yesterday to find out for ourselves. The stall was about half way down the road; just by Hive Bar and had a couple of chairs dotted around the stall meaning you can enjoy your sandwich in the buzzy atmosphere of the market.

Apparently originating from restaurants in Los Angeles, a French Dip consists of a roast beef sandwich with the bread dipped in gravy or jus. Served alongside a gherkin this is pretty simple, but incredibly delicious. The beef was thinly cut, with just the right amount of fat and perfectly cooked – meaning there is no tug of war with the beef in your sandwich when you bite into it. The gherkin on the side was very appreciated, especially when I made the mistake of putting far too much mustard on my sandwich, causing my nose to feel like it might explode. Tip: less is more!  However I do think they may have creating a new French Dip enthusiast!

Another plus was that all the ingredients appear to be local with M Moens and Son in Clapham providing the beef and Kindred Bakery in Herne Hill providing the baguettes, which had a lovely shiny glaze to them. I was informed that the next one will be on the 19th May so would really recommend making a visit to the stall that weekend.

Congrats London French Dip we think you make a brilliant addition to the interesting and diverse foods available in Brixton!

Brick Box

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address: Brixton Village, Brixton SW9 8PS

telephone: 020 727-4221

email: hello@thebrickbox.co.uk

http://www.thebrickbox.co.uk/brixton.html

Brick Box, in the heart of Brixton Village, describes itself with some hyperbole as a place for art, love and magic. We were not totally convinced; however, it does serve food, so of course we had to review it. With the usual wooden tables and mismatched chairs, it squeezes in tables at angles in the small internal space and outside in the alleyway so it has much seating. It is extremely popular so at 6.45 on a Friday the outside tables were full and we were lucky to even get an inside table. This was in comparison to other restaurants which were relatively empty at that time. One explanation fir this might be the happy hour which starts at 5pm.

The venue says it provides for a number of events including screenings, live art (?) and theatre which will be a bit of a coup given the size of the place. Most events seem actually to happen in their Tooting site although the walls are covered with art.

This community arts group have partnered with Senzala in Brixton to provide the food- a  range of sweet and savoury crepes and galettes – and of course a fully licensed bar which seemed to be attracting the most custom. We ordered a Caprinha and a lemon daiquiri to get us into the spirit  and, sorry but they were both a bit of a disappointment. They were more like alcopops rather than cocktails so we wished we had chosen the wine.

The menu comes in two section – the savoury and the sweet crepes. There is some allergy advice on the menu and you can get a wheat, gluten, lactose and egg free gallette which is what we chose. We ordered the Senzala and the Caramelised goat. These were very similar – rocket and cheese (gorgonzola or goat’s cheese), caramelised red onions and mixed herbs with the addition of sun dried tomatoes in the Senzala. They were plump and the gallette was thin and crispy but stuck together enough to allow you to get all the bits into your mouth at the same time. We enjoyed them but we want to point out that if you highlight the caramelised red onions on the menu then they do need to be caramelised and not just a bit sweet and limp.

Service was fast for ordering and helpful  – pointing out that we should try the homemade chili sauce as we would never have noticed it in the sugar container. A little of it went a long way – but it does add spice to the cheesy mix. We were surprised at how much better the galettes were on this occasion from a previous visit when we had the Spaniard which was a bit limp with too little filling. We didn’t repeat the choice so we can’t verify a change in this one.

We didn’t have a sweet crepe but they looked more variable with mixtures of the following ingredients – bananas, nuts, Belgian chocolate (white, milk or dark), rum, coconut, nutella and maple syrup. We just went to Lab G for an ice cream – two pancakes in the same meal definitely seemed one too many.

Our bill was £21.00 for two including the drinks and they do provide tap water on the table. Wine is about £15.00 and cocktails around £6.00

We might go back next time for a cup of tea and a sweet pancake which would make a change from the cupcake offerings in most of the other tea shops in Brixton Village.

El Rancho de Lalo

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Address: 94-95 Brixton Village Market, SW9 8PS

Telephone:

email: elranchodelalo@hotmail.co.uk

http://www.facebook.com/pages/El-Rancho-De-Lalo/156815314336773

El Rancho de Lalo has been in Brixton Village for as long as we can remember and, despite the area’s recent renaissance in smart modern eateries, its simple approach to Colombian food still seems to be holding its own. Located on the Coldharbour Lane side of the Village, the restaurant’s exterior still manages to stand out with a tidy awning, dark wooden detail, and half a dozen tables outside. The interior is simply furnished with an open kitchen displaying hanging sausages and a couple of chefs hard at work. The service was friendly, came with a smile and, although not advertised on the menu, provided us with a couple of Corona beers served with lemon, and a surprisingly refreshing Kiwi juice.

The menu was short with similar looking dishes throughout. As with other South American Cuisines Colombian food is relatively simple mostly consisting of meat, rice, and beans. A couple of us ordered the Colombian National dish, the £10 Bandeja Paisa, which was more of a platter than a dish, consisting of a large Colombian Sausage, thinly cut steak, crispy pork belly, kidney beans in a dark sauce, a mound of rice topped with a fried egg, corn bread, avocado, salad and a slice of plantain. All in all it was pretty delicious. The sausage was beautifully spiced, the steak well cooked, the avocado perfectly ripe and the unlikely presence of an egg somehow seemed to work. The other member of our party went for the £10 pork that came with similar trimmings plus a potato and was, by all reports, pretty tasty. As is probably clear from the sheer quantity of components, the portions were huge, and could quite easily have been shared.

Dessert was super sweet figs, a semi solid serving of caramel and a white Colombian Cheese. The saltiness of the cheese worked well with the sweetness of the figs and the caramel bound the two together perfectly.

El Rancho de Lalo is a simple restaurant serving simple, well executed food. If you’re a big fan of meat, looking to fill yourself up, and not willing to spend more than a tenner when doing so, this is probably the place for you.

Opening Hours Mon – Wed: 09:00 – 19:00 Thurs: 09:00 – 22:00 Fri – Sat: 09:00 – 19:00

Seven

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address: 7 Market Row, SW9 8LB

telephone: 020 7998 3309

email: market@sevenatbrixton.com

http://sevenatbrixton.wordpress.com/

We have now visited Seven four times and feel it is time for a review as we have seen it busy, empty and when you can get a table but still feel it’s buzz. Seven is a Spanish style cocktail bar in the now, less fashionable, Market Row near to Franco Manca. It also serves food to soak up the alcohol. But they also have coffee and it is a welcome quiet haven on a Sunday when Brixton Village is heaving and you realise that you should have booked a seat.

Cheap cocktails include dirty martinis, non-orthodox cocktails (bramble comes in a teacup with a cupcake on the saucer) and old fashioneds (spirits, bitters and no sugary fruit additives) as well as Spanish beer. The bartender (who never seems to get a night off) spoke to us each time we visited and is helpful, as well as charming. He explained about all the types of drinks and had time to chat about the food – well on one occasion we were the only customers – but on others, even when we had to squeeze past other diners, we still got a little chat.

Decor is quirky. Downstairs we tried out a bench surrounded by heaters, another time we were relegated to a table made out of an old trunk – which if it hadn’t been quaint we would probably have tried to swap as it is hard balancing coffee on such a vaguely curved table with ridges. We also ventured upstairs which is a warren of small rooms each with its own ambience – wall paper with writing on it, low tables, dark romantic looking corners and high bar stools with an accompanying table – take your pick. It is definitely surreal, especially the large anglepoise. But tall people beware there will be a lot of ducking. It is also warmer upstairs when there is a February chill in the air.

Quirky is also a word to describe the luggage tag menus which are blessedly short. The suitcase references are a nod to the shop’s past. Food is tapas and the larger sized pinxtos (sounds like pinchos). These you pay for by the stick – £2 each and at the end they add up the sticks – exactly like you would in the some Catalan and Basque parts of Spain. They include anchovy, chilli and tomato, or chorizo and manchego as well as figs and other less usual combinations. There are some hot dishes too but we chose the meat plate to share with padron peppers on the side and a bottle of Rioja (after a cocktail). The Rioja was very good and there was certainly enough food to stop us feeling hungry for the rest of the night.

You can spend time here playing games and reading books which are arranged by colour not size or subject. They also have wifi. However, staying too long in the current cold months really requires a few layers of clothes as the whole bar is open to the market. Blankets and heaters help but on one occasion I kept my coat and scarf on.

Opening times are variable even though it seems to be open every day. We went on a Monday night when it was completely empty apart from two wifi addicts and left at 8.00 pm when the security man came and asked everyone to leave. We had to make a “Mission Impossible” run at the barrier which was half closed and shimmy underneath. I like this bar – it is one of the friendly ones and they do seem to have got their act together. Try it on a sunday when you might have a warming cocktail – usually only a fiver. The shared plate is aobut £7.00

The Duck Egg Cafe

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address: 424 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, London, SW9 8LF

telephone:

This small cafe on Coldharbour Lane is a favourite throughout the day for those wanting a fix of a Full English. We have had breakfast and lunch at the Duck Egg Cafe and so thought it was about time for a review.

For breakfast we arrived at about 10.30 and it was already pretty busy (there was even a queue for tables at one point). It is so small that sharing tables is almost essential and you are so close to the other diners that it is very hard not to eavesdrop. However I’ve noticed this is a theme throughout restaurants in Brixton so I say embrace it. The service was very friendly and the seating comfortable.

We ordered a bacon and egg sandwich (boring choice I must confess) and the Full English (obviously had to try this!). You get a choice between hen or duck eggs and of course we went for the duck eggs as it seemed silly not to. Service was quick, big plus as my stomach rumbles were getting louder and louder. The full English came with all the trimmings, sausage, bacon, mushrooms, toast, egg (poached) and baked beans. The egg was cooked to perfection with the yolk breaking to reveal the golden runny centre which all poached eggs should have. Sausages were also a plus point, not sure if they were local or not, but they were a stand out part of the meal.

Tea, coffees and juices are the drinks of choice with the juice coming fresh. Other breakfast options include eggs Benedict, which is most definitely on the list to try on our next visit.

Breakfast was £8 for the full english and a cup of tea, while the egg and bacon sandwich was about a fiver with a coffee. Great choice for a lazy weekend brunch.

For lunch again it was a sharing experience and crowded. We had the special soup of the day but we noticed that other plates were heaving with pasta and chips. Again not a cheap meal but it was hearty and filling.  You can also choose breakfast options throughout in the day  as well as the pasta options.

We will be returning when we are very hungry to make the most of it.

Veranda

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Address: 30 Acre Lane, London SW2

telephone: 020 7733 2335

email:  info@veranda-london.com

http://veranda-london.com/

Veranda describes itself as a restaurant, cocktail bar and art gallery – and they are right. The entrance is a small hall (so people can be stopped if they are not invited) and the first part of the long room is  the bar with small tables and some (but not much) comfortable seating. Most people cluster at the bar. At the back are the same small tables but now covered with white linen table cloths with white linen napkins. These tables are overlooked by the disc jockey who peers through an opening surrounded by a picture frame. In fact it took a couple of minutes to realise that this was not part of the art gallery on the surrounding walls.  The gallery on our visit contained paintings – some predictable – red shimmering vistas and African images – but some very interesting photographs of people and landscapes.

We usually talk about the food first but this is not in the rules and the cocktails are prolific and between 5 and 8 some are cheaper than usual (£4.50 vs £7.50)pm and luckily we arrived at 7.30. The cocktail list is actually a book. We didn’t count but there must be more than ten a page and down the margin there is a very helpful guide of how long the drink is using glass shapes. This alleviates the difficult task of trying to guess from the ingredients. We chose a rose and fresh lychee martini and a beer (hard to find at the back of the “book”). The martini was like a martini because of the shape of the glass and smelt very strongly of rose and tasted of lychee. It was also very pretty with a cherry at the bottom of the glass giving the cloudy liquid a rosy glow. I suspect it was very alcoholic (it also contains gin) – it is very difficult to tell in this alcopop. It was lovely but I doubt that I could drink too many because of the sweetness but there are lots more to choose from.

For the food we would have had several of the things on the menu as there was gourmet oxtail, jerk chicken, 3 fish curry, curry goat, and more and more. We chose a plate to share starting with ackee and saltfish parcels. There were three of them (we were warned) – small packets of fried filo pastry. We liked them but the ackee was a bit lacking but the taste of saltfish came through and it was an easy way of eating them. Our plate was the Veranda Supreme which had curry goat and ital curry both in a crispy pastry basket and jerk chicken and Escovitch fish. This all came with rice and peas, coleslaw and fried golden plantain. The fish was hot and spicy – particularly the lavish chilli. The jerk chicken was soft and the sauce was hot but not too fierce. Altogether a good tasting choice but next time I will go for the goat curry. It was complexly flavoured and not too hot so all the flavours came through. Rice and peas — well what can go wrong. The plantain was sweet and had been made sweeter by a syrup. We did share but we didn’t manage to finish the plate.

There were few desserts available – only one – apple and mango crumble. This was not like any crumble we have ever had. It was a hot and sweet sauce and covered with a biscuit crumb topping which arrived with a small portion of delicious ginger ice cream. But on the whole we wouldn’t order this again. The mango was completely lost and perhaps they should just stick to apple.

The night we were there we were waiting for a famous visitor – Sir John Holt – who didn’t arrive while we were there but despite the preparation needed for this from the waiters they were still charming to us. We ate from the a la carte menu but if you book in advance you can eat a mid-week feast cheap (14.50 for two courses or 17.50 for three courses). Our meal was £25.00 per person including the drinks (a cocktail and three beers). We didn’t book but t was not that busy before about 8.15 – after that time you would need to book.

KAFF

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address:64-68 Atlantic Rd, Brixton SW9 8PY

telephone: 020 7274 5373

email:  info@kaff-bar.co.uk

http://www.kaff-bar.co.uk

Open since September this little cafe/bar offers free wifi and is open across the day and at the weekend offers live music and djs until 2am. It has comfy sofas and small tables and during the day is laid back with laptop users and buggies. It gets fuller in the evenings and particularly the weekend. The service is friendly and helpful. The food is Caribbean but they have an arrangement with Ichi-ban Sushi which is jus down the road to extend their menu at the weekend. The Caribbean food is made by Julie – who cooks off site as there is no working kitchen as yet. This is still a work in progress.

During the week its coffee and cakes (mostly Jamaican) or beer, rum and Brixton brewed ginger beer (hot and cold) and Po-Boys (filled baguettes with salad) and a select Caribbean menu. They serve all the usuals – jamaica patties, jerk chicken, goat curry, rice and peas with cabbage or callaloo in cheap “mini meals”. But we chose a meat plate to share. This is probably something that would go down well with beer rather than our choice of an Americana and banana flavoured hot chocolate but it was after exercise and 4.00pm so not really alcohol time. The plate was easily enough to share and included three different small patties (meat, fish and veggie), barbecued wings, plantain and dumplings  – all served with chilli or sweet chili sauce. All, except the dumpling, were great. There was enough sauce on the wings and they slipped easily off the bone, the plantains was sweet and the patties interesting. But It takes a lot of sauce or liquid to make a dumpling to go down. I won’t be ordering a banana flavoured hot chocolate again either.

This is a cheap place for food – not overwhelming in size or cost. On Fridays they even have two pints for a fiver. It was about £6.50 per person for our meal and drinks. We liked the ambiance and will certainly return probably still for coffee and free wifi but also for the free cake club on Sunday – just take along your own cake to compete.

Brixton Village

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Brixton Village is the new food haven that was once a small market called Granville Arcade in the middle of Brixton. Gradually this market lost many of the shops and since the middle of last year it began growing with more and more pop-up restaurants. It is now a vibrant part of the local area attracting visitors on the way to the Ritzy or just out for the evening.

We decided to produce this introductory entry in order to help people plan a visit – although it is a place you can just wander into as it has something for everyone. The restaurants are a mixture of brand new and well established – mainly the South American ones. The new kids on the block are an eclectic mix of Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Italian, French, Caribbean, Pakistan, Middle Eastern, American, and British and we have already reviewed the majority in this blog. They are not only eclectic in their origin but also within their menus with most stretching across the country barriers.  They also specialise – so Italian food comes as pizzas (Agile Rabbit), pasta (Belantonis, Casa Sibilla) and ice cream (Lab G). They are all sizes too with some squeezing into impossibly small places where virtually everyone is eating outside and others which are more established stretching across the alleyways to other rooms to provide more inside eating space.

The Village grew exponentially last year during the late summer and early autumn when it was pleasant to sit out in the middle of the arcade but even with the cold days and nights is still attracting hungry visitors. Some restaurants now offer the odd heater and a blanket or too for those hardy enough or hungry enough to sit outside but the savvy diners now know that they need to book to get a table inside.

Brixton Village is not just restaurants there are cafes (WAG – wheat and gluten free), coffee shops (Federation Coffee) and tea shops as well as places that sell sweets, secondhand clothes (OK Vintage…) as well as delicatessens. There are also the remains of the original food stalls selling fish and meat. There are interesting greengrocers with displays of Caribbean fresh foods and African dried fish which I have rarely dared to buy and when I have were total disasters. There are also one or two stalls selling those household goods that we used to buy in Woolworths when it was in the High Street. These really add the colour with their displays of plastic bowls and flowers.

Brixton Village is still evolving and by the warmer months is likely to be much busier and may then be self-sustaining. This will depend on the rents which are going up for those who remain open in the evening. Below we have tried to give some seasonal information to provide readers with an idea of what to expect now that the village is so popular. We welcome any comments that can help smooth people’s visit to this vibrant culinary destination.

Vital information

We have tried to make this blog informative but it is very difficult to keep up with two aspects of the restaurants in Brixton Village – opening times and licenses to sell alcohol.

Alcohol – About half the restaurants have a  license and those that don’t are happy to provide glasses. If you arrive without any alcohol then your two best bets are (i) go to Sainsbury’s local near the tube station for wine or (ii) go to one the off licenses on Coldharbour Lane for beer –  either should only take ten minutes. Alternatively they all sell interesting mixed juices and soft drinks – although some of the ginger beers are anything but soft.

Opening times – As a general rule most restaurants are open during the evening later in the week – Thursday onwards. Nearly all are open for lunch from Wednesday to Sunday and a few open during the day on Monday and Tuesday but rarely in the evening. The websites are not that informative as things are moving swiftly so if you are making a long journey just to come here rather than any of the other great restaurants in Brixton then telephone beforehand.

Getting a seat – if you want to take pot luck and haven’t booked then choosing when to go is essential unless you are prepared to wait. There is a rush between 7.00pm and 8.15pm. We assume this is for those heading to the Ritzy. If you time your arrival before or after these times you will usually be in luck and get a seat really quickly. Don’t be put off by long queues such as at Honest Burger as they do turnover pretty quickly and most of the waiters will give you a pretty good idea of how long you will need to wait and often provide some seating. But if you are keen to try those restaurants that always seem to have a queue then just go for lunch at the time they open. If you want to try the best burger in London – and everyone should – then visit Honest Burger shortly after it opens (12.20) on Monday and it will be empty for at least 20 minutes after that. As a last resort some fo the restaurants also do takeaways of sandwiches and substantial wraps that you can take while you wander round.

What to wear – this is not the beginning of a fashion guide as this place is laid back and casual. But we want to remind people that it is cold outside and Brixton Village is like the outside despite the fact that it is under cover. The wind sweeps up the long corridors and most people keep their coats on when outside and if you intend to eat more comfortably then layers are essential.

O Cantinho de Portugal

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Address: 137 Stockwell Road SW9 9TN

telephone: 020 7924 0218
The largest Portuguese community in London is near Brixton so it is obvious that some of the best Portuguese and Madeiran food  would be right here – it is  – but not in the new pop-ups in Brixton Village. The best Portuguese food is found in a well established restaurant on Stockwell Road. It is also genuine – the main language is Portuguese, the TV is switched to Portuguese game shows and news channels (we assume there was no football that evening) and the tables in the restaurant are covered in clean white cloth with the ubiquitous wooden chairs with turned tops.

 You enter the restaurant through the bar which has finger food and salads. The ambience is friendly as well as formal enough to make it a special occasion. Our only complaint is that the mobile phone connections are not good enough to quickly search for the Portuguese words on the TV News. But we did in the end learn about the movement of parish boundaries currently being discussed in parliament!

The food is divided into the usual starters, mains and desserts with a long list of meat dishes (mainly pork), half a page of bacalau dishes and then other fish. We chose “porco Alentejana” – pork cubes, fried potatoes and clams with a sprinkling of chilli and pepper which was unusual, enormous and delicious – and “bacalau con natas” which is dried salted cod, potatoes and onions in a cream sauce which was also enormous and delicate with none of the over saltiness that usually comes with such dishes. We liked it although we could understan
We washed it all down with water and half a bottle of red wine – Casa de Santar which was very dry but grew on us. We finished off (despite our tight waists and in the spirit of curiosity) with two of their desserts that are on display just beneath one of the two TVs. We had “molotov” a caramel souffle  with a caramel sauce – again huge -which was an Italian meringue which had been lightly cooked. It was probably a mistake and certainly is not something I would choose again unless I hankered after burnt sugar. We also ordered “leite creme” which was a pleasant creme brulee.d if people complained about the undifferentiated flavour. Did we mention they were enormous portions? Even after we had stopped eating we easily had enough for another meal or two or three.

As we sat down we were presented with basket of bread and butter and a bowl of olives. We were charged for the bread (very Portuguese) but not the olives which was a good thing as we certainly would have complained. The olives were not at all interesting and, as we have said several times in this blog, there is a very good delicatessen in Brixton under the arches which sells very good and well flavoured olives.

Per person price is about “20 per person including the most expensive wine on the menu – so clearly a bargain.

Speedy Noodle – NOW CLOSED

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address:506 Brixton Rd,  Brixton, SW9 7AW

telephone number 020 7326 4888

We had thought we would not have to review Speedy Noodle as we thought it didn’t qualify under our no chains rule – but it isn’t one. This Chinese style restaurant has been in Brixton long before it was transformed into a foodie destination. But it is a restaurant and although we considered changing the rules to exclude it we tonight (Saturday) decided to make another visit. This is a restaurant which is easy to book (there isn’t any). If you want to go out to the Ritzy and then you don’t have to saunter in the cold or hang about in a queues  just go to Speedy Noodle and you can cut it very close and even see the trailers. It is also opens much later than most restaurants so you can have a starter and main before the film and dessert on the way home too.

It lives up to its name – we were in and out in 20 minutes. The longest time was spent in choosing from the long list of Chinese, Malaysian and Thai items. On another occasion we tried the Thai Green curry which is passable and cheap. This time it was Singapore Vermicelli and a Malaysian Chicken curry. The Singapore noodles looked good with appropriate ingredients but wasn’t as spicy as it could be – but it was a bargain. That was the best bit of our meal. The curry was ….well was.. It had few ingredients – chicken and onions  – but tasted less like  curry and more like chicken in gravy. Despite hunger half was left on the plate.

They have a license and sell beer and wine (by the glass and the bottle) but we washed all down with a pot of green tea. It was cheap – £10.20 for two.

There are nearly 100 items on the menu so we could go back and try more and I am tempted to discover what a fried ice ball is or test the spicy calamari . But I think those culinary delicacies can wait for another decade. If I want cheap and fast food we’ll go to Gyoza down Coldharbour Lane unless we are starving at midnight.