Author: eatinbrixton

French & Grace

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address: Unit 19, First Avenue, Brixton Village

telephone

email:ellie@saladclub.co.uk or rosie@saladclub.co.uk

http://www.frenchandgrace.co.uk

French and Grace is a duo who used to run a supper club and now run a small restaurant in Brixton Village serving wraps. And when we say small we mean small – there are only three tables inside which have the maximum number of seats with many stools, so you feel a bit like a sardine. There are tables outside in the arcade but even during the day these are only for the hardy in the cold months. The smallness doesn’t make this restaurant cosy. When we visited  on a Friday lunchtime it was full inside and we sat in a corner table squeezing in beside the coats. Water arrived very quickly but after we had given our order it was very difficult to attract anyone’s attention – even to get a napkin – this is despite the cramped nature of the place where you can almost touch all walls at the same time.

The cuisine has a middle eastern feel to it. Mezze of hummus (their spelling) made of butter beans and rosemary, baba ghanoush (an aubergine pate)  salted labneh (a kind of cheese) and tabbouleh. There are also wraps including “uber wraps” of flatbread lamb merguez and chargrilled halloumi and these were clearly popular as several people came for takeaways in the short time we were there.  There were also “specials” and on the day we visited it was lamb meatballs in a spicy pumpkin soup. So we ordered the small mezze and the lamb meatballs.

The soupy meatballs was not really soupy at all – it was more like a thick slightly sweet sauce. It was also piping hot – so hot I decided to pour some of my water into it which made it much more pleaasant  in temperature and much more like a soup. It allowed me to taste the meatballs which were a good consistency but perhaps in the hot soup lost a little of their flavour. The mezze was pleasant but tabbouleh in the middle east is usually very green whereas this was beige so it really did need more parsley and mint. Neither the hummus or salted labneh were interesting enough but the baba ghanoush was as good as we have eaten in Damascus.

They do not have a licence yet so they charge £1 for corkage per person. But they do have soft drinks, tea and complimentary cold water. The service on a slow lunchtime was inattentive – in fact we were astonished how hard it was to attract attention. But we have watched the restaurant on a Saturday night and we have seen better attention than we received. Price per person is about £8 per person which is reasonable.

Lounge

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address: 56-58 Atlantic Road, Brixton,SW9 8PZ

telephone:  020 7733 5299

http://www.loungebrixton.com/

Lounge is one of those places that isn’t clear what it is – is it a bar, a cafe or a restaurant. Well it is all three. Orange walls and art with small tables and asorted chairs so the decor is as confused as its mission. The art changes regularly and the pictures on the website are more attractive than those currently on display. Oil paintings of faces that look like they are made of carpet …… well we didn’t like it.  But back to its mission – even though it is confused this adds to the charm as you can drink a cocktail, eat scrambled egg (before 5.30pm) or a hamburger later in the evening.

We chose Lounge as a quick eat before the Ritzy. We ordered a beer and a lounge martini. This was nothing like a martini except in the shape of the glass. The recipe includes: grand marnier, bourbon and fresh lime – promising but much too sweet. We ordered a jerk chicken burger and slow cooked lamb – both passable and reasonably quick but we were a bit twitchy about missing the trailers.

Prices ….. cocktails about £6.50, main courses £6 to £9 so a meal with a drink can cost about £15 per person.

Bellantoni’s

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address: Unit 81, Brixton Village Market, SW9

telephone: 078 7294 5675

For information see http://www.bellantonis.co.uk/Welcome.html

After a Christmas break the chef proprietor Dario Bellantoni has returned.  Easy to detect how the name of this Italian restaurant came about. But it is difficult to understand where some of the additional comments below their name come from but more in a minute. It is spread across two sides of an alleyway in Brixton Village with one side an open kitchen and a few tables and on the other a small dining room – in between the windswept alleyway with tables which is where we ended up – only daring to remove our gloves to eat.

Choosing is easy – the menu is blessedly short with seasonal dishes – antipasta, homemade vegetarian pasta dishes (I mean everything including the pasta) and some more substantial fish dishes and stews. We ordered antipasta between the three of us and as it is meant for two sharing we raced for our favourites but luckily there was enough for everyone to try all the separate pieces …. dried tomato, rocket, chorizo, olives which look the colour of pecans and mozarella and burrata. Burrata is made from mozarella and cream and is a smooth texture and was served at the right temperature so it was creamy or, as Dario told u,s buttery from the Italian “burrata” . It goes well with the bread and oil that comes with the whole antipasta dish.

For mains we chose the lasagne with ricotta and spinach, spicy tomato and chorizo stew and monkfish in a saffron sauce. The lasagne was definitely enough but for a balanced meal I should have chosen a salad as well. The chorizo stew was stupendous – soft and slightly spicy with the tomatoes not too acidic. The only weak point was the monkfish, with a remarkably small portion of fish for what was described on the menu as a main course, hardly any vegetables and very little sauce that simply didn’t have enough flavour anyway.

The choice of desserts is even more limited and we ended the meal with two tarts (one apple and cinnamon, one banana) although they were in fact pieces of pie rather than a tart. Both came accompanied by a dollop of mascarpone. The banana was our  favourite.

We drank a bottle of the red Sardinian wine that was on the specials list. It was fruity and not to heavy and kept us warm until the main courses arrived. There were cheaper bottles and glasses on the menu – all as we remember Italian.

The price for the whole of our meal was about £25.00 per person but we did have more wine and the expensive main dishes. As a sideline this restaurant offers cooking classes for anyone who has now run out of ideas fop birthday surprises. Our own piece of advice (apart from do try this restaurant) is to book early and get a seat inside during the winter months.

Agile Rabbit

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Address: Unit 24, Brixton Village Market, Coldharbour Lane SW9 8PR

telephone: 020 3940 2700

email: info.theagilerabbit@gmail.com

The Lapin Agile is a famous cabaret in Monmartre, Paris and was a favourite spot for poor but up and coming artists like Picasso and Modigliani. Now it has set up home as the Agile Rabbit in Brixton Village, together with its own nightly cabaret for the poor artists of Brixton. It is a small pizza house in Brixton Village sited near a couple of good fishmongers, so the smell pervades but only while you are waiting with a beer. As soon as the food arrives or the music starts you are in Naples (except for the cold). That is something they have thought about at Agile Rabbit. There is a heater and blankets for those who, on a Saturday night and indoors, can’t bear to remove their scarf let alone their jacket to eat their meal. It is small with tables and benches inside and as with all the Brixton Village eateries one’s spilling out into the alleyway outside.

Menus are limited to what they do best – pizza and calzone. Pizzas come large, very thin and crispy and with a choice of toppings including the usual – pepperoni, anchovies, olives and capers. The extras are very cheap (40 or 60 p each) so that you are tempted to add more and more. Calzone are more varied with several items in one lovely italian cornish pasty. The main difference between the pizza and calzone is not just the price and the fact you can’t see the toppings – the main difference is that the calzone comes with a plate and a knife and fork whereas the  pizza is pre-cut and on a piece of grease proof paper. We got the a mixed vegetable one which was good but they need to learn that the temperature inside a calzone is not as hot as for a pizza so the vegetables need to be cut up smaller – the couple of halved button mushrooms I found were edible but only after I had worked out what they were. We also had a pizza which was delightful. For dessert we had a piece of their famous tart between the two of us. This tart has won prizes and we could see why. It was a sort of buttery, nutty frangipan with pecans – but neither of us can remember what it was called… However there’s a big sign advertising it so we don’t think you’ll forget to order it.

Drinks are soft (fresh juice or the usual fizzy drinks), warm (good coffee) or alcoholic (beer, wine and cider as well as rum). It was a very cold Saturday night so we had beer which was equally cold but we thought after a while we wouldn’t care. Service is swift, friendly and accommodating and the music – yes live music – was not so loud we couldn’t speak and wasn’t too much like the jazz I dislike. It appears that music is on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The turnover is relatively high with people moving on and food served quickly so it is relatively easy to get a seat even on a Saturday night. This is also not an expensive meal about £12.00 per person including a drink. The calzone were a definite bargain at only £4.00-5.00 each. We can’t vouch for the wine but plenty of people were drinking it.  That together with good food and a congenial atmosphere means we will return.

Bamboula

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BamboulaAddress: 12 Acre Lane SW2 5SG

Telephone number: (020) 7737 6633

http://www.bamboulas.net/

You would have thought that Brixton was full of Caribbean restaurants but it isn’t and they only really began appearing as real restaurants rather than jerk chicken take-aways about ten years ago and only relatively recently have they been well used and not on a knife-edge of bankruptcy. Bamboula is someone’s Caribbean dream with its green and yellow bamboo and grass hut decor. Unfortunately it was raining and not the warm shower but the relentless stuff that wets all the way through. However, the restaurant made up for that by being cheerful and with welcoming staff. It was a Friday evening and reasonably full – not difficult as it is small with about 8 tables and a bar. The clientel were couples and groups of young women with  high proportion of people from the Caribean which gave us the confidence that this was the real thing. The menu was short enough to be interesting but not overwhelming and it has an unusual list of soft and mixed, mostly rum based, drinks that the Friday nighters were quaffing.

There is the usual Caribean fare of jerk chicken and ackee and saltfish. We chose goat curry and chicken but there are vegetarian options too. The curry was tasty and was accompanied by callaloo rice (like spinach) but the chicken was a bit dry. The portions were large, so large we could only manage a main course. Not particularly expensive – about £12 for a main course and a soft drink (soursop juice). So if you are intending to go to the Ritzy stop in for a quick and filling meal. If you are around for lunch they offer an all you can eat  – I don’t know if that would not be much of a bargain as only a little goes a long way!

This is a quick addition to the review – we do not want to change any of our views on the food in this restaurant but on our last visit we saw a change in the service so thought it should be noted. We visited just before Christmas with a group of six people early in the evening before going to the theatre for the festive outing. We wanted something quick before hopping on the tube. The food was fine and we got to try more chicken and lamb options but the service was definitely not with a smile. Given the time of year we would have hoped for some facial expression and all we got was surly which was enough to put you off your meal. Restaurants are a service industry and they rely on   return custom. Good service doesn’t overcome bad food but if there are two restaurants which are equally good then service may make all the difference. We want you to thrive so please make sure that this improves.

Boqueria

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address: 192 Acre Lane, Brixton, London, SW2 5UL

telephone: 020  7733 4408

info@boqeriatapas.com

A new restaurant on Acre Lane this is the last in a trio of eating places just past Lidl that we would definitely recommend. The restaurant consists of a bar which can be seen from the street and a restaurant area at the back which spans two shopfronts. The decor is minimalist and we really mean minimalist. This is not like the pop-ups in Brixton Village with their borrowed furniture. This restaurant has modern wooden tables for two people, pale wooden floors and few pictures.

Boqeria opened just before Christmas so we went for a family outing for six and this was only a couple of days past the opening. We usually give restaurants a little time to settle down first but in their case the food was good and we thought we should alert people to the opportunity as it is easy to miss among the empty shops in that stretch of the road.

As this was part of our Christmas celebrations we started with cocktails – not our best decision. The martini was mostly vermouth, the special mojito had too much sugar in it and the other drinks were even less like what we expected. However, the beer and the wine are fine – we had a reasonably priced Rioja.

As we cook a lot of Spanish food and visit Spain regularly – particularly Andalusia which is the home of the tapas, we feel we know a lot about the cuisine. The food at this restaurant compared well. You choose from a menu of tapas, specials (on the board), rice dishes, like paella and arroz negro, and salads. As there were six of us we chose two dishes each and a few extras so had lots to try. The croquetas were a hit although we preferred the ones with ham rather than cheese, but the patatas bravas needed a little extra spice. The Fabada (beans and bacon), tortilla and calamare were also very delicious. We were delighted to see the inclusion of Iberico ham, a family favourite and hard to come by in South London. Unusually for any tapas restaurant we were not provided with bread as part of the meal, particularly with the ham. Pudding was complimentary with traditional Spanish sweets such as turron, a most enjoyable touch.  Overall we would rate this restaurant highly for the food but here is the but ……

Tapas can be a slow meal – its really a discussion interspersed with food and that’s what makes it enjoyable. If there are only two of you in the party then having the food come two dishes at a time is fine. If there are six of you then the two dishes are emptied almost immediately and everyone is still famished and getting drunker. So our advice for the restaurant is to consider the size of the party and provide the dishes a few more at a time so. If this had happened then we would have probably ordered a few more but no-one was in the mood given the time each one took to appear and we did wait some time for an interesting pork belly dish that came alone about 20 minutes after all the other food had disappeared. An explanation of each dish would also have been helpful so we didn’t have to guess.

Meal came to about £25 a head, but we were over indulging in the lead up to Christmas so that may have upped the price.

The service was not as attentive as it should have been, however the staff were extremely friendly when they appeared. But we know they will improve and we still think it is well worth the effort of walking a little further from Brixton to  experience this Spanish home cooking and I am looking forward to our next visit with my fingers crossed that they would have ironed out the kinks by then. Another culinary delight added to Brixton

YUM-D

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YUM-D

14d Market Row

Brixton

SW9

YUM-D calls itself a Thai deli and cafe and, for my money, is now serving the best Thai food in Brixton. Positioned next to Rosie’s cafe in Market Row it’s in the space that was briefly Good Bench Coffee House. It’s an intimate space but it looks and feels authentic, with the emphasis on the food and the flavours. It also sells a few Thai foodstuffs including some spicy prawn crackers and, rather randomly, t-shirts and hats that I presume come from Thailand. I feel that this review should have been done a few visits back but as Kaosarn is lauded as the best Thai in South London we felt that a few visits could only justify the fact that we believe YUM-D is both more interesting and enjoyable than the former.

On my first visit I had the special, Soo-Ki-Ya-Ki, which is glass noodles with vegetables in a spicy sauce with a choice of chicken, beef, prawns and tofu. The spicy sauce is really a soup and is apparently made from chilli sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, minced garlic, a few hot chilli, lime juice and chopped fresh coriander. There was even more chilli if required but it was hot and tasty enough for me without. I chose the prawn version and was rewarded by a good portion. I returned a couple a days letter and checked out the pad Thai just to make sure the place was as good as my first impressions had suggested and the answer was, yes, it was. We also tried the chicken satay and the green Thai curry with coconut rice. The curry was creamy, spicy and tangy, everything a Thai curry should be. After spending some time in Thailand myself I am always trying to find the same quality of green curries thatI enjoyed during my visit and I think I may have struck gold. It is also excellent value for money, particularly given the quality of the food and the good size of the portions.

The menu includes all the Thai standards as well as starters and the interesting additions of Thai salads. The staff are friendly and the atmosphere is cosy. Meal came to about £20 for two of us with one starter, two mains and tea, great value considering the quality of the food. Tables were available at lunch time, not sure about the evenings but please head down here if the queues at Kaosarn are ridiculously long and you want a traditional and delicious Thai meal.

Hive bar and restaurant – NOW CLOSED

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This place is now closed

address: 11-13 Brixton Station Road, London, SW9 8PA

telephone:  020 7274 8383

email gm@hivebar.net

website    http://www.hivebar.net/

This is a small restaurant near the recreation centre which has been a long term fixture in Brixton in various guises. Its current incarnation is as a bar upstairs (not visited) and a restaurant on the ground floor. The restaurant is cosy, although  the position of the table leg requires three or four people to negotiate how to sit in relative comfort. We didn’t book on this Thursday night but we arrived relatively early – just after 7.00 – and within half an hour it was full and many people popping their head round the door who had to find sustenance elsewhere.

The food is simple.. There is a menu and almost as many things on the specials list on the wall. There are also a variety of different ways of eating – tapas, “boards to share” as well as the usual starters and main course. Being traditional we went for main courses and chose a burger, beef pie and greens and crispy pork belly and extra chips with a starter of mixed olives. The olives were not a great start which is a great shame as there is a Portuguese delicatessen just round the corner that provides some of the best olives in London.

Our main course were much better. The piping hot beef pie came with a spoon as well as a knife and fork. The beef was soft and the gravy unctuous and the spoon was definitely required. The pork was as described – tasty and crispy and the chips were flavoured slightly with garlic and even though we didn’t need them we were glad we did. The only problems were the burger which was described as a bit boring (probably in comparison to Honest Burger). No-one asked how to cook it but it seemed ok and not too overdone. The greens were just that different kinds of cabbage. The problem with that is although steamed some parts need more cooking than others so the darker cabbage was a little chewy.

It was £15.00 per person inclduing wine and beer and so very reasonable for the quality of the food. You can eat much cheaper as at the beginning of the wek they have specials. The cheap dates section (e.g. 4 tapas and a bottle of wine for £10.00) all seem very good value. The bar has music nights but we didn’t explore that. We thought we would visit again especially as the weather will certain deter us from sitting in Brixton Village and then we do intend to order the cocktails.

SW9 bar

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address: 11 Dorrell Place, Brixton, London SW9 8EG

telephone: 020 7738 3116

email: info@sw9bar.co.uk

website: http://sw9bar.co.uk/

This bar has had many incarnations and is usually full to the brim of people who are going to Brixton Academy. But on a cold and blustery Monday evening it is almost empty and by 10.30 it is empty. The bar is small inside and they have increased the space with a temporary canopy outside with tables, chairs and heaters – although it must have been pretty nippy for even the most desperate smoker on the evening we visited. The decor looks like a throwback to the 80s – shiny walls and low lamps. The toilets are communal and they looked like they were in the middle of a refurbishment. The music is loudish and I suspect when there are a lot of people crammed in, you just have to expect a sore throat if you want a conversation.

But on to the food …. starters, main courses and desserts are available as well as a breakfast menu (served until 2.00pm) but we went for main courses. There is a variety and I chose sea bass which arrived on top of some sautéed potatoes with asparagus and another green vegetable. The fish was cooked well and the vegetables were crisp although there was a bit too much oil on the plate from the potatoes. My companion fared less well on an order of fish and chips. When it arrived it was rather darker than usual for fish and chips – not twice but thrice cooked! We were hungry so cleared the plate together with several glasses of good wine.

The service was jolly and helpful but I don’t think we will be venturing back there soon. The bill came to £20 per person including a lot of wine so I guess it is about £10-15 if you are hungry for more than one course.

Brixton Space – NOW CLOSED

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Brixton Spaceaddress: 30 Brixton Water Lane, Brixton, London SW2 1PE

telephone 020 7501 8606

email: brixtonspace@gmail.com

www.brixtonspace.co.uk

The menu describes this neighbourhood restaurant/bar as a late 60s post Mad Men designed interior with lots of red lights and wallpaper. The lighting is really interesting as they have 20 long tentacle-like flexes ending in lightbulbs across the ceiling. This is really a feature rather providing light as even with the candle on the table I realised that I should have brought the stronger reading glasses. Tables are small and for two with a bench on one side and a stool on the other but from the bench side were really comfortable but the stools perhaps not so much for longer lounging. It is a small restaurant and there is probably only room for about 20 people in a small but cosy atmosphere. There are lots of suggestions of how to book and I guess that is important over the weekend.

The menu says it is tapas fusion and that is certainly true. The small plates are a bit bigger than most tapas and some are definitely not the sort you would find in Spain. There are the usuals  – patatas bravas, serano and manchego as well as bread, olives etc. but then it stretches into goats cheese and fig tart and finally to the more creative with polenta and mozzarella (Italy) followed by the ultimate in creativity quesadilla and humous (Mexican and Greek??).

It was a Thursday and we were feeling boring so we plumped for three tapas – patatas bravas, lentils, chorizo and roast vegetables and goats cheese with marinated olives to start and it was a good start. The various types of olives really complemented each other – some salty, some juicy and others just … well just lovely. A freezing glass of manzanilla would have been a good accompaniment but it was a bit on the rough side although very cheap (£4.00). The goats cheese and fig tart with salad was a great success and so was the lentils with spicy chorizo. We weren’t as happy with the patatas bravas as we were expecting something a little more firey but it had just a little salsa on top which was cold and so cooled the rest of the potatoes.

We noticed that others in the restaurant were picking up takeaways and others were just having coffee and a croissant so it is really a local place for meeting people and chilling out with the bar menu of cocktails including One Love made of Gin, Blackberry Jam & Lemon, topped with soda and Josephine Avenue which is a blend of Scotch Whiskey, Lemon, Framboise & Rose. Sounds like the sort of thing to drink early and retire for the evening.

We were full  after sharing only three tapas and the bill came to just £22.00 which we thought was reasonable value.