Author: eatinbrixton

Satay Gallery

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Satay GalleryAddress 447 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, London SW9 8LP

Telephone: 0844 474 6080

http://www.sataybar.co.uk/

You do not go to the Satay Gallery for a quite dinner for two. The pounding music deters conversation and if you do try then you end up with a sore throat by the next day. What you do go to the Satay Gallery for is the cocktails with something to keep you from being too drunk. The food isn’t expensive but it isn’t that good either.

The menu is eclectic… the web site say Brixton meets Bali but it also has chinese noodles, japanese gyoza and thai fishcakes. This is not expensive although the portions are not that generous but who cares after a couple of cosmopolitans and a mai tai.

The interior is dark in the evening with the clientele either just drinking in the bar area or drinking and eating frugally in the restaurant area. They have built some further spill-out for the summer on ColdharbourLane which looks fun for hanging out.  But if you are hungry cross the road to Gyoza.

Gyoza

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GyozaAddress: 426 Coldharbour Lane, London, SW9 8LF

Telephone: 020 7274 1492

This place has been a restaurant since we can remember. It used to be an Eel and Pie shop which had an advert which said “Why stand outside and be miserable when you can come inside and be fed up” and we  feel that it  is still true now. This Japanese (hence the name – fried or steamed dumping) and Chinese restaurant is not a gourmet delight but it is a homely place for a cheap, fast, good meal. The staff are warm and friendly and the food comes in record time so even if you thought there was no time to spare before your film begins at the Ritzy you still get the chance to see the adverts if you eat here.

We usually have the hot and salty squid, prawn gyoza,  fried seaweed and a quarter of duck to start and then a free for all for the main courses. Thick noodles, thin noodles, hot soups and your choice of meat fish or tofu – however, be warned that the main dishes all extremely generous. This is a Japanese style restaurant so chopsticks are assumed but you can ask for a fork if the seaweed gets a bit risky for your neighbours.

The alcohol is good beer – Asahi is our usual choice. They have others but why roam…

Brazas

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Address: 45 Tulse Hill, Brixton, London,  SW2 2TJ
Telephone: 020 8678 0697

http://www.brazas.co.uk/

This is a SouthAmerican restaurant with a very unprepossessing exterior and the interior at first glance looks like a local cafe. But venture further inside and there is a restaurant at the back which is such a surprise. similar to the Tardis it is much bigger than at first glance as the restaurant area runs across two buildings. Argentina is about meat, chargrilled. We chose piri piri chicken and a speciality of Argentina – a stew that had ingredients that no-one now remembers but they did sound exotic.

Booking is necessary unless you are there early as it gets very full. We had a main course and then took advantage of the fantasic range of cakes as a takeaway for later. There is a really good selection of cheesecake with imaginative toppings and no-one should pass without taking something home for later.

Wine list looked ok – we were on a no alcohol until the weekend so didn’t try it. The menu isn’t cheap but it isn’t outrageous either.

Negril

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Address: 132 Brixton Hill, Brixton, London,  SW2 1RS

Telephone: 0871 971 4491

Negril is a Jamaican restaurant with seats inside and outside if its warm. Just up Brixton Hill with the same food you would expect from an authentic Jamaican restaurant – jerk chicken, ackee and saltfish. We had chicken (not as hot as we thought it would be but the chilli sauce certainly made up for it.) pumpkin curry (also not hot) and a chicken wrap. All homely and delicious. But there are other less traditional dishes on the menu and they cater for Vegans. As usual – one main course is enough. The last time visited we ventured into the rum and raisin bread and butter pudding – one portion and three spoons. It was certainly enough to prevent us eating for next couple of days. They have breakfast specials and a Negril platter for those who can’t make up their mind about what to choose and want to dabble.

They have no alcohol license but are happy for you to bring your work and they charge a corkage – the same price, however many drinks you bring. The choice of places to buy alcohol if you forget is pretty limited but beer is what goes best.

The interior is bare tables and old school chairs but the outside looks lovely with benches and tables. Unfortunatley the rain kept us inside but we have been past in the evening when the lights and the weather made it look very inviting. The place for a reasonable meal but it does get booked up so ring to ensure space especially at the weekend.

How it all began

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Our family started eating out in Brixton more than ten years ago when the parents wanted to get the children’s full attention – they couldn’t leave the table until after we paid the bill. Being stuck in their seats meant we had a more extensive conversation than the cursory one just before Eastenders. We went out once a week with everyone having a choice with the proviso of “not the same restaurant twice in the same month”.

After the children left for university we decided to begin our next restaurant adventure: the food alphabet. This involved visiting a different restaurant every week, each week being a country beginning with that letter, for example A – Algeria, B- Belgium etc. Part of the adventure came from discovering the many hidden delights South London had to offer, as well as the struggle to find a restaurant which complied with our alphabet. Oman and Qatar proved a bit troublesome and it came down to a very helpful man at the Omani embassy who suggested that Yemen produced the same sort of food as both.  With regret we failed to write about our culinary escapades so have now decided to keep a blog as a reminder of where we have been, what we liked and didn’t and perhaps serve as a source of recommendation to others.

This year we are trying to eat in all of Brixton’s restaurants. To begin we made the very logical suggestion that our definition of a restaurant is somewhere you sit down and where your food does not arrive wrapped in cardboard, namely we weren’t going to visit McDonalds, KFC or Subway. There are so many restaurants now opening in Brixton so we have decided geography will not be a problem so if it’s in walking distance it can be included.

We have never written a blog before and have no idea if anyone apart from friends will ever read it but we would enjoy comments and suggestions for our next foray into the culinary delights of our neighbourhood.