Easter in Brixton

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Easter weekend begins at 6pm tonight (or perhaps even 5pm for those who have already headed to the pub). For you lot out there that are planning on staying local this long weekend we’ve cobbled together the perfect suggestions for places to both eat and drink this Easter weekend.

Personally having the weekend begin on the Thursday is still something of a novelty for me, so it’s a must to celebrate by hitting the bars and pubs of Brixton. First up there is the Duke of Edinburgh with its gigantic beer garden, reasonably priced wine, beer and spirits and amazing fries to line your stomach. Annoyingly the garden closes at 10.30 so it gets a little cramped inside, so it’s best to start your night there and then head to either Sean’s Bar or Seven for bit more sophistication and cocktails. Let’s hope Sean’s Bar are still selling their dirty martinis.

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Sean’s bar

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Address: Market Row, Brixton

We found it hard to decide what we should do with our 100th blog. In the end we have chosen to celebrate the milestone by highlighting a welcome Brixton attraction that provides both creativity, food and a really good playlist.

Every Thursday Friday and Saturday Rosie’s café turns into a Brixton nightspot until – Sean’s bar. This is not your usual bar – beer is served but it is often in the  cocktails. It can all be accompanied by quails eggs and anchovy toast … how Brixton is that! This is a place to unwind in. It can be loud and bouncing on a Friday but on a Thursday…well that’s when you can really listen to the music and muse about all those things you plan to do with your life and the next weekend. Choose from a variety of cocktails – half a dozen regulars and always two specials. Spritz the night away with wine, Aperol and soda – ubiquitous in Italy at this time of the year and it turns out this was also Sean’s favourite hang out for finding cocktail recipes. The special is a New York sour (float of red wine) or a Limoncello Fizz (homemade Limoncello and Prosecco). I find Limoncello a tough one. The first drink is definitely the worst – all sherbet and sugary – but by the third drink everything seems absolutely fine. But if you want something a little more conservative try a Twinkle (Vodka, Elderflower and Prosecco) or a Vodka Expresso with — of course — Vodka, Caravan Espresso and sugar. A few week’s ago they made my day by serving my favourite – a dirty martini. I’m pretty specific about my brine to gin ratio and this one surprised me by actually getting it right!

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Fishmongers

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For some time I’ve promised myself that I will write about shopping for fish in Brixton. Because one of the most fantastic things about central Brixton is the number of fishmongers. Across the country fishmongers have become an endangered species, largely replaced by supermarkets. But here in Brixton we have more fishmongers than there are in the whole of Hertfordshire. By this I mean proper fishmongers, where they offer a good range of types of fish with knowledgeable staff who will clean and fillet your purchases. This is great, of course, but it does pose a problem when you have to choose which shop to use. So, unlike earlier posts in our series about shopping, I’m not going to focus on a single shop.

I’ve actually lost count of the number of shops in Brixton that sell fish but not all of them, in my mind at least, count as proper fishmongers. Quite a few of the Afro-Caribbean grocers sell some fish and there are others that specialise in fish but just sell it frozen, straight out of the boxes in which it arrived. I rarely use these, apart from the fish section in the Wing Tai Supermarket in Electric Avenue which is often useful, particularly for prawns.

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A tale of two cheese sandwiches

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I have my lunch in Brixton two or more times a week and have done for more than 20 years. So I welcome the increasing number of good places to eat. But this change is not universally popular and I was sorry to see, via Urban 75, that someone using the hashtag #BrixtonMum on Twitter, was attacking one of the most recent openings, Brindisa – see post #596 here, down towards the bottom of the page.

The complaint, essentially, is that £5 is too much to pay for cheese on toast and so Brindisa, as a hated symbol of gentrification, should go back to Soho. Someone else then tweeted to point out that you can get a cheese and pickle toastie for £1.50 at Papa’s Café. My view is that there’s probably room for both but, on behalf of our loyal followers, I felt duty bound to check them out.

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Brazas

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

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

This “authentic Portuguese cuisine in the heart of South London” is a Brixton staple. It is not in Brixton Village but nearly opposite the large Sainsbury’s on Tulse Hill. We’ve reviewed it before but the people who ran it previously have  moved on to Prima Donna in Market Row. However, the food on offer is basically unchanged.

It has an unprepossessing exterior and at first glance the interior looks like a local cafe. But venture further into its Tardis-like interior and you will find a proper restaurant at the back and, like the Tardis, it is much bigger than it seems as the restaurant area runs across two buildings. Tables are plain, have a couple of red flowers and a candle. Picasso styled paintings adorn some walls. None of this provides a warm interior and it was so chilly that we kept our coats on.

 

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Happy Dumplings

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address: 30 Market Row  Brixton, SW9 8LD

This is an unprepossessing restaurant in Market Row which competes with Prima Donna and Provincial on the opposite side of the alleyway. It goes in for small plastic tablecloth coated tables inside or outside the restaurant with plastic chairs (outside) or plastic stools (inside) and a variety of leftover silver decorations from the Chinese New Year or Xmas. It started off in the early days of the transformation of Brixton market as just a small stall offering takeaways, but it has grown over the years, taking over adjoining units. Between us we’ve eaten there a few times but have never felt it lived up to it’s promise – Brixton could do with a really good mainstream Chinese restaurant. But now it does look like a proper sit down restaurant and often seems to be crowded, so we decided we had to give it another go. In the event, we don’t think the other restaurants have much to worry about in terms of competition.

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The Wine Parlour (with Chix and Buck)

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1 & 3 Vining Street,  Brixton,  London, SW9 8QA

Tel: 0203 302 1617

http://www.chixandbuck.com/

Closed Monday and Tuesday

The Wine parlour is a new concept in Brixton… a bar with cheese and sausage …..well not quite so new; Champagne and Fromage opened a few months ago in Brixton Village. But the difference really is that this establishment does not sell the charcuterie, it sells the wine.

You will not miss this place as you head into Atlantic Road. It is the place on the corner with all its windows outlined with fairy lights. The small interior is laid out with tall metal stools up against wooden boards under the windows where you can balance plates and glasses. When we arrived at 6.30 it was empty but within 20 minutes it became crowded with no chairs to spare. This is a mixed crowd – not quite the same clientele as in Brixton Village and it is inside, so another bonus – it’s warm.

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Brixton Village Grill’d

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Brixton Village Grilladdress: 2nd Avenue 43-44 Brixton Market; Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, London SW9 8PR

telephone: 07894353561

http://www.brixtonvillagegrill.co.uk

This is a fusion of Portuguese and English cuisine – so says the trendy website which also has funky music. We decided to update our previous review as it has been no little time since we visited.  It was a Thursday evening and we were worried that we wouldn’t find a table because Brixton Village is often packed. We also wanted to have a more leisurely meal than is usual in most of the restaurants. But at 6.30 it was absolutely fine. We were the second customers and in February we chose an inside table. The décor is the ubiquitous slightly wobbly tables and wooden chairs. The inside décor is described on our previous post but we think you need to see it all for yourself. The decor is plain (I’ve given up on the word minimalist) apart from the two extra large black chandeliers.

The service was friendly and helpful. They seem to share responsibilities, so it meant that we had several people moving plates and checking up on how we were. It is good to have someone taking notice, although a few less checks might be better. But it does mean that it is easy to attract someone’s attention – not that we needed anyone. They do want to turn the tables over quickly and it did get packed later, so consider a two hour slot as your limit.

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Valentines in Brixton

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Romance and Brixton have never been two words that have particularly had any relation prior to the restaurant boom in Brixton. There is now however plenty of romantic bars and restaurants and with Valentine’s Day right around the corner it’s about time to start planning, so here’s our run down of the best places to visit (and book beforehand!) this Valentines.

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The Joint

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Address: 4th Avenue, Brixton Village Market SW9 8PSjoint03

telephone: 07717 642812

http://www.the-joint.co/

We have taken our time to go to Joint. This is not because we were unwilling or because we have decided to go on a vegetarian diet, but because the queues are so long. But on this cold Saturday morning in February we thought we owed it to our readers to brave the long lines. So after much feet stamping and wishing we had two pairs of socks and gloves, we got a table – only about 15 minutes, although it seemed longer, even with the ideal opportunity to stare at the tourists who are now flocking to Brixton Village.

Joint is a small kitchen with all its tables outside in one of the cross avenues in Brixton Village. The base of the tables is made up of three of the plastic baskets that the bread buns are delivered in, which are topped with squared off black wood. The seating is a hard stool or, if you are lucky, a bench where you can rest back against a shop window. That is probably why it is pretty quick – the service is speedy and it is only comfortable for 30 minutes or so.

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