Faiz Latin and Caribbean Groceries

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10-12 Granville Arcade
Brixton Village SW9 8PR

Telephone 020 7274 0005

Open 9:00 am to 6:00 pm (closed Sundays) Now open on Sundays as well

There are lots of shops like this in Brixton that fall into the general category of Afro Caribbean food stores. I’ve often wondered what’s the difference. How do you decide to shop at Abdul’s Fruit and Veg rather than the A1 Superstore? Or SW Foodstore rather than Brixton Foodbase? I’ve got a theory that they are really all the same. Certainly there doesn’t seem to me much competition on price, or service come to that. However, Faiz is my favourite. I’m not really sure why but the people who work there are friendly and helpful, the fresh produce is good and it’s got what you need if you are interested in Caribbean food.

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Vozar – restaurant, cafe, deli

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Address: Unit 26, Brixton village, London SW9 8PS

Telephone: 07818462279

www.vozar.co.uk

To most of our readers this may be known as WAG (Wheat and Gluten free café), which was famous for its cakes. It has recently undergone a metamorphosis and become an evening restaurant as well with space for eating inside – a boon in these chilly months. The tables in the cosy space seat (or perhaps squeezes in) 12 people with space outside for about another ten. Each table is adorned in a pretty colourful table cloths and nothing more. This is an unusual restaurant that still caters for gluten free eating and can also do dairy free and vegetarian ….. although vegan might be a problem. The chef is from the Slovak Republic and has devoted his skill to perfecting meals that cater for those concerned with gluten. As one of us has problems we wished this sort of restaurant had been available 15 years ago when gluten free food was mainly acquired on prescription.

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May Foods – “authentic Ghanaian restaurant”

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16C Market Row, London SW9 8LD

Tel. No. 020 7978 8830

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The main blogs about Brixton have so far ignored this restaurant – perhaps because it mainly serves Brixton’s West African community. Although we had previously eaten here we also had not provided a review. This is because we never really knew whether or not this was an “Authentic Ghanaian Restaurant”, as it tells us on the front. However, after spending an enjoyable week’s holiday in Ghana, we can now confidently affirm that it most definitely is. It is not so much hidden as unassuming. The front is half covered with frosted glass, so it’s hard to see inside before you enter and, when you do, it probably doesn’t look as inviting as many of the pop-ups in the Village. There are no bright lights, no tasteful décor. Just some posters, a few odd angled tables and mismatched chairs, through which you have to negotiate safe passage to the counter. There you order your food, with usually just one person taking orders and serving the food from an array of large pots. Given the unfamiliarity of the food and surroundings, you might feel you need to be quite brave to step over the threshold, but it is worth the effort.

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A&C Continental Delicatessen

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3 Atlantic Road, SW9 8HX

020 7773 3766

A&C Continental Delicatessen is the best food shop in Brixton. It’s also, incidentally, the friendliest. It’s been around for twenty years or more and runs the risk of being taken for granted. But it’s a gem of a place and can easily withstand any competition from the newcomers now coming to Brixton. I’ve always assumed the people who run the shop are from Portugal but the stuff they stock ranges across the whole of southern Europe.

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Coffee Tour of Brixton

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With a week off work, a love of coffee and the need to just get out of the house I embarked on a coffee tour of Brixton at the beginning of December. I was to visit four different coffee shops over four days, reviewing the places on the quality of the coffee, the atmosphere, price and service. I chose Rosie’s, Federation (obvs), Kaff and Lounge. The reason for choosing these places is down to just wanting somewhere that I could settle down, read my book and drink my coffee in peace. Before we begin I like my coffee strong and black with no sugar please.

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Sorry, No Vacancies – Pop Up

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http://www.sorry-no-vacancies.com/

378 Brixton Road, SW9 7AW

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Set up amongst a stretch of road in central Brixton that mainly consist of questionable money lending shops and fried chicken take-aways, this is a surprisingly impressive pop-up cocktail bar. With a very uninviting front, the only thing that gives away its existence is the bouncers outside and a tiny luminescent sign welcoming you to “Sorry, No Vacancies”. Not gonna lie, I hate the name, but I think I can forgive them for that.

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Etta’s Seafood Kitchen

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Etta's Seafood KitchenAddress: Unit 46 Brixton, Village, Coldharbour Lane, London SW9

Contact:  sheryldon1@yahoo.co.uk

We have visited Etta’s several time now. We first visited when it had just opened and things were a bit chaotic, the second time was more orderly but the service was slow. Has time made a difference? The tables and chairs are the same (beware of some chairs as they are a bit rickety). But it is brighter and but the flowers on the tables have seen better days – in fact ours were completely dead. But the staff were as happy, helpful and as laid back as before but now they seem to know what they are doing.

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Brixton Wholefoods

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59 Atlantic Road, Brixton, SW9 8PU
020 7737 2210 (but surprisingly, no email address)
http://www.brixtonwholefoods.com/
OPEN:
Mon 09.30-19.00
Tue, Wed, Thu 09.30-17.30
Fri 09.30-18.00
Sat 09.30-17.30

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We all love Brixton Wholefoods. It’s a touchstone for long-term Brixtonites and, while we might not shop there all that often, we are glad it’s still there like a 1970’s time capsule. Which is a bit surprising as it didn’t open until 1982. It even stayed the same when moving across Atlantic Road from what was the site of the first David Greig’s grocery store and where the Lounge can now be found – hence the “Transatlantic” on the shop front.

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Champagne and Fromage

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Address: 15 First Avenue, Brixton Village

http://www.frenchbubbles.co.uk/

CF01Yesterday your plucky researchers from EatinBrixton ran the gauntlet of the demonstration against Champagne and Fromage to be its very first customers. The demonstrators were asking for Yuppie’s to leave Brixton but we felt quite justified in moving on as we failed at the first letter – Y and we definitely think we are not now upwardly-mobile but stuck in a groove. The self-styled anarchist group were protesting about the opening as a “signifier” of the changes taking place in Brixton. But as long-term Brixton residents we can see that even without the new eating places, there are actually more shops open and thriving in Granville Arcade than in the not so distant past, when it was half-empty and moribund. Some of the shopkeepers are happy with the changes, including the guy who runs the Faiz foodstore. He told us that his trade was up, even though he gave up the two units opposite his main foodstore, where Champagne and Fromage has moved in.

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Jerk Chicken Takeaway

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Jerk02Brixton and jerk chicken go together. Despite all the changes that are taking place in what’s available to eat in Brixton, it still has more places serving West Indian food that any other type. For almost all of them, the signature dish is jerk chicken. But which one serves the most authentic and the best?

Answering the question is bound to be controversial; everyone who is into jerk chicken has their favourite. So we decided that we had to try them all, or at least those that specialise in takeaways. There are, of course, a few proper sit down places that also serve jerk chicken – see, for example our reviews of: Bamboula; Fish, Wings and Tings; Negril; and Veranda – but in our mind it is more enjoyable as a takeaway. One of the eatinbrixton team has lunch in Brixton most days and, over the last couple of years, he has been enjoying himself giving all the jerk chicken joints in central Brixton a try.

This research led to a shortlist of six and then, to ensure an independent view of which was the best, we invited friends and family to a blind tasting. There were nine of us round the table, with ages ranging from 24 to 81, and, it worked surprisingly well, although pedants might argue that the amount of Red Stripe that was consumed will have affected the results as the evening wore on.

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