Brixton Market

Honest Burgers

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Honest BurgersHonest Burgers: Unit 12, Brixton Village, London SW9 8PR

Having heard so many good things about Honest Burgers a friend and I decided to check it out for ourselves this Thursday lunchtime. Surprised to get a table as usually when you pass there is often a queue, (HINT: perhaps lunchtimes are a good time to go). We were met with a smile by the staff and much like the rest of Brixton village the chefs are on show so you can see your burgers being assembled in front of your very eyes.

The menu is short but sweet with chicken, vegetarian option (cauliflower fritter), a special and then three types of beef burger. Thrice cooked chips with rosemary salt come with every burger but can also be ordered as an extra for those who are greedy. Limited drinks menu (they don’t have a license, although I’m sure comply with the byob system that most of the market adheres to) but the homemade lemonade was delicious.

We opted for the beef burger options, the standard cheese filled with cheddar or stilton, lettuce and extra yummy onion relish and the house favourite ‘the honest burger’ with bacon, pickled cucumber, cheese and the same delicious onion relish. The meat comes medium rare and melts in the mouth and every extra, such as the pickled cucumbers and glazed bun, gives them that special something. Good portion sizes ensure that you can use your hands without too much mess, something they appear to suggest by only supplying you with a knife. Personally the icing on the cake was the thrice cooked and rosemary salt chips. Crunchy on the outside and with a fluffy centre these are like your grandmas best roast potatoes in chip form.

With such a hype surrounding it we were not disappointed with our visit. Cost was around the same as the rest of the market (£17 for two burgers, chips and a lemonade). This place knows what it wants to be, so if its variety you’re looking for this may not be the place for you however this is by far the best burger I have had south of the river.

http://www.honestburgers.co.uk/

Mama Lan

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Address: Unit 18, Brixton Village Market SW9 8PR

As dumplings are fast becoming one of my favourite foods the news that a dumpling restaurant was to open in Brixton Arcade came with much excitement.  With our first visit at prime time for lunch we were worried that due to it only opening a few days before we would be out of luck however we were surprised to see that we had a whole bench to ourselves free.

With minimalistic decor and straightforward menu this place knows what it’s about and doesn’t seem ashamed by it. With three different types of dumplings (Beef and carrot, Pork and Chinese leaf and Dill and spiced tofu) , chilli oil chicken, slow cooked beef with Chinese herbs and spices as well as a smattering of vegetarian options the fact that you can pick 2-3 dishes brings variety to your meal. We chose a few dumplings, the seaweed salad and the chilli chicken between two of us. Although the salad was lacking in flavour, the abundance of it found in our other choices more than made up for it.

Aside from the food the cosy atmosphere created by sharing your meal with both your neighbours and the chefs brings me back to the backstreet dumpling houses I experienced during my time in Beijing . You can watch as ‘mama lan’ creates her dumplings with quick fingered precision as well as spy on your fellow diner’s food to see what looks good. Service was great and came with a smile.

Price came in at just over a tenner each, a little pricier than some of the other places in the arcade. However we left with satisfied and full tummy’s. Will definitely be visiting again.

They also run a supper club: http://www.mamalan.co.uk/index.php

Casa Marita

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address:Unit 9, Market Row, Brixton Market, SW9 8LB

This is a new restaurant in Market Row serving Mexican food. It is a hole in the wall with little decoration, just a cupboard piled high with tins and some pictures on bare walls with seemingly schoolroom castoff tables and chairs. But it all adds to the sense that it could actually be in a relatively salubrious part of a large Mexican town. There is an open kitchen with a large, shiny extractor and everything is on show – as there is little really to see. We speculated on where, if they had any, was their stock.

We went at 7.00pm and got a table relatively quickly but by 7.30 the place was full with even the tables set out in market row being full. The big rush was hard for the two waitresses who raced from table to table trying to ensure everyone had drinks  – you can pick from beer, wine and Mexican inspired soft drinks. The staffing issue is also a problem as we waited a time for the desert – well worth the wait but perhaps they need to consider their shift system.

There are all the usuals – tacos with fish or meat or vegetables and mole negro – a black sauce made from “30 ingredients” which was poured over chicken.  I thought that mexican food was really like tex-mex ….. hefty on chilli, refried beans  and guacamole and sour cream on the side. However this was not on the menu, a fact which we were quite pleased with as it allowed for experimentation.

The food was light and not overly hot as they serve hot sauce on every table so you can make it to taste. Beware of the odd mouthful of sauce as one bottle of beer disappeared trying to sooth the tastebuds. The mole negro was served lukewarm (not my favourite way of eating) and was not as tasty as I thought it might be. Perhaps warmer temperatures might bring out the chocolate and spices. It was served with what was described as rice and sweetcorn and as I hadn’t had any vegetables or fruit that day I thought this was a good option. However, they really fell foul of the trades description act as there were barely one or two kernels of corn in each plateful. The quesadilla and the pescadilla (with fish) came with a side salad. We had both kinds of sorbet – lime and passionfruit and there were thumbs up for both.

Defintely one to recommend for the things with fillings – I was not that keen on the mole negro which at £12.00 was a bit steep.  Portions are smaller than average but actually we eat too much and the portions are probably the right size for the cost (about £7.00). An excellent addition to the market.

Laboratorio Artigianale del Buon Gelato – Lab G

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Lab GAddress: 6 Granville Arcade, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton Village, London SW9 8PR

I know you are not meant to eat ice cream for a whole meal but this place is really tempting so for a finale to any meal in Brixton go to Lab G. Here is a tiny temple to gelato, a tempting centre for high calory ice cream with plenty of cream like the salted caramel, or one of your five a day with mango sorbet or even something a little different. On one occasion we tried their liquorice and although in small quantities was delightful, in a hefty cone is a little hard to get through. The flavours are various – chocolate sorbet, real vanilla with flecks of vanilla pod, hazelnut, cherry and the usual flavours of Italian gelato like stracciatella. Flavours change all the time, so don’t depend on trying that odd flavour on your next visit.

It is not cheap at 1.50-2.50 a cone but with the large amount of ice cream it is well worth the cost.  We have seen mums hovering at the door and then, after seeing the prices, scurrying away with disappointed children so it would be useful for them to offer a small size just for kids which wouldn’t break the bank.

This place is not open mostly on Monday or Tuesday but that is by demand and I suspect that they will open later and later as the winter months encroach.

Casa Sibilla

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Address 67 – 68 Granville Arcade, Coldharbour Lane (Brixton Village) London, SW9 8PS

Telephone number –

http://www.casa-sibilla.com/

Closed Monday, open Tuesday, Wed until 5.00pm, Thursday-Satruday until 10.00 and Sunday until 5.00pm

Casa Sibilla is an Italian restaurant in the buzzy new heart of Brixton in the Granville Arcade. We used to know this enclave of Brixton as a covered market that was full of sharks and fish of varying colours and vegetables that had to be boiled for days and then still seemed uncooked. However now it is a dazzling array of restaurants. The market is open on most nights (except Monday) to people browsing for food in the many different restaurants.

Casa Sibilla is determinedly Italian – short menu, speciality cocktail (ours was pink, raspberries and prosecco I think). It is in the heart of the Village and we highly recommend choosing an outside table in the wide  and lofty passageway lit by bizarre lights (do look as it seems they are different kinds of lampshades all put together to provide a souk-like atmosphere.  I expect they are “vintage” because they look like ones my grandmother had)

I admit I chose badly – everyone knows that gnocchi can never be that great – but my companions chose well with a plate of mixed meats, plenty of bread and the best mixed olives that I have for quite a while. The octopus and mussel stew looked pretty meaty and was demolished. Partly this was because we did wait rather a long time for the food so we were ravenous and a little drunk as seconds of cocktails were called for. But we were warned about the likely slowness – due they said to a lack of staff. This was very surprising as there didn’t seem to be enough room for any more staff in the main restaurant which has an open kitchen smaller than the one in my own house. There was a clear system of movement so that Paola Sibilla (the chef) could manage the large saucepans and sizzling gnocchi so they didn’t collide with soup bowls. On price it was fair but definitely more than the usual Brixton fare but you do get what you pay for and I would recommend this place as long as the short menu changes enough to hold our interest.

P.S there is a deli that sells good olive oil and I hope the olives and you can also buy their ravioli and other sweeter goodies.

Rosie’s Cafe

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Address:

14e Market Row,

Brixton Market, SW9

Telephone: 07807 505397

http://rosielovell.co.uk/

booking: rosie@delicafe.com

Rosie’s is one of the older venue’s in Market Row. It is a very small cafe during the day and will do dinner in the evening in the latter part of the week but only if you book. During the day Rosie’s offer’s sandwiches, wraps and limited hot food.  The excellent sandwiches are not cheap but worth it. The addition of a small amount of salad though doesn’t justify the hike in cost particularly when the salad promised so much but in the end they had run out of stuff.

This is a small perfectly formed cafe/deli – about eight tables closely packed with a mixture of old school tables and chairs. You insert yourself into a space and almost everyone needs to move when you need to get out again. It is styled in the 50s with things you might want to buy but unless you have been sitting there for a while you don’t notice they have them as its part of the background.

So you go to Rosie’s for some good food (probably organic) or more likely to hang out with a coffee and a cake. The menu changes regularly and the website hadn’t been updated for many months but based on my last visit I recommend their hot salt beef sandwiches mainly because it is difficult nowadays to get one so cheap yet so tasty!

You can go to the “supper club” starting at 7.00pm on Thursday and costing £30 per head. AN UPDATE – Rosie’s is now opening late on Thursday and Friday and you don’t need to book although it is advisable.

This is BYO so make sure that you bring some along as there isn’t much wine nearby on Coldharbour Lane but plenty of beer. On our night it was lamb ragou and couscous with pickled lemon followed by earl grey rice pudding -both delicious. We also had scented chocolate truffles that came with tea (our choice instead of masala coffee) at the end of the meal. The tea (and the rice pudding) was served in lovely delicate cups. Of the truffles there were some that were very, very good and some were more of an experiment you might not repeat.

Rosie has already produced one cookery book and she is now writing her second.