This is a newish restaurant at the Coldharbour Lane end of Brixton Village. It has only been open for a week, so it is on its soft launch. It is part of a small south London chain and serves Asian food and is definitely a place to try with cash in your pocket, as they don’t yet have any credit card services. But this is a blessing as you get a discount on the food you buy. Sit on small tables or at a counter watching passers by.
On Saturday the menu contained – snacks, noodles, dumplings, robato (skewers), “plates” including sake seabass and fried chicken any style. There are enough vegetarian options to produce an interesting meal. We chose Dan Dan noodles (as recommended) that includes a lot of garlic, peanuts, sesame and soy sauce, skewers of pork belly, skewers of broccoli and tahini as well as grilled aubergine. We were very hungry so we tucked in before taking pictures. There could have been prettier shots – blame our appetite.
The grilled aubergine was soft and delicious and relatively easy to eat with chopsticks. The pork belly was spicy and simple to eat with the fat giving a lovely flavour. The tahini and roasted broccoli florets was a revelation – just the right crispness and sweetness and a relief from all the chilli. Noodles were spicy too but also soft and our waitress cut them up and tossed them in the delicious sauce. We stopped there – we were full and thought we will visit again very soon especially with the 20% discount as an incentive.
We washed it down with water and a glass of a passionfruit drink. The bill came to £27.00 with the 20% discount and including service.
Friday night is always busy in Brixton, despite the move to Thursday celebrations – but we are old fashioned enough to think that Friday means fish and chips. We re-visited an old haunt that we refer to the hip hop chip shop on the corner of Coldharbour Lane and Atlantic Road – our last review is here. This was busy (we hadn’t booked), but they squeezed us in – literally to two seats near the bar. But although we hankered after something from the sea, we were to be disappointed. Their order has not arrived, so we were left with the mostly meat options. Just to wet your appetite prawns, fish fingers and battered cod are on the menu.
We chose from the extensive wings menu – wings in two sizes and a sauce – lots of sauces. We had sweet chili and orange glaze (RZA) and it was a bit too sweet for our taste so next time we might have ODB (bourbon barbecue) or Henny hot (Henessey infused). We are assuming that all the alcohol has burnt off. But despite the sweetness the wings we fat and juicy and sticky – we were given warm water with lemon to take care of that as it never comes off with a paper napkin.
We also chose a Red Man burger (buttermilk chicken with a spiced Mac sauce, red cabbage, red onion, scotch bonnet chilli and coriander slaw). We were a bit doubtful about the scotch bonnet hiding all the flavour, but we had nothing to worry about. We got an occasional hit and there was more in the middle but that was fine as we had built up our tolerance. This was a great crunchy, chicken and several of our veggie portions. We also needed the water and lemon for this too.
We were very hungry so we went out on a limb and ordered loaded chips. As you can see they really were loaded (Bacon, House made Nacho cheese (???), Diced tomato, spring onion & coriander). To be honest we could have done without the cheese. But these were “real” chips, crispy and altogether delicious with the addition of everything. Again the tomato cut any greasiness and we had yet another daily portion of fruit (well a tomato is a fruit).
Finally we saw that they had deep fried snicker bar and salted caramel ice cream so we had one to share. The Snickers (why did they rename it) is runny and you get all the crunch of the peanuts while the delicious ice cream cools all of it down. We were full by the end.
We washed (and I mean washed) all the food down with a pint and a half of German lager and a half of Brixton IPA.
The service was slow and so we had time to share dishes but they were full so we are forgiving. We also got some money knocked off the bill for that and we didn’t mind watching the crowd while we waited. The bill came to £50.50 but we had a £3.00 reduction. Service isn’t included. We will visit again but will make sure they have had their fish order.
A new Indian – or not so Indian – restaurant opened in Brixton in the same building as Market Place. Tim Anderson (Masterchef winner) and Rivaaj Maharaj (both in Nanban – see here for a review) are behind this new venture which provides Indian inspired food with a twist. The inside has changed since it’s reincarnation. The music is the not-too-loud kind so you can have a conversation and you sit opposite each other in booths with high backs (potentially Covid-19 proofing). There is a large centre bar that mixes lovely sounding cocktails like – Apricot Rose and a Pino Co-Lassi – that have sweet ingredients that make them more like desserts and they do go down easily. Below see the Apricot Rose and their signature cocktail Karakana (vodka, amaretto, lassi, mango puree and crushed pistachio – at least three of your five-a-day).
The menu is as it says on the tin – eclectic with small plates, big plates and tandoori and a very small dessert list (ice cream), so just choose another cocktail. Vegetarian is marked on the menu and some vegan options can be made to order. Some dishes look nothing like an Indian – Fish and chips and Currywurst, but a closer look at the ingredients shows them to have an Indian twist.
We chose potato salad chaat (with celery, shallots, lime dressing, coriander, peanuts and tamarind sauce) and lotus blossom onion bhaji with spiced yoghurt dip. The salad was crunchy and pretty heavy so do share and the onion bhaji was a whole onion shaped like a lotus blossom and was, as it should be, crispy and great with the dip. There were three of us and the final person chose from the tandoor menu – the Methi Miso Salmon (eclectic!) that came in a fenugreek and miso glaze with tandoori broccoli (although we thought they switched it on the night). The salmon was soft and definitely cooked well with a slippery caramelised outside. What was described as tandoor broccoli split the table – it was very hot, spicy and crunchy so a good foil for the salmon, but it looked innocuous and it definitely was not. Some liked it and others just wanted a health warning on the heat.
We followed this with choices from the large plates – Mutton bourgignon curry, Madrasi Machli and Aubergine Karahi Parmigiano (!). We complemented these with a couple of bowls of steamed rice, and a naan and roti.
The mutton was in a really rich sauce – it was the leg slowly braised in red wine with carrots, potatoes and picked onion. It was spicy, but not so you couldn’t savour the taste of the lamb. The Madras Machli was actually salmon curry simmered in the “house blend of spices from Southern India” – so giving nothing away. The salmon can be easily overpowered by a curry – this wasn’t and I definitely admire the chef’s delicacy with whatever those South Indians use.
The Aubergine was exactly as you might imagine – breaded and fried in a tomato sauce and topped with parmigiano. But the menu description left off any reference to spices and they were there in abundance in the breading and in the tomato sauce. It was how I like this dish, crispy pieces of aubergine with soft insides, any blandness being banished by the tomato sauce.
The menu notes only one dessert, but when we decided to order and discovered that it was in short supply so we had a couple of Hokey Pokey ice creams and a Masala Chai. They come as two large scoops, so plan to ask for a scoop of each and share – it was a labour we endured so that we covered the whole menu, but we were really too full to finish.
We have noticed blogs and comments suggesting this is an expensive meal, but actually we thought it was reasonable. You can cut down on the many courses and the cocktails (£9.50 or so each). We had two cocktails and 2.5 pints of tiger or Coldharbour beer. The total came to a whopping £95.50 with tip, but after removing everything but the food it was £18.25 per head. We will go back as the menu definitely peaked our interest, but this time knowing that unless very hungry we will try to share some dishes.
Given the current Covid restriction of Tier 2, we are still having takeaways and were really pleased that Franzina Trattoria in Coldharbour Lane had click and collect, and delivery options. Despite it being relatively close, we still ordered through Deliveroo (Uber Eats also available). See our earlier eat-in review here.
This is a Sicilian restaurant and the menu consists of Piattini (small plates – you can actually buy the sicilian plates on the website), salads, fresh made tagliatelle with sauces and doci – puds. The Delivery menu is a little different to the eat-in version, but had plenty of options. For starters we chose Crocche – fried vegetable balls and caponata Siciliana. The menu promised two crocche each of three types – “potato, lemon, mint and basil. Aubergine, caciocavallo cheese and mint. Zucchini, pecorino cheese and basil”. The Caponata Siciliana is described as sweet and sour aubergine salad with tomatoes, nocellara olives, capers, celery and onions.
We ended up with eight crocche but there were only two sorts and, to be honest, it wasn’t clear to us which ones. One was just a chip and the other was pretty anonymous. So, these were a little disappointing. But this was definitely a starter in two halves, as the Caponata was fabulous. We could have eaten this by the bucket full and will definitely order again. It really does need some bread and luckily we had some, but next time we will also order some proper Italian bread with this meal.
This was followed by two types of pasta – Conchiglie con Salsiccia (described as conchiglie with with wild fennel sausage in a peppery tomoato sauce with pecorino cheese). Google describes the pasta as seashells. We also ordered Orecchiette al Pesto Trapanese (with fresh datterino tomatoes, basil, mint, pistachios, almonds, chili and lemon zest, topped with salty ricotta cheese). This pasta is sort of like little ears.
The Orecchiette were crunchy and spicy and a warm chili and nutty delight. The Conchiglie was also wonderful with a peppery warmth. The pictures shows them as quite distinct and they arrived not too steamed, so not al dente which pleased me as I’m not keen on any pasta crunch. However, we did have a lot leftover and microwaved it the next day. It was still wonderful to taste, but unfortunately over-cooked and we actually had a hard job distinguishing them. So our advice for the best experience is to wolf it all down in one sitting.
Finally – again eyes bigger than stomach moment – we ordered one portion of Baba al Masala con Panna. It was sweet and sticky, and we were glad that we only ordered one. We could have done with more “panna” and a little bit more marsala. But there was no crumb left at the end of the meal.
What did we think – we liked much of it, but not all (mainly the vegetable balls). That may be our fault. The best traveled dishes were the cold ones, but the pasta certainly managed the distance from their kitchen to our door without moving too far beyound the ‘al dente’ stage.
We are now beginning to understand the science of delivered food. Chips are soggy, no matter how brief the trip from the restaurant, unless of course they are the thin, very crispy type. Many dishes that were taken out of the oven just in time, arrive just a little overdone. We will definitely order from Franzina again with a very large serving of Caponata. Cost of the meal for two (with enough pasta leftovers for a meal the following day, but no alcohol) was £42, including Deliveroo fees and a tip for the rider.
UPDATE: We are now reliably informed that microwaving pasta is not the best way of reheating it – on top of the stove and lightly fry or put it in the oven.
Another Saturday night and nowhere to go, so we decided to watch Father of the Bride 3(ish) and order from one of our Brixton favourites (see here and here). It’s open for Click and Collect or Delivery after 6.00pm. Don’t be in too much of a hurry, as we had finished the film and were onto a nostalgia piece – Father of the Bride 1 before it arrived.
Domino’s didn’t do so well in our previous pizza challenge (see here) but subsequent comments suggested that it had been under-rated. Anyway, we were craving some on a Friday night and decided to give it another go. It had to be a delivery, as we are just emerging from quarantine and still taking things really carefully.
The menu is reduced but actually it makes it much easier to choose and there seem to be all the favourites. We chose a large (13.5) Veggie Supreme and a large (13.5 again!) American Hot. And here they are.
Even when we finished they didn’t look very different, as we only managed about a third of each. Delivery does bring out the “eyes much bigger than stomachs” in me. On the bright side we have lunch and breakfast for the next two days.
My Veggie was delicious and somehow despite the cheese I felt virtuous even while I was dipping the crust in the garlic sauce. The American hot was well received as well, with good pepperoni and enough chilli to make it interesting. Apologies for the poor quality picture though.
It was good and inexpensive as the deal is £10.99 for any large pizza so £21.98 for the two pizzas and whatever you decide to tip the delivery guy. There are lots more deals too and we definitely think a large is enough for two no matter how hungry you are.
Although we are still working on reducing the number of open bottles in our home tavern, we thought it would be good to support a new Brixton bar – so here we are. Saturday night, early and we dropped by for a quick cocktail. But this is a whiskey and bagel bar – the spelling of whiskey tells you it is an Irish bar – we also noticed the Irish potato crisps.
We looked at the list which you need to read carefully for the description or the history. But this is meant for the connoisseur, as they give you little information on the ingredients. If in any doubt, just ask the bartender when you order – they will also give you a choice of gin or whisk(e)y (bourbon, rye etc.).
We chose a classic Perfect Manhattan (has dry as well as sweet martini) and a Corpse Reviver. I can’t remember whether the latter was a no.1 or no.2. They arrived in a neat little Mad Men glass. Both delicious, although we missed checking that it would be a cherry in the Manhattan.
In terms of C19 compliance – they have spaced seating and we had a clear plastic screen by our seats but none of the waiters had masks on. I would definitely advise they think carefully about that so that they protect us and them. Waiters are one of those front-line services where you meet lots of different people so increasing the chance of catching coronavirus.
We will visit – early in the evening to avoid the rush and taste their delicious cocktails again.
Enish is very new Nigerian restaurant in Coldharbour Lane, taking the place of The Majestic (see here), which was our introduction to this national cuisine. This incarnation is part of a group of restaurants peppered around the capital. The Majestic was a little down at heel, but it is now all dolled up – shiny tables, comfy chairs and wooden floors in place of the dubious red carpet. This bar and restaurant with knowledgeable clientele (I’ll come back to that later) eating and drinking from their complex menu. Cocktails are sweet and served in jars, beers are from Nigeria and the menu has a glossary to help the naive – like us. Despite having read about Nigeria recently, we needed the guiding hand of the waitress to make our choices. Continue reading →
So it’s Friday and it’s Fish and Chips. We have previously reviewed Fish and Chip takeaways (see here) and also visited Chip Shop itself a while ago (last review here). The menu for takeaways is much reduced currently, but we chose a medium portion of fish and chips and a larger portion of peri-peri chicken (opting for medium hot) with chips, just to spice it up a bit. Delivery was organised direct with the restaurant, which is good, but at the price of being a little slow. You just need to take it into account when you order.
A medium portion is half a chicken and also includes some healthy roast tomatoes. The chicken was succulent, but not really as spicy as we had expected. So lovely that we saved the smaller piece to have cold in a salad the following day.
There was also two pieces of fish in really nice and crispy batter, which we easily polished off.
We should have learnt our lesson by now that chips, unless really, really crispy when they leave the restaurant, will be just soggy by the time they reached us. These were not as bad as some, but they steam in the packaging and while these were tasty, they came out as a little limp.
The whole meal was around £20.00, not including the tip. But this was a bargain, given the amount of food and the leftovers providing a second meal with a proper Ceasar. We will be back again, but our list of potential takeaway and deliveries gets longer, so perhaps not for a little while.
Nanban is one of favourites in Brixton (see here and here), so we are pleased it is open for Click and Collect or Delivery but only after 6.00pm, which is when you can see the menus on Deliveroo. There is a cheap and cheerful menu from Little Nanban, but we ordered a feast to celebrate … well Friday. Continue reading →
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