S38, Pop Brixton, 49 Brixton Station Road, Brixton, SW9 8PQ
Batanga is a cocktail made from Tequila, lime juice and coke and also gave its name to a tequila/mescal bar on the top floor of Pop Brixton. It’s not far from the other bar we have frequented (see here for our review of ABV). You can sit inside the tight fitting bar, but on our visit we sat listening to the music and in the open air that had cooled a little by 6.30pm. There are several long picnic tables and benches and most people were sharing (as we were).
The two of us ordered a drink each from the extensive menu, so we can’t claim to have carried out a comprehensive investigation. One of us wasn’t drinking, but they happily provided a non-alcoholic version, i.e. a cocktail without the tequila.
One classic Margherita and an apple soda type thing. Most of the other customers had long drinks, which was probably a good choice on what was a hot evening. There was a bit of nostalgia as the Margherita came in an original Babycham glass, which might mean more to our older readers.
The bill came to £14.63 including service with the soda being £2.00 and the alcoholic drink £11.00.
This is a brand new, top of the range, eatery in Pop Brixton that opened only weeks ago. They have all day dining -12.00 to 5.00 pm and then a supper club in the evening (8.00 pm to 10.00 pm, Thurs-Sat), when they serve a fixed six course tasting menu. They will take walk-ins during the day but not for the evening, but it is best to book any time as there is limited seating. We visited for a long Sunday lunch with friends in May.
They describe their food as ” From Caf’ clichés, to dinner party classics, and cocktails raided from your mum’s drinks cabinet, this is the best of British nostalgia”. A great description of the deconstructed classics from the 70s and 80s.
We made it simple and ordered one of everything on the lunchtime menu – four starters, four mains and two desserts. The titles of the dishes give nothing away – Bloody Mary’, ‘Ham, Egg & Chips’, Prawn Cocktail and ……..a surprise for you, as we can’t remember. From the pictures you can see that they are splendid renditions, with just enough to interest everyone and it was just too hard to decide a favourite. The Bloody Mary consists of a granita which comes with roast tomatoes and chickpea chips. Ham, egg and chips is a terrine with more chickpea chips and egg yolks. But we don’t want to spoil the fun which is wrapped up in the surprise, so here the detail stops. Even on the first two photos you will see there are “extras” – ask them to describe them in detail. You may need to take notes as we forgot as soon as they moved away from the table.
For the main course we got Smoked Short Rib Hash, Crab Scotch Egg, Lobster Doughnuts and we think it was a duck eclairs, but it was really “pretty as a picture” even on a rainy Sunday. The beef had a rich sauce, the scotch egg was runny and had crab instead of meat and the others…. well my mouth is watering just looking at them.
We were pretty full at this stage and the small plates do ramp up the charges, but we decided to complete the whole menu with the two remaining items – Lemon Meringue and Beetroot Bakewell. Again pretty as all desserts should be. The bakewell was a bit dry, but the lemon tart a sensation.
We washed it all down with several Brixton brews.
This is not a cheap meal, but it is an excellent one. We ate far too much and each plate was between £10 and £14 – so you can see that splashing out on every part of the menu increased costs considerably. These were quirky plates, pretty but also good to eat – next time we visit we will try not to be too hungry and just look at them for a bit longer before pulling them all apart. Their six course tasting menu (which we will have to try, but maybe for a special occasion) is £65.00.
No cows were involved in the production of these burgers as they are vegan. We reviewed it a while ago (see here). We decided to try it again because: (1) it is close by; (2) when we were hungry it was open; and (3) most importantly, you didn’t have to book several days in advance. The Deliveroo service was prompt. Continue reading →
Described as a small Alpine bistro in a shipping container and it’s true. Perched above the entrance to Pop Brixton, this small restaurant (well it is a shipping container) has tables outside and inside. As it was a family meal for four of us, we decided on the inside, so we could converse about work, play and holidays. Bench seats and stools were pretty comfortable. Continue reading →
This is a burger joint unlike any other – no cows were involved in their production as they are vegan. It’s in Pop Brixton, on the ground floor and down the aisle on the left as you go in. It looks much like any other take-away food joint, with some stools to sit on if you want to eat in. Continue reading →
This Pop Brixton venue has changed hands several times but has been fish restaurant the last two times. The painting of the fish on the ceiling is probably some encouragement to stick to this theme. Eight place sittings on long tables mean that there is room for the waiting staff and it doesn’t feel crowded. Sit away from the door for a view of the open kitchen.
This is fish, fish and more fish. You can choose a la carte or just have the six dish tasting menu for £25. We were on a strict time limit, so we chose two dishes from the a la carte to share between us and a dessert each. The menu has 4 parts – starter sized dishes, small plates, mains and then desserts. Continue reading →
On a bleak Saturday we took the family to Pop Brixton to try some of their new offerings. Sakeya Sushi is definitely new, so with most of us being sushi fans, we settled on that. We do like Pop Brixton but most of the restaurants have only limited places to sit and on Saturday afternoon the place was heaving, with no space at either end in the general seating areas. Iz Sakeya has been creative and provided a ledge to balance the sushi on, but we had to stand, with the result that it was inevitably a quick meal.
The menu is short – Iz Sakeya specialises in two sakes (sparkling (£10) and premium (£45)) and mainly salmon and rice sushi. In fact they say they have head-to-tail salmon cuisine but they do say they can also cater for vegetarians. We had sushi (2), sashimi (2) and what was called a Poke Don salad, with more salmon. The salmon and avocado rolls were lovely. The three pieces of sashimi (a Ngiri set, with salmon, sea bass and tuna) were great, with two being delicately seared via a blow torch. The Poke Don salad had avocado, edamame, salmon, rocket and rice. The rice in all the dishes was really good with the right consistency; far from the mush you get from some of the chains.
We did enjoy what turned out to be a snack, although when one of our party saw the size of the plates, he chose instead to visit the burger bar next door for a rather good looking burger plus a portion of chips, which we all were happy to share. Those of us who had the sushi (without the sake) were pleased with the meal, although don’t go there hungry – just think of it as a potential first course. The bill came to £31 for 4 people, without any drinks.
Afterwards we went off to Parissi in Atlantic Road for coffee and cakes.
A new addition to Pop Brixton in the restaurant/shipping container that used to be Kricket. This is a quality small plates restaurant and maybe, like Kricket it will end up in Soho. The layout has changed just a little, with the long passage with a few tables inside and a high bar whilst outside for the foolhardy, are tables for four. The three of us shared the only inside table that takes more than two people – it was cosy.
The short menu is in three parts and the advice for the three of us was to choose two from each section and potentially one on top for the very hungry. We stuck to six dishes so we had room – but not much – for dessert. All dishes arrived at a leisurely pace so we could linger over each and all are small enough not to fill you up but are large enough to share.
This is on the second floor of Pop Brixton – the arrangement of storage containers near the Recreation Centre. It is a narrow corridor of a restaurant with just one line of tables with bench seating inside for about 20 covers but there is a bit more space outside in clement weather. When we arrived there was a 40-50 minute wait unless you were prepared to sit outside – we were hungry enough to put up with the bracing evening air.
We have been here before and not much has changed so look here for a full account. You’ll also have to look there for some photographs – on this visit it was too dark to get any thing worth including. We chose four options from the short menu. We chose our favourite Bhel Puri which has raw mango; Samphire Pakoras; Torched mackerel. The Bhel Puri was fantastic and we polished this off really quickly. The idea of Samphire Pakoras is great but we had forgotten that in practice they tend to be a bit woody and, hence, they were not our favourite. Unfortunately, we had ordered two portions and we failed to work work our way through them both. On the other hand the torched mackerel was really tasty and we would definitely try it again.
We washed it all down with a fresh lime soda and a bottle of Curious Brew Lager. The total bill came to £31.35. We didn’t linger and will certainly look up our review next time we come, so we can avoid things that weren’t great. It’s a shame you can’t book but, nevertheless, we will return so that we make our way through the rest of the interesting menu of what is still some of the best food in Brixton.
We had heard good things about this restaurant, even before they had a permanent residence, but when we booked a pop-up “event” they cancelled. So this visit is long awaited. And while we can’t claim to be experts on Ghanaian food, a couple of us have been there and we also liked the food at Brixton’s longer-established more traditional Ghanaian restaurant – see our review here.
This restaurant is well signposted as part of Pop Brixton. This is a collection of large storage containers offering food, drink and the occasional piece of jewellery or clothing. ZGK is on the upper level and can only be approached from the set of stairs on the right immediately after the entrance.
There is a small interior with tables and benches for 12 people who know each other very well. There is also an outside area but the rain has made that only for the really hardy. The menu has mains, sides, sauces and desserts so easy peasy. Although the restaurant is Ghanaian it didn’t have any of the usual staples like banku or kenkey on offer. This is more like tapas, with the carbohydrate coming from the plantain, okra and jollof rice. For the mains there is chicken, beef, mackerel and lamb. But the menu is a bit limited for vegetarians who have to settle for the sole bean dish.
We started with krispy kale which wasn’t very crispy and was a bit oily. This is an easy dish to prepare and cook and we thought it must have wilted in the humidity of the kitchen. Then we tried to work our way through the whole menu with every dish except the beef. We also ordered Okra tempura fries, Kelewele Spiced Chips (Caramelised chunky plantain chips infused w/ a spice mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne pepper and fresh ginger) and Jollof rice. We liked everything and the spiced mackerel was a really hefty dish filling the whole plate and was spicy. The well cooked and spicy lamb was a favourite of the person who ordered it, even though he doesn’t really like peanut butter. The beans were declared a hit as was the chicken. The chicken was eaten with a very spicy hot Smoked Fish based Chilli Oil Dip. This was lovely but our choice of flavours slightly odd.
Then we come to the side dishes. Okra was covered in good batter but was a bit oily (on the outside) and the plantain chips were really good if a bit flabby. I assume to get them really crisp they need to be covered in some form of flour. Jollof rice was certainly something we would order again.
For dessert we ordered the doughnut and the Banofee pie. The Banofee pie was the star. The doughnuts were a bit on the heavy side.
They do serve alcohol and we ordered two light and two dark lagers which – be warned – come in huge bottles. I say this because not only is it a lot of liquid and toilets are a scarce resource but they also take up a lot of space on the table. We suggest sharing and using a cup then you increase the table space.
The lovely surprise at the end of the meal was the bill – £60.00 for four people including four large beers – a bargain.
EATINBRIXTON 