Author Archives: Kennington Runoff

Emanuel Peruvian restaurant

Big things are happening with Peruvian cuisine in London – Soho’s Ceviche now has its own cookbook, and Fitzrovia’s very fine Lima restaurant was recently awarded a Michelin star. But fear not – North Kennington, AKA London’s Latin American Quarter, has its own Peruvian restaurant, Emanuel on Amelia Street (in fact it has more than one, but that is for another day). We’ve never been to Peru but based on dining experiences elsewhere in Latin America, we suspect Emanuel is a lot closer to what you’ll find in Peru than Lima is. It’s not much to look at inside or out, but go there for the food and the atmosphere. We went on a Sunday lunchtime when the kitchen is open until 3pm, and it was packed with Latin Americans, including one birthday party.

While you’re waiting for your food – and it could be a while if they’re busy – they will bring you toasted chulpe corn, AKA cancha salada, Peru’s all-time favourite snack, which is like crunchier popcorn:

Cancha salada - toasted chulpe corn - Emanuel Peruvian restaurant - kenningtonrunoff.com

Ceviche (pretty different to what you’ll get in the Soho Ceviche):

ceviche - Emanuel Peruvian restaurant - kenningtonrunoff.com

Paella (pescatarians will do fine at Emanuel; vegetarians less well):

paella - Emanuel Peruvian restaurant - kenningtonrunoff.com

And to drink, how about an Inca Kola, a Peruvian national icon containing lemon verbena, or Cristal, a Peruvian lager (not to to be confused with the Chilean or Cuban beers of the same name):

Inca Kola and Cristal beer - Emanuel Peruvian restaurant - kenningtonrunoff.com

Actually, before you order the Kola, check the nutritional advice:

Inca Kola nutrition advice - Emanuel Peruvian restaurant - kenningtonrunoff.com

The Prince of Wales

Early this year Londonist asked “What’s the best pub in Kennington and South Kennington?“. The Dog House came out top, and it’s certainly the most visited pub in Kennington. The Old Red Lion was second and has a lot going for it, including its garden and its record player. But for lovers of traditional boozers, outside drinking, and boules, there can only be one winner – The Prince of Wales on Cleaver Square.

They offer real ales from “Britain’s oldest brewery”, Kent’s Shepherd Neame. They serve a menu of high end pub classics. If you want to be outside on the square, they will serve your drink in a plastic cup and even loan you a boules set. When you’re inside the pub, you’ll feel like you could be anywhere in the countryside in the south of England, any time in the last 100 years. Their website boasts that the Richardson gang used to hang out there in the 1960s. Nowadays the Countryside Alliance gang would feel more at home there.

The Prince of Wales pub, Cleaver Square - kenningtonrunoff.com

Cleaver Square and boules

Cleaver Square is one of London’s most desirable residential areas – it’s picturesque, architecturally unspoilt, closed to through traffic yet lively thanks to the pub in the corner, and conveniently located close to the throbbing heart of Kennington, between Kennington Park Road and Kennington Cross.

Cleaver Square houses at dusk - kenningtonrunoff.com

It’s home to leading politicians, award-winning author Sarah Waters, and a large boules pitch in its centre, surrounded by benches for spectators and outdoor drinkers. Players don’t need to invest in a boules set, they can simply lay down a £20 deposit in the very fine Prince of Wales pub and stroll outside for a game of pétanque. But get there early if it’s a warm evening, to beat the throngs of after-work drinkers, former Liberal Democrat leaders, and students from the City & Guilds art school. A couple of years ago, luxury brands all decided to congregate eagerly around pétanque, with Karl Lagerfeld hosting a pétanque party, Chanel and Louis Vuitton creating their own limited edition boules sets, and style supplements a-cooing, dubbing it ‘the trendiest game in London’. We thought the hysteria had died down, and hoped you could once again enjoy a game of boules in Cleaver Square without someone from Pernod Ricard trying to corral you into their pop-up concept event. But Lacoste took over the square recently for precisely that purpose:

Boules, petanque in Cleaver Square - kenningtonrunoff.com

The excellent Wikipedia entry on Kennington has information on the history of Cleaver Square which was once called Prince’s Square, but has barely changed for decades as you can see in this photo from 1964 (with thanks to ideal-homes.org.uk/).

cleaver-square-01722-750 Kennington, 1964 from ideal-homes.org.uk

Cleaver Square also plays host to the annual Kennington Village Fete.

Apple Day at Roots and Shoots

The Roots and Shoots HQ is one of the best modern buildings in South London. Designed by Paul Notley and finished in 2005 on the site of a former Meccano warehouse, it’s the kind of building that will make you think “Come back Tony Blair, all is forgiven”. Momentarily.

Roots & Shoot building

Roots and Shoots is a charity providing agricultural training for young people from the surrounding area, a little like Kennington Flowers but on a much bigger scale. They have an eco-training centre, a plant nursery, a shop, a wildlife study centre and a wild garden. The garden is one element that can be visited all year round, but by appointment only.

If you’re not a 16 to 19 year old in need of education or training then the easiest way to visit is their annual Apple Day which takes place this Sunday October 6th. Learn about and sample the hundreds of varieties of apples that are all-but extinct nowadays, plus you can buy plants, local honey and second-hand books, and all that other good stuff one sees at these events. COMMUNITY.

Snap up the apple juice before Kennington’s own Prince Charles does – apparently he sends his butler down every year to buy most of what Roots and Shoots press.

Apple Day at Roots & Shoot - kenningtonrunoff.com

It’s open from 11am to 4pm and it’s £1 to get in, or free for children.

Roots and Shoot Apple Day 2013

Bedrock’s 15th birthday party at Fire

Nowadays, as readers of this blog will realise, we like nothing better than to spend our evenings visiting the pubs, restaurants, art galleries and yoga centres of Kennington. But once upon a time, a night out for Kennington Runoff might have involved a trip to a nightclub – and one of our favourite club nights for its amazing atmosphere was John Digweed’s Bedrock. Back then, Bedrock took place at Heaven in Charing Cross, but like many of London’s more adrenaline-fuelled club nights, it has since relocated to West Kennington. Bedrock celebrate their 15th anniversary this Saturday at West Kennington’s own superclub Fire with a seven hour set from Mr Digweed himself. We won’t be attending – the only place we’d spend seven hours for entertainment nowadays is a test match at the Oval – but we’re sure it will “go off” as the kids may or may not still say. If you haven’t got a ticket, get down by 10pm when there will be 150 tickets available on the door.

Bedrock flier

Lambeth Open

Lambeth Open sees artists and makers across the borough open their doors to the public from 10am to 6pm both days this weekend, October 5th and 6th.

Both the spaces on display in Kennington are new to us so we look forward to having a nosey around:

Eszter Szicso is a Hungarian-born painter based at 6 Gaysley House, Hotspur Street in West Kennington, SE11 6TS.

Three different artists are based at 331 Kennington Lane, also in West Kennington.

Elefest

Elefest is the festival for North and East Kennington and runs from October 4th to 6th. In previous years we’ve enjoyed the The StockMKT, a night market on Friday and Saturday from 5pm-10pm with great food, craft beer, arts and crafts, live music and DJs.

This year you can also go on a tour of the subways under the north roundabout with David Bratby, the artist who painted the murals on their walls, and there’s an art exhibition in the old doctor’s surgery on the soon-to-be-demolished Heygate Estate which has got to be worth a visit for lovers of ruin porn. There’s a screening of The Harder They Come, which features one of the Kennington Runoff’s favourite records, Many Rivers To Cross by Jimmy Cliff, followed by a DJ set from Don Letts.

More Elefest events here.

The Elefest branding is really great this year, and will be even better when the festival is given its rightful name, North Kennifest:

Elefest banner

Always Be Comedy at the Tommyfield

One of London’s best small comedy nights takes place every second Thursday upstairs at Kennington gastropub The TommyfieldSign up to their email list to find out about occasional big name attendees like Russell Howard, Russell Kane and Jason Manford, but even when the big names are absent the line-up tends to be more hit than miss. Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award Nominee Carl Donnelly headlines this Thursday. Don’t sit in the front row unless you want to participate – last time around the actor Marc Warren was there and was roped into more than one routine. Tickets are £6 online or £7 on the door – a bargain for five acts plus some energetic compering.

That Pair at Always Be Comedy at The Tommyfield

That Pair at Always Be Comedy at The Tommyfield

Space Station Sixty Five

Richard & Judy’s Channel 4 TV show was filmed in Kennington for eight years, and part of the former TV studio is now the Space Station Sixty Five art gallery at 373 Kennington Road. SS65 is run by artists and features modern art and sculpture, often with a feminist aspect.

At times, you might feel like you’re in the art gallery equivalent of Reginald Perrin’s Grot, but there is great stuff such as the automata by Paul Spooner. This one is called The Dream although the version in the gallery is slightly different:


I’m not sure who this is by but it’s quite fun:

Hairy biker, Space Station Sixty Five - kenningtonrunoff.com

The current exhibition is Long Time Dead by Debra Swann:

dustpan and brush by Debra Swann at Space Station Sixty Five - kenningtonrunoff.com Space Station 65 cardboard sculpture by Debra Swann - kenningtonrunoff.com

Some items are for sale including these toby jugs by Cathie Pilkington for just £425 each. Better pictures of them can be found here, and they do sell some cheap items as well:

Space Station Sixty Five - Toby Jugs by Cathie Pilkington - kenningtonrunoff.com

The gallery is open Thursday to Saturday midday to 6pm, or by appointment, and they stay open until 8.30pm on the last Friday of every month, which means tonight.