Tag Archives: Italian restaurant

The Best Places to Eat in Greater Kennington #5

+ One Sunday Roast

Didi and Franc

And the number 5 spot is nailed by posh deli and restaurant Didi and Franc. The review below is from a gastronomic visit undertaken in November, 2023.

It’s been long overdue but we’ve finally paid visit to the little restaurant at Didi and Franc in Kennington Cross. For those not in the know, D&F is an upmarket deli/cheese/bread/wine shop that generally sells gorgeous foodie things that you have no practical use for but still want. The cheese section being particularly good. Didi and Franc are real people and usually on hand and possess a forensic knowledge of the food they sell and the items on the menu as they’re the ones who ordered and cook the stuff. The short and precisely primed dinner menu is Italian.

Karen from finance loves a mackerel, so we shared a smoked mackerel mousse which was light in texture but punchy in flavour, served with some of the delicious sourdough bread sold in the deli. Karen chose to follow this with a vegetarian (possibly vegan) option of mushroom and chestnut tortellini with pesto rosso, cavolo nero and chestnuts. Chestnut feels wonderfully autumnal so it’s nice to see this feature. The generously filled homemade tortellini having a rich nutty taste that went beautifully with a red pepper flavoured pesto and a bit of green hit from the cavolo nero. Karen got so excited that while in the midst of chewing she yelled out, to a shocked room, ‘this dish a triumph’! Or words to that effect.

Beef
Mackerel

Your scribe consumed beef shin and red wine tortellini with tomato sauce. This was next level cheffy stuff with a very rich, wine based tomato sauce and seven tortellini stuffed with beef shin so delicate that it melted before hitting the back of my palate. My tortellini was perfectly al dente with a touch of parmesan. Pumpkin pie was a surprise dessert not originally on the menu but that had just been rustled up by Franc himself. An American who later joined us declared it to be a world apart from Wal-Mart (we have no idea what this means but is probably a good thing): warming spices blending with the pumpkin puree and with a top-notch sweet pastry crust. Probably not too different to the pecan pie on the menu.

More experienced readers might recall that the premises now held by D&F was formerly an Oddbins and a place of sacred refuge after many a fraught team meeting here at Runoff towers. So when it first opened we were disappointed at the pearl clutchingly high price of their wines. Well can we confirm that either Didi or Franc got the message as the prices are now a bit more reasonable (but still high). And with a certain gift giving holiday just around the corner, D&F could be the perfect destination for your foodie friends. And they also do ‘make your own’ hampers.

The restaurant at D&F is open during the second half of the week and we strongly advise that you book as the first time we couldn’t get a seat.

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Counter Termini – the best pizza in Kennington and beyond

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Sadly Counter Termini and Counter both closed down shortly after the opening of Termini.

There’s a bit of a dearth of Italian restaurants in Kennington at the moment. First of all Sirena’s shut down, apparently because the office it was based in wanted something healthier and more modern. Then Amici closed for an extended refurbishment that doesn’t seem to be progressing. Even Pizza Express was briefly closed due to flooding. Well, there’s a new restaurant in town and to say it’s the best Italian in the area really doesn’t do it justice – Counter Termini serve some of the best pizza we’ve had.

~~The premises used to be Back Counter, on the other side of the railway arch from Counter itself. The interior hasn’t changed much, except for the introduction of a wood-fired pizza oven.~~

As well as pizza, they serve antipasti, salads and drinks every day from 11.30am to late. We went along to one of their ‘sneak preview’ nights. They’re now in ‘soft launch’ mode, and they’re offering 2-4-1 on all pizzas until June 30th (except when there’s an ICC match at the Oval). If you book, quote ‘Friends & Family’.

This is the Verdura pizza with cherry tomato, aubergine, artichokes, yellow courgette, ricotta, aged balsamic – fresh, flavoursome, and so good we started eating it before taking the photo. Normally it costs £9:

~~Equally great was the Tonno pizza with tomato, tuna, red onions, capers, oregano (you can probably guess why part of it isn’t in the photo – yum yum). Normally £11:~~

~~They’re also rightly proud of Mahrez’ Greek Salad:~~

~~They do takeaway, and they’re about to launch delivery services via Uber Eats and Deliveroo.~~

~~Counter Termini is a great addition to West Kennington and indeed to London.~~

~~Address: Arch 50, South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1SR~~

~~T – 020 3693 9600~~

Sirena’s Italian restaurant

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it seems Sirena’s closed in August 2016 – see comments below.

If you’re going back to work tomorrow and you need cheering up then get yourself down to Sirena’s for lunch. Sirena’s is an old-fashioned mom and pop Italian restaurant that has been operating since 1991 in the basement of Southbank House, an office building on Black Prince Road, yards from the Thames.

Here’s the rather unpromising entrance:

But once you get downstairs the interior and the friendly welcome of the staff will bring a smile to your face.

It’s always busy at lunchtimes – they have a real devoted following, mostly made up of workers from nearby offices. You might want to book but you can’t do this online – phone them on 020 7587 0683. Their website is worth a look though – it would have looked out of date in 1991.

The food is typical, homely Italian fare with an emphasis on dishes from the South, where the founders Walter, Silvano and Carlo are from. They do a mean garlic bread pizza to start:

This is a special of tortellini with spinach, ricotta and courgettes. They make cold versions of the specials and bring these out on plates to show you what they look like.

And for dessert, they have a trolley, like in the olden days!

It’s taken us ages to get along there as they’re only open weekday daytimes (they serve full English breakfast from 8am as well as lunch), presumably because they’re in the basement of an office building. The food is decent but it’s the atmosphere that really makes it worth a visit, as this Guardian review explains. We forgot to ask for a cappuccino – does anyone know what happens when you do?

Kennington Runoff

Surreptitiously exploring Kennington, including the suburbs Vauxhall, Oval, Walworth, and Elephant, since 2012

Tag Archives: Italian restaurant

The Best Places to Eat in Greater Kennington #5

Counter Termini – the best pizza in Kennington and beyond

Sirena’s Italian restaurant