About Kennington Observer

Surreptitiously observing Kennington, including the suburbs Vauxhall, Oval, Walworth, and Elephant since 2012. We're fiercely independent and never boring.

Cue Point London @ Orbit Brewery

Posted on September 8, 2023 by Kennington Observer

Frequent Runoff readers are aware that we have our own micro independent brewery right here in Greater Kennington (Walworth) and we’re fans (Read our review here). Mind you, we could be bigger fans of their tadziki flavoured beer but you can’t have everything in life and we respect that culinary endeavour. Orbit has rotating guest chefs and for quite some time the kitchen has been home to Cue Point London, an acclaimed and delicious street food brand specialising in Afghan BBQ and brisket.

Under the sobriquet of ‘gorgeous and very hungry members of the public’, KR staff got chatting with chef and Cue Point founder Mursal Saiq and she informed us that she was born in Afghanistan, lived in India, and is now based in the UK. Her menus embrace these backgrounds with huge inspiration from recipes passed down from her mother. Everything is made either on site or in a nearby kitchen (including the to die for naan bread), and Mursal added with enthusiasm that one objective of Cue Point is to help refugees and immigrants in the hospitality sector. We’re hooked already, so let’s eat….

Cedric, our office junior who needs to work on his timekeeping, went for the headline item on the menu: 14 hr Oak Smoked Beef Brisket Steak served with Afghan naan, jalapeño jam and Chef’s pickles. Cedric claims to have travelled extensively in the southern US and noted that the four large slabs of brisket, showing good bark (burned edges), resembled closely what he had seen in the BBQ joints there. The meat was very moist from a long, slow cooking. The Afghan twist was in being served on flat naan and with a spicier sauce than you’ll find in Texas.

Your scribe had the naan taco mix featuring thee tacos presented in naan bread. The vegan taco was based on a smoky aubergine and pickle and Mursal informed us that she even makes her own vegan mayo. The other was generously crammed with the brisket that Cedric ordered, and a surprisingly smoky and almost sweet chicken was the main feature of the third. Thoroughly yummy, including the little pickles to cut through some of the richness. At £15 these mains were good value: higher quality than, say, Bodean’s yet at a lower price.

To add to our carnivorous evening we had cheese and herb croquettes and cheesy potato skins, which weren’t skins as much as they were giant potatoes anointed with gooey cheese. Cue Point make all their sauces in house, and they’re all great. Double down on the Afghan chutney, jalapeno jam, and aioli for dipping everything in. And in the unlikely event that there’s any left over, take the sauce home but you’ll probably be drinking it by the time you get to Kennington Lane. But don’t take our work for it, as even foodie god Jay Rayner is in on the act.

Feel Good Festival

Posted on August 30, 2023 by Kennington Observer

Under the guise of us refusing to admit that summer is actually over, we have yet another fun and free festival happening this weekend (2 September) in Embassy Square in Vauxhall, and its called the ‘Feel Good Festival’. Now before your naughty brain gets the wrong idea (we know what you’re like), it is about wellness and not those other things that make us feel good.

While most festivals we promote on the Runoff involve abusing your body in some form, the Feel Good festival is a whole day celebration of wellness including outdoor pilates, fitness classes, live music, well being workshops, healthy food and drink (read…no bar), market stalls, and games. While this event is free some of the courses being offered are more labour intensive and there is a fee, and tickets can be scored here

The Feel Good Festival is in Embassy Gardens this coming Saturday from 10:00 to 17:00 and is free, just turn up. If you’ve never heard of Embassy Gardens you can be forgiven because it only came into existence a few years ago, and is behind the US embassy.

Victorian Vauxhall

Posted on August 23, 2023 by Kennington Observer

Fun Things to do Over the Bank Holiday #1

In the past we haven’t really covered this annual Greater Kennington event in Spring Gardens in Vauxhall because we thought it looked a bit corny and was geared towards kids. However, it seems more interesting this year by the breadth of activities and the involvement of the great pub Jolly Gardeners and the lovely (but overpriced) beer hall Mother Kellys.

The press release states that Victorian Vauxhall will ‘recreate the magic of the past with captivating performances, vintage displays and fun for all ages’. Also holding fort will be jesters, acrobats, a regency hair salon (!), and someone intriguingly called a ‘Bubbleologist’. And we’re sure many good local food stalls will be available to keep you full. The press release also excitedly mentions the chance to go sky high in a hot air balloon. But to be honest, if you want to see people sky high in Vauxhall all you really need to do is stroll over there on any random Saturday night.

Victorian Vauxhall is this Saturday, the 26^th from 2 to 7 and is totally free. When we were sent the photo below our initial thought was that these men must be promoting some new fetish night at a Vauxhall nightclub. As it turns out, they’re portraying Victorian bodybuilders and they will also be present.

Theo’s in Elephant

Posted on August 19, 2023 by Kennington Observer

At the Runoff we take our annual top 10 Best Places to Eat © rundown very seriously. So purely under the guise of quality assurance and not as a flimsy excuse wolf down pizza on a weeknight, we return to Theo’s in Elephant to see if it still deserves it’s #2 ranking.

Our marketing intern Millicent ordered one of the specials: the Fugazzeta. It was topped with mozzarella, gorgonzola, onion, olives, garlic and parmesan. Millie is proving to be an intern without a great eye for detail, and had not read that it was in fact a “white” pizza, ie without tomato sauce. Luckily, the well drilled staff at Theo’s heeded her request to throw some sauce on top and probably upset the chef in the process. Moving on, there was no stinting on the gorgonzola, so not for the fainthearted. The result was a super cheesy-oniony topping, complemented by plump olives and subtle garlic. And of course the usual top-notch, chewy, blistered Neapolitan-style base.

The not so white pizza
Sausage and Tropea

Your scribe had another special, the sausage and tropea onion pizza. We had frankly never heard of a tropea onion, but it was delicate, sweet, and quite tender. The yellow tomatoes were a treat as was the inclusion of a cheese not often seen on a pizza, pecorino. But what made this pizza were the sizeable chunks of fennel sausage. And again, the sourdough and slightly scorched base finished it off perfectly. And for £12/13, it seemed pretty fair to us and in our less than humble opinion Theo’s remains the best pizza in Greater Kennington, and that is no mean feat in these parts.

On the drinks front, Theo’s has a good selection of Italian wines and beers at good prices. Millie was a bit alarmed that the carafe of wine ordered was solely for the consumption of your author. But if you’re reading this Millie (and if not you really should be) at the end of a day you’re just an intern so content yourself with that Pepsi Max and a made up pizza.

Louie Louie

Posted on August 3, 2023 by Kennington Observer

When you think ‘I really fancy a night in a highly acclaimed yet quiet restaurant’ the first thing that pops into your head probably isn’t Walworth Road. But alas, on a rainy Wednesday we find ourselves at the very delightful Louie Louie, nestled comfortably between Poundbusters and one of those dodgy joints where you can get your phone unlocked.

Louie Louie has the unconventional approach of having rotating chefs and menus in the evening, and until 2 September the man of the moment is Daniel Lloyd of Pamela’s Pizza. He was happy to come to our table and told us about his unconventional approach to making pizzas. Firstly, he plans to change the menu on a fortnightly basis (so don’t get your hopes up about ordering the pizzas we’re about to describe) and refreshingly asked for our feedback about how the pizzas could evolve. We love a passionate chef.

Apparently the starters do not change, and to begin we have the fermented orange hazelnut foccacia with allspice butter. This was served in three huge wedges, really too big considering the mains on the menu are all pizzas or calzones. That said it was delicious – dense and, in nice way, perfumed along with a hazelnut crunch. We let Daniel (who at one point we accidentally called ‘Danielle Lloyd’) know that two pieces would have sufficed.

It wasn’t about to fall off the table

On the pizza front, your scribe had a beef and pork ragu pizza which was almost like a pasta dish on a pizza base. Daniel explained that one of his techniques is that he uses very little cheese and tomato sauce in his pizzas and this was very generous on the meat front, with roast tomatoes and a sprinkling of parmesan being dominant. My dining partner had a cauliflower cheese and black pudding calzone. The folded over pizza was heavy on the sauce and dotted with buffalo mozzarella and the black pudding was in small chunks. To quote this secret diner it was this was ‘a bit unrelenting in its richness and creaminess’. All in all is was a delicious, if not experimental meal. But if you go, please do not mix up the chef with a former Page 3 model/Big Brother contestant.

If it is lunch you prefer, Louis Louie does a mean line in toasties. These are also served at their small outlet in Elephant Park, Little Louie, as are cocktails.

Greengrassi Gallery

Posted on July 1, 2023 by Kennington Observer

We have to admit that we were only made aware of this Kennington gallery by a tourist website (and its usually them nicking ours ideas). So after we did a bit of research we discovered that Greengrassi is a rather enigmatic independent gallery with rotating exhibits by groundbreaking artists such as Turner Prize winner Tomma Abts. So under the guise of sunhatted local art aficionados, we recently popped over to inspect their latest offering, ‘nightlight’ (poor punctuation not ours) by Karin Ruggaber and Simon Ling.

Karin Ruggaber is a professor at Slade and works in sculpture. Working with a range of different media, her work explores aspects of touch, feeling, and our relationship to architecture. She’s been exhibited at Tate Modern so she probably knows what she’s talking about. Simon Ling is a studio based painter who depicts materials mostly found but sometimes made. Ling’s subjects include rotting pieces of wood, undergrowth and (stick with us) circuit boards. He gives these unloved items a sense of agency by adding beauty, thereby making them valued again.

Karin’s work at Greengrassi is an edit of 75 photos she took following in the footsteps of two amateur photographers in Rome in the early 20^th century. The pictures depict fountains and buildings in Rome and are manipulated into quite stunning and tiny sepia/silvery images. Simon’s quite monumental paintings depict rotting and unwanted plants in a setting somewhat like a deserted garden centre. In a sense these captured plants exist somewhere between life and death and create a dystopian yet optimistic view or our green world.

Greengrassi is at 1A Kempsford Road behind the Cotton’s Garden Estate and is totally free and open to the public. It is located behind some rather sinister looking black doors but don’t let that put you off! Open Tuesday to Saturday 12-6. nighlight is on until 29 July.

Return of the Duchy Arms

Posted on June 17, 2023 by Kennington Observer

We sometimes worry about the fate the Duchy Arms pub in Sandcroft street as it suffers from BPL syndrome (Bad Pub Location) and people forget that it exists. It also appears to have had more chefs than Boris Johnson has kids. However, it very much does still exist and has a huge beer garden for us all to enjoy in this warm weather.

When we arrived we were a bit unsettled by the lack of people in the garden (which used to be a car park). That didn’t prevent us from drinking quickly and then ordering food. Your scribe chose from the a la carte menu and had the breast of chicken with roasted potatoes. The substantial chicken was lemony and lightly crusted and served with a rich and creamy wild mushroom sauce. The roasted potatoes were slightly peppery and pleasingly greasy. Our new intern Pam had the creamy mussels marinière which she deemed to be good quality and generously sized, with plenty of garlic.

Phil from accounts chose from the pub menu as he spends most of his life in pubs and it offered pub classics: burgers, fish and chips. The burgers were also substantial and featured bacon and cheddar as standard. The meat patties were thick and homemade, there was a good Mac-style burger sauce, and the fries alongside were decent. However, when we asked the server if the fries had ever been in a VERY cold place she giggled and changed the topic. As the evening continued it appeared that the BPL curse had been lifted as the Duchy began to fill up with people relaxing after working out, dates, and people generally out for a good time.

In addition to the satisfying food and quiet atmosphere, the Duchy also has nice staff and they even brought our drinks to the table. And if that isn’t good enough, all of their meat is sourced from PJ Frankland & Sons in Vauxhall. And you haven’t discovered it yet, then get with the programme as Franklands is a friendly family business run by a sister and brother.

Brian Clarke at Newport St.

Posted on June 13, 2023 by Kennington Observer

Most of us equate stained glass with ecclesiastical feelings of guilt, forgiveness, penitence and, in our case, parental disappointment that we’ve chosen to work at a publishing house that might not actually exist. However, the newest offering at Vauxhall’s Newport Street Gallery takes stained glass out of the church and challenges us to consider it as a stand alone form of art, and we’ve just checked it out for you.

Brian Clarke is regarded as the most significant figure working in stained glass today and the current show, ‘A Great Light’, is an overview of his output over the past 20 years. On the ground floor we encounter a quite mesmerising new work called ‘Ardath’, a huge wall of mouth blown glass depicting a floating, flowering meadow in springtime. A selection of Matisse like cut outs complement the work on the opposite wall. The other downstairs rooms feature skulls in a variety of settings.

Upstairs we are presented first with an aquatic theme, in which a warship and men on a beach appear to be oscillating and moving in dot matrix compositions. The final rooms are the most interesting, and consist of a series of folding screens which possess a kind of ethereal beauty. Screens are intended to prevent us from seeing something, but these screens invite us to look through them with their depictions of jellyfish, heraldry, and flowers. Also in these galleries are smaller, jewel like panels presented on plinths.

A Great Light is foremost an uplifting and life affirming body of work (in spite of the skulls) and feels quite appropriate for a sunny summer’s day. And if you don’t like stained glass they have an ace selection of merch to make your friends think you’re a real art connoisseur.

Brian Clark, A Great Light is open now until 24 September at the Newport St. Gallery and is totally free. Just turn up.

Mystery of the Vacant Lot

Posted on June 4, 2023 by Kennington Observer

Ever wondered about the existence and future of that giant gravelled eyesore of a vacant lot next to the Beefeater Distillery in Montford place? Well we’ve just been on a tour with the developers and we’re here to fill you in on what’s in store

For many years the site was occupied by Hayward’s pickle factory until it was partially destroyed in 1944. The bit that survived lives on as the Beefeater Factory. After changing hands a number of times, the lot next to it was purchased by TfL in order to have a place to store equipment and lorries working on the Northern Line extension. TfL have now partnered with Grainger Homes to deliver 139 homes, 40% of which will be dedicated to affordable living. It will be 11 floors and occupy most of the footprint of the site, with grasses and trees included. Construction will started by the end of 2023 and it will be called Montford Mews

Not what it will look like, This is the pickle factory

My first question to very peppy and well informed TfL developer Susanne is probably the question that almost all Runoff readers are thinking right now. Namely, what do you call ‘affordable’ and why is it that only people in high earning jobs appear to be living in these allegedly affordable flats? She said that Lambeth Living determine what is affordable and it is usually between 40 to 60% of the market rate. She added that people are allocated the flats based on their earnings the previous year and preference is given for people already living or working in Lambeth.

Gripping site photos

On our previous tours of Oval Village across the road we asked about access to the general public and if people will offer a short cut between Kennington Lane and the Oval. They confirmed that it will, and Susanne confirmed that the public will be able to walk through the Montford site as well. There will be businesses on the ground floor, but they will be light industrial (ie offices). We were heartened to discover that the affordable living people living in the affordable flats will have access to the same amenities (gym, etc) as folks paying the full whack.

Susanne also mentioned another very similar project that will see 450 (!!) new homes built above Nine Elms tube station. However, dear reader, it was long ago we became unable to keep up with the vertical insanity of Vauxhall, so if you want more details click here.

Planning permission has been granted for both the Montfort and Nine Elms sites. But please don’t ask us to weigh in on planning consent as we did that once and we still can’t get that toothpaste back in it’s tube.

The Kennington Observer

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

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