Author Archives: Kennington Observer

About Kennington Observer

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

Taro Time

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As most of you are aware we’ve had a lovely, much overdue Japanese joint on our doorstep for nine months now and we recently checked it out (ok, we’ve actually been about eight times). We have to confess to a slight bias as we’ve been going to Taro’s Soho outlet for about 16 years and it’s great to see a Soho venue in our area, but without the rickshaws, sick and stag ‘dos.  This was one of our predecessors’ top 10 earlier this year, but will it make the cut again?

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We were in Japan earlier this year and went to Taro with our friend Mark, who actually lived in Japan for years and acted as our cultural attaché. We had sushi (both tempura-maki and other maki) which was fresh and generous on the fish side. We also had fried chicken (below), which was crunchy and equally meaty. For a veg angle we also indulged in juicy tofu steak, with a surfeit of ginger and wasabi. For sides we recommend onshinko pickles and gyoza dipped in soy vinegar.

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Taro is honest, authentic ‘Izakaya’, (roughly meaning ‘pub food’) very similar to  the food you get in Japan and is good value for money. While this is the best Japanese in the Runoff catchment area and it’s environs, we have to concede that *dodges brick*  if you want the real deal there are more authentic Japanese places in London. So, if you like your sushi made in right in front of you by grumpy chefs, you might try venturing to Eat Tokyo. However, if you want to keep it local Taro is a firm choice, but do reserve as a few weeks ago we couldn’t get our hands on a table!IMG_5193

 

For the curious, apparently Taro roughly means ‘dude’ in Japanese and on most nights Taro himself  is on the premises (his round face is the logo). He likes to talk about his lovely farming family who’s picture graces the back wall, so pick his brain.

Eleanor Coade and the Code of her Stone

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We’re going slightly off grid here to take you up to the Kennington suburb of  Waterloo. If you’ve ever had the misfortunate of being trapped in a srcum of people trying to make their way into ‘Shrek’s Adventure London’ you might have noticed a remarkably pristine and proud lion on the southern end of Westminster Bridge, guarding the entrance in Lambeth. The lion was created by William Woodington but was cast in a remarkable stone invented by local resident and female pioneer Eleanor Coade and is called ‘The Coadestone Lion’.

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Our feline friend was created in 1837 to dangle at the pinnacle of the Lion Brewery. The building was pulled down in 1949 to make way for the Royal Festival Hall and the poor beast then suffered a number of indignities including having a time capsule stuck up his bum, being painted red, and then getting dropped. After a brief stint outside Waterloo station his destiny was preserved at the bridge in 1966 and afterwards he achieved a Grade II listing (talk about hard work). His noble and pristine appearance has endured due to Eleanor’s  invention of a highly durable, frost and freeze proof artificial stone, which is actually a kind of ceramic. The formula was created in our backyard by Eleanor at the cusp of the 18thand 19thcentury.  Eleanor is said to have taken the formula to her grave when she died in 1821, and it has since been lost.

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There were a number of potteries and ceramics factories experimenting with artificial  stone in Vauxhall at the time and perhaps Eleanor chose to ply her trade in our area in order to capitalise on the industry. In spite of stiff competition, Coade’s stone proved very popular and was commissioned for  use in Buckingham Palace, the National Gallery, and the Royal Opera House. If you would like to see specimens of her craft but are afraid you might turn to stone yourself if you leave greater Kennington, check out Captain Bligh’s tomb at the Gardening Museum, the porch at the main entrance of Brunswick House, or the lovely gargoyles above the windows at 57 South Lambeth Road next to the ‘opposite of lovely’ Travis Perkins. After 1840 her formula was lost and has never been recreated.

Have a nice weekend and enjoy exploring….

Roots and Shoots

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Having just spent the past week dodging raindrops in Scotland, we fully appreciate that summer is a fleeting thing.  So without further adieu we would like to make you aware, or remind you of, a wonderful little green space in our not very green patch of earth.

Roots and Shoots is a registered charity and vocational hub dedicated to educating disaffected young people aged 16 -25 in Lambeth and Southwark and preparing them for the world of work through one year internships in areas such as horticulture and retail.  It’s also a green space for urban biodiversity and is frequently visited by school groups eager to learn more about plants and how much of our food is grown.

The roughly half acre around Roots and Shoots is quite a unique space and presents itself less as a garden and more as an active, urban farm and space for insects and urban animals to grow and thrive. On our visit we saw tomatoes, marrows and blackberries ready to be harvested in addition to loads of veg which we had never heard of.  Unlike Walworth Garden (which we wrote about in June) Roots and Shoots does not provide a wealth of places to sit and ponder but loads of space to wander and ponder and is open to the public daily.

If you’re keen to get involved in Roots and Shoots you can attend one of their ‘Magpie Kitchen’ pop up dinner nights or hire a room for an event. They also have a fun ‘apple day’ in early October where you can learn about apples, buy apple juice, and maybe even throw apples if the mood takes you there….

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Culture Under Attack at IWM

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As busy Kenningtonians we sometimes forget that we have a massive, world class museum on our doorstep. To address this we recently decided to take a moment out of our exhausting cycle of  Murder She Wrote repeats deadlines to pop along to the Imperial War Museum to see their latest show ‘Culture Under Attack’,

Culture Under Attack is set over three gallery spaces and grapples with the  distinct ways in which our cultural lives are compromised during conflict. We spent the most time in ‘Rebel Sounds’, an immersive exhibition which deals with music censorship in four vastly different eras and cultures; Nazi Germany, northern Mali, Northern Ireland in the ‘70’s, and Serbia in the 90’s. The theme is how specific people or institutions sought to rebel against censorship and prevail. The Northern Irish story is told by record store owner Terri Hooley. The northern Mali story is told by the band Songhoy Blues, who now perform their music as exiles in the south of the country.

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A second exhibtion is called ‘What Remains’, and focuses on how war kills not just the ones we love but also the cultural symbols which help make up our identity. The exhibit moves in time from the physical destruction of Hiroshima to the very conscious destruction of icons and art by ISIS only a few years ago. In each of these exhibitions you are invited to take a quiz about the importance of culture, censorship, and the protection of buildings.

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The third exhibition is called ‘Art in Exile’ and it focuses on attempts by the IWM and other galleries to safeguard their works of art during WW2, and how at times these attempts failed. This exhibit also details the heroic and altruistic methods employed to protect other forms of material culture in times of conflict by undertaking activites such as concerts and plays. It poses several intriguing questions such as ‘to what lengths do we go to preserve culture’.

Culture Under Attack is free to all of us and open until 5 January. Get your good selves along this weekend as it’s a hell a of a lot better than thinking about Brexit or climate change.

Daebak – A Korean Worth Visiting

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A few days ago we popped our sweaty selves to Vauxhall to revisit a delightful Korean friend called ‘Daebak’.  It is a small, delightful restaurant not to be confused with the not so charming ‘Jihwaja’ across the road. Well, unless your idea of charming involves hen do’s, stale kimchee and blaring K-Pop. And if it does then this website might not be for you…..

For our meal the three of us ordered soy garlic chicken (a speciality, below), spicy bibimbap,  Katsu curry, crispy tofu, and gyoza. Let me tell you, reader, we were rolling out of there by the end of it. We could have easily dropped one of the main courses as they were huge. We highly recommend the various kinds of fried chicken on order (crunchy, subtle) and the Bibimbap is delicious and comes with two veg. options. I would also experiment with a starter like octopus balls. Great food, and pretty kind on the pocket. If you are going on a weekend it might be a good idea to book, as last time we couldn’t get in we had to go across the street and it wasn’t pretty.

Daebak is at 316-318 Kennington Lane

Pros – It has wide open doors overlooking Vauxhall

Cons – It has wide open doors overlooking Vauxhall

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The Railings That Aren’t Railings

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I thew this up on Instagram a couple of weeks ago (if you don’t follow us there, please do!) and it seemed rather popular, so we’ll post it again here.

Have you ever noticed some strange looking railings outside a number of Kennington estates? Well they are actually stretchers left over from WW2 and have found a new life.  The smaller ones were probably used for children. An early form of ‘up cycling’.

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Adulis – A Mighty Fine Eritrean Joint

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We are spoilt for choice when is comes to Eritrean/Ethiopian food in greater Kennington, and there a number just on our outskirts. We have tried them all as we have a problem with binge eating  care about or readers. The best of the lot is called Adulis and is at the top of Brixton Road. It grabbed  the #7 spot in Jamie’s pick of ‘best of Kennington’ earlier this year on the Runoff and is certainly on our long list and has been for a while.

As with any cuisine that might be new, if you’re not familiar with the cuisine the best launching point is a sampler plate. At Adulis it is the ‘Kirchat’ (and there is a vegetarian version). It is fundamentally a selection of their best meat and veg dishes served on a platter usually including Kifto, which is tender meet in Ghee and to die for. All of the dishes haver have a sweet and sour, almost vinegary tinge to them. They gladly pimped our 2 person serving up to 3 as we had a third diner, and the pic is below.  Please don’t let my bad photo below put you off, as not all Eritrean dishes look like cat food.

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This dish is served on a platter with a base of bread called ‘injera’, which is a leavened pancake made with sourdough (and if you run out you can get more for free). Almost all meals here are served with it and the whole shebang is to be eaten with your good hands. One speciality of the house is their Adulis honey wine. We’ve had this previously and lets just place it in the category of ‘experimental’. Since then we’ve stuck to the Kenyan beer ‘Tusker’ or South African whites.

 

Adulis has a slightly retro Eritrean feel to it with memetoes both current and from the past. The staff are very friendly and a good chunk of the punters are (tick!) Eritrean themselves. The place also wafts with the aroma of their coffee (and popcorn) ceremony. Tsibuk E’dl!!!

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St. Anselm’s Church Frieze Being Carved

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Third in our series of historic photos of Kennington takes us to St. Anselm’s church. This photo was taken during the summer of 1933 and depicts the frieze above the Romanesque doors being carved. The artist is Alfred Gerrard, who at the time was head sculptor at the Slade School of Art and is at the bottom of the photo. Carving must be very good exercise, as Mr. Gerrard lived to be 99, 65 years after this photo was taken.

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Always be Kennington

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Are you aware that you have top flight, A lister comedy our doorstep?  The Tommyfield has a magnificent comedy on Thursday (and other) and it’s called Always be Comedy.  We at KR have been frequenting it since it’s inception eight years ago and have seen the likes of Russell Brand, Katherine Ryan, Jimmy Carr and others. A few weeks ago we even saw Harry Hill

The first thing you notice about the ABC crowd is that it feels like you’ve just crashed a reunion of previous  contestants from ‘The Apprentice’. That disquiet can be absolved by a few (not so cheap) bevies.  Your MC and ABC creator is one James Gill, who is on hand to deliver games, anecdotes, foibles and all around mirth. James isn’t the kind of comic who picks on people in the front row, but you might be called upon to take part in a round of golf out of the window or the ‘how posh is your name’ quiz. You might even win a Kinder egg.

The remaining Thursdays are taken up by comics doing one hour sets, consisting usually of new material. This material might then be used on TV, radio or in Edinburgh. If a joke is received by a collective cough it will be classed as ‘Kennington Exclusives’. Late August sees a resumption of usual shorter sets, with great folk like Sara Pascoe.

Always be Comedy tends to sell out, so book some dates here and put them in your little diary.  If you’re anything like us you’ll then forget about until the day before, and then it feels like a little Kinder Egg Christmas present.

The ‘mystery guests’ are usually somebody big, so if you’re short on time watch out for those.

James Gill

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The last time I tried to papp a comedian a got dragged onstage and subjected to ritual humiliation. This crap photo of Mr. Hill is therefore explained.Image-1.png

 

Theo’s Pizzeria

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As we love all things related to cheese, carbohydrates and comfort food, we recently checked out a newish Italian place called  ‘Theos’ in Elephant and Castle. Trust us reader, this was one of the best pieces of dough we’ve stuck in our gobs into for a long time.

As with most good restaurants, the menu at Theos is very small and focusses squarely on the thing they do best. I had the Napoli Salami pizza, which was spicy, full of cheese, and presented with a crust so fine that it had be eaten with a fork.

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My dining partner had the Nduja and Ricotta pizza. It featured sun dried tomatoes and huge mounds of ricotta. As you can see, both pizzas are deliberately charred and blistered, giving them a very earthy and almost smokey taste.

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The vibe at Theo’s is youngish, but not so young that they shy away from playing 80’s music. The venue is bright, airy and staff very friendly. They explained that the venue is the ‘little cousin’ of their original branch in Camberwell. It therefore represents the good side of gentrification in Elephant. Given that the previous occupant was a dreary mattress store with the sinister name ‘Beddie Buyz’, anything would have been an improvement.

As you can see from the bill below, the price point is very reasonable, with pizzas coming in at £10 or less. As you can also see from the bill below our bar tab was more than the food bill, but don’t judge us. Theo’s also does a brisk takeway trade, as evidenced by the many men in helmets who came and went, so you can enjoy your pizza at home. We don’t recommend this manouver, however, as an ethos of KR is getting people on their feet and exploring….Plus Deliveroo is evil.

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