Category Archives: cafes and restaurants

Loving Kennington Park Competition

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Well isn’t this as lovely thing? Our friends over at Kennington Park are running a competition throughout April to ascertain what we Greater Kenningtonians have loved the most about Kennington Park (a lot) during lockdown. Details can be found here.

A word to the wise, folks. We are not exactly the ‘target audience’ for this competition. It is very important to keep your entries clean, so no videos of you tripping over a pram after downing 7 canned Mojitos or a poem about the time you got lucky behind the cafe.

The Rare Burger Deja Vu Experience

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In late 2018 a restaurant existed in central Kennington called ‘Rare Burger Co’. You’re certainly forgiven if you didn’t notice it as it was only open briefly. We attributed its demise to being off the main road, in addition to being situated next to Papa John’s Pizza, which would put anybody off their food. It was a great concept as they served things like cocktails, prawn burgers and great chips. But unfortunately their great chips tasted a bit like prawn burgers, which might have contributed to their downfall. 

Like a phoenix from the ashes, or something else that rises, Rare Burger has been resurrected. A few weeks ago, in the guise of ‘general members of the public’, we got to chatting with the manager when we were passing. We bypassed the awkward ‘your chips taste like prawns’ convo and he explained that the new venue will be much like the past, but they will rely more on takeaways. There will also be an alfresco element and the front area will be refashioned into a beer garden (whoop!) selling Peroni (whoop again) and a weekend BBQ (whoop 3). Their optimism has been peaked by the reopening of Kennington Green, expected in May. 

It was opening day and your noble scribe once again ventured into the realm of the prawn burger. The prawns were presented in a heafty grilled patty, and was served with dill, cabbage, carrot and onion. Delightful all around if you are a prawn fan. For a side your scribe had coleslaw which my dining partner, a self styled coleslaw snob, described as ‘outstanding in it’s creaminess’ and a hit. Both burgers were served on brioche buns. 

My dining partner had the ‘Django’, which was a new take on the burger. It’s hard to be original in burger world without being ridiculous, but in addition to a standard beef patty it contained chorizo slices and blue cheese, which worked a treat. It was proper meaty chorizo and proper blue cheese, which helped. The beef patty was served a bit pink, as requested. This came as a relief as last time Rare Burger informed us, rather ironically, ‘we don’t do rare burgers’. 

Rare Burger is going to slightly emphasise the takeaway market but they haven’t got their takeaway and website up and running yet. Meanwhile, you can order by pitching up of calling them on 020 7091 4360

If you’re interested in the Northern Line Extension or the upcoming Kennington Green, more information can be found here. 

NLE KEN Green Progress Update – March 2021Download

Amici and Their Popup

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In the approximately 15,000 years that have elapsed in the past 12 months we’ve learned a few things, so let’s have a rundown. We now know what to do in those awkward seconds after you say goodbye on Zoom and actually log off. We’ve learned just how much work you can complete while wearing just a onsie and no bra. And third, that  ‘meal boxes’ are really just posh takeaways.  We recently decided to explore the third when we revisited Kennington Cross fixture ‘Amici’.  

Back in the days when it was purely Italian we became somewhat disillusioned with the quality of the food at Amici. Shortly before the world imploded they had a menu overhaul (and presumably a chef overhaul) and now serve Meditteranean and Persian fare – the Persian coming from their much missed restaurant ‘Doost’. Your scribe started with beef carpaccio. It was a large and very finely sliced piece which came with a slightly sweet blueberry vinigrette, dabs of asparagus and thinly sliced cashews. For the mains I had calamari. It came with pureed and whole peas and had a whole sweet/briney thing going on, with a hit of black olives. The calamari was stuffed with herb encrusted Panko breadcrumbs. Both dishes were mighty fine. 

And with recyclable boxes, to boot

My associate opted for the Persian fare, and for the starter s/he had the smoky, roasted aubergine mixed with tomato. It came with a haltingly generous serving of proper Persian bread. For the mains, said associate had a generous and well cooked duck breast smothered by a silky  pomegrante and walnut sauce. It was as rich as it sounds and a taste sensation as the slight bitterness of the walnut contrasted nicely with the sweet pomegranate. It was served with saffron rice, and Amici/Doost have pretty much always known how to nail a rice. 


The total came to £46, which ain’t cheap for a takeaway but hey, what else are you spending your dosh on at the minute? 

What really put Amici firmly back in our field of vision is their new pop up shop, which covers the whole restaurant. On sale is fresh pasta, cakes, wines, herbs, beers, curry paste (?) and Italian beans, amongst others. 

Change Please?

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The jury is still out as to whether the mind boggling juggernaut that is Elephant Park is actually in the Runoff catchment area (if you live there don’t get your hopes up). However, for the purpose of this review it is, as one of the few good things to emerge from it is a social enterprise coffee and cocktail shop called ‘Change Please’, which opened in December.

Change Please is a London based social enterprise venture started five years ago by Cemal Ezel. Disillusioned with his work in the City, Ezel set up Change Please in order to help homeless people become expert Baristas by a offering them training and a London wage job. They also assist people with housing, getting a bank account and therapeutic support if needed. All profits from the company go to reduce homelessness more generally in the UK. How is this possible, you might ask? According to Ezel, ‘The margins in coffee are very wide indeed, but usually not used in the right places’. And that even goes for you, Starbucks. 

There are several branches of ‘Change Please’ and our little outpost enticingly advertises cocktails as well. When we enquired about this the Barista explained that cocktails aren’t on the menu at the moment as lockdown takeaway alcohol just ain’t happenin’, but will be back. This was probably all for the best as it was 10am. For coffee, they have your standard bearer espresso, macchiato, Americana, latte, flat white, cappuccino, teas and baked goods. All of their cups are 100% recyclable. They also stock an impressive range of non coffee items such as soaps, chocolates, peanut butter, teacups and little gift hampers. 

We would love to tell you that we discovered Change Please as a result of our deep and abiding contacts within the social enterprise community. We actually saw it profiled on ‘Jamie and Jimmie’s Friday Night Feast’ on Channel 4. Scroll down on the Change Please website to see what they found.

Change Please is at 131 Walworth Road and well worth a lunchtime/weekend wander. 

Kuma Korean and BTS

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It’s Saturday night and time for a takeaway! Astute readers will be cognizant of our love of the Korean/Japanese joint ‘Kuma’ in Kennington Cross, and it even featured in our much lauded but-ain’t-gonna-happen-this-year-for-obvious-reasons top 10 list. We recently had a takeaway from there and, while not achieving the olfactory heights of being in the restaurant, is definitely worth a Saturday nosh. But Kuma, if you’re reading this we need to have a serious conversation about your excessive use of Styrofoam. Moving on..

Your zealous scribe started with the painfully bang on trend Korean Fried Chicken. Kuma has three options; traditional, spicy, and we opted for the sticky soy garlic. The medium portion was huge and suitable for two. It had a great crispy crunch and slathered in a sticky soy garlic sauce. For the mains your scribe opted for the chicken bulgogi (say it like a pro…..Boo-GOH-gee) which were very thin strips of chicken grilled on a BBQ coated with a very good sauce called gochujang. Spring onion featured and it was consumed in lettuce wraps. It was billed as ‘hot’ and it certainly was, and so generous that your scribe couldn’t finish it.

My associate had the Kimchi Bokkumbap as a main, a Korean fried rice dish with the national ingredient kimchi (spiced fermented cabbage) topped with barbecued beef strips. A bit like Chinese stir fry rice with a heavy dose of red chilli sauce. It was topped with a fried egg and came with miso soup, and again was a very generous portion. 

  • Photographing food is hard
  • The Kimchi

Eating this great Korean food rekindled our late 2018 slight obsession with K-Pop. As it happens, eating your Kuma takeaway while listening to K-Pop is a great escape from the interminable, repetitive drone of our lockdown lives. We chose the greatest K-Pop band of them all, BTS. If you want to get a taste of what BTS are all about, you need only to listen to one BTS song as their music is about as repetitive as your days are at the minute. But very catchy nevertheless. 

After Taste

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Since realising just how poor value for money Firecracker in central Kennington has become, we’ve been looking for a new Chinese takeaway. What’s been on our radar for a while is a Chinese joint in Elephant called ‘After Taste’. We have to childishly admit that what peaked our curiosity was the name, as ‘After Taste’ are usually the words that come after ‘unpleasant’ or  ‘I have to brush my teeth as I’m getting a bad____’. But our new find is pleasantly none of these things. In fact quite the opposite. 

The first thing that strikes you about After Taste is the size of its menu. At 260 items (say what?!) you’d be hard pressed to find anything they can’t throw your way, and there are a few surprises. My dining partner had one such surprise and it was the deep fried smoke chicken  (number 9 on the dizzying menu). A starter of mains sized proportions, it was ladled liberally with Sichuan peppercorns and was both smoky and blow your head off hot. For the mains the dining partner had Szechuan chicken with egg fried rice (153). It was hot but just this side of sweet, with plenty of dried chilis for added kick (and consumption if you’re feeling dangerous). 

  • Smoke chicken
  • Szechuan chicken. Photographing food is hard work

Your more gastronomically cautious scribe started with some very dandy prawn dumplings called ‘Prawn Ha Kow’ (1). A bit on the small side but meaty and steamingly hot. For the mains I had the king prawn chow mein (140). Lots of noodles, sprouts, and so many huge prawns they had to be eaten on their own. For all this Chinese goodness we paid the princely sum of £22.62. We walked up to get it, but it is also available on Ubereats and Just-Eat. On the value versus taste continuum, we think the place punches far about it’s weight.  Its at the top of Newington Butts, near Theos Pizza.

Those prawns were huge

If you are a purist when it comes to your Chinese cuisine and instead of Lo mein your desires veer towards aorta, brain and intestines, then we suggest the almost haltingly authentic Sevini restaurant in Lambeth North, which we reviewed in 2019. 

Black Cowboy Coffee

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The other day we had properly distanced but still aromatic chat with John Otagburuagu, aka the Black Cowboy, in his eponymously named coffee and snacks emporium in Elephant and Castle. Black Cowboy Coffee was one of the many businesses turfed out of E&C shopping centre in October, but the cowboy has landed his booted feet in a more high profile spot in Elephant Arcade, at the base of Perronet House. 

John is true Greater Kenningtonian,  having spent part of his youth between the Cotton Gardens Estate and Brittany Point in Lollard St. His early career took him from accountancy to Pizza Hut to working as a cameraman for the BBC. When John decided he wanted a fresh start and open skies he relocated to Houston, Texas. Looking for a new role that also incorporated his passion for travel, John decided, as you do,  to become a trucker. 

John spent a number of successful years crisscrossing America in his truck which he bought in cash as soon as he could. He also settled in Houston with a partner and had three children. When all was moving swimmingly down the road for John disaster struck….he was deported. Ever the optimist, John returned to the UK in late 2013 and found that he had to more or less start from scratch. He went to the JobCentre with the concept of wanting to start a coffee shop, and with a bit of effort he was able to obtain a business loan and find a mentor. It took a few years to come together, but 2015 saw the dawn of ‘Black Cowboy’. 

Black Cowboy Coffee features six coffees which you can also purchase bagged, either ground or still in the bean. He uses organic Arabica beans sourced from Brazil, Ethiopia, and Indonesia. The most popular brew and which keeps the customers coming is called ‘Boca Chica’. He also features latte, Americanos, cappuccino, hot chocolate, and an array of teas. If it’s food you’re after the specialities of the house are the Belgian waffle ‘liege’ and bagels made to order (selections above). There are also a range of paninis and baked goods. 

Black Cowboy is a perfect destination for your daily get out of the house perambulation. However, if you aren’t able to leave the house they are available on Uber Eats and soon Deliveroo. Keep on truckin! 

Restaurants in your Home

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One silver lining of not being able to eat out much in Greater Kennington in 2020 is that you didn’t miss a great deal. Due to restaurants being closed there haven’t been any ‘breakout’ cuisines such as, for instance, a CBD infused poke bowl doughnut ramen taco with a Korean twist. But as 2021 dawns you may nevertheless be yearning for restaurant food that is a calibre apart from the standard takeaway, and we’re here to help. 

A good place to start is with our ‘Top Ten Best Places to Eat in Greater Kennington’ list from March 2020. A few places from the list are remaining shut for the time being, but others have their kitchens open and they need our business or they’ll close forever. Or worse, become estate agents.  Each of them is open for collection, and most also use those home delivery companies which are evil but paradoxically manage to keep us safe.  We hope you find this useful…..

Adulis – This glorious Eritrean in Oval nabbed the top spot in March and they are now open. Available on Deliveroo.

Theos – The best pizzas in Greater Kennington grabbed our number two in March. Available on Deliveroo – Keep an eye on their Instagram for specials.

Prince of Wales – Open for pre order drinks only on 020 7735 9916. This explains the reemergence of people walking around Kennington Cross with milk containers containing what at first looks like pee.  

The Coriander – The best Indian in Greater Kennington grabbed our number four in March.  Available on Just – Eat 

Daebak  –  The quirky Korean in Vauxhall snatched our number five slot in March.  Available on Deliveroo

Kuma  – The Korean/Japanese in Kennington Cross dropped by to visit number 6 in March. Available on Just – Eat 

Taro – The real deal in Japanese canteen food joint devoured our number seven in March. Available on Ubereats and Deliveroo

The critically acclaimed restaurant ‘Louie Louie’ in Walworth Road has just gone vegan and is available for takeway and delivery. And they even deliver cocktails (we’re not sure how this works exactly, but it sounds fun).  Available on Deliveroo

Local institution Bonnington Café in Vauxhall will be cooking again next week, and are open for collection. 

Ok, we’ll throw one takeaway into the mix. Also in Walworth Road is the delicious and slightly bonkers ‘Shawarma Hut’ (below). Picture multiple swirling doners set to house music. We think it’s the best shawrma/kebabs around by a mile and they make their own bread and falafel on site. Available for takeaway. Mexican kebab, anyone?

X Mas shopping in Kennington #2

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From doggie treats to bum lifts to panettone

Before we commence with our run down of how we can treat people we know, lets think about all the Greater Kenningtonians out there who are struggling with the basics. If you would like to help them but aren’t really sure how, the Vauxhall Foodbank is a good place to start. You can either donate money, volunteer, or donate food directly at Tesco Kennington Lane or Sainsburys Nine Elms. 

UPDATE 19.12. 3:00pm. Boris is about to announce that London is moving into the unknown ‘Tier 4’. This might mean that these fine business shut in a few days. You better be quick!

And as you can imagine, our little run down of where to shop locally was only ever going to commence with items of the edible variety – 

Italo Vauxhall and Mimi’s Deli both have a range of Italian foodie gift ideas including wines, beers, spices, panettone (or as we call it ‘stale cake’), oils, cheeses and even posh sauces. Mimi’s has also turned the former seating area into a kind of pop up Christmas shop.  

Mercato Metropolitano has all of the Italian fare outlined above and also feature some Italian themed hampers and they’re also selling wreaths. They have wonderful meats and cheeses but if they sit under your tree for 10 days the smell might rather dampen your Christmas vibe. 

A number of Greater Kennington restaurants such as 24 the Oval and Amici have converted their surfeit of floor space into pop up farm shops with a few foodie gift ideas. Great craft beers at 24 the Oval.

The Beefeater Gin Distillery has a lovely but totally deserted gift shop offering unusual, limited run gins and gin accessories. You can also buy a gift voucher to tour the distillery (we can confirm it’s great fun). Perfect for your loved one who likes a nice holiday tipple or who just has a drinking problem. 

NON FOOD

Mary over at Windmill Flowers stocks not just flowers but also collectables and houseware accessories. 

Caroline and her team at Earl of Bedlam are tailors and makers of swishy clothing for both men and women, including very glam t shirts. They’re studio is open for said shirts and they can craft a gift voucher.

Max and Melia – Greater Kennington’s own Christmas shop. Check out our full review in our previous post.

In addition to books, Vanilla Black also has some nice gift ideas such as cards and masks and also a few food items. We think VB secretly hates us but we’ve moved on with our lives and are plugging them anyway. And since we have you, VB, please get cracking with your upcoming deli and wine shop, Dodi and Frank, a few doors down. We can’t wait.

As this crappy year draws to a close, have you ever thought about the gift of comedy? Our local gold star comedy club Always be Comedy are doing E vouchers for their virtual and socially distanced and live events (which are very surreal) at The Tommyfield. Recently we’ve seen Harry Hill, Al Murray, Sara Pascoe and more. 

The Hound Hut in Clapham road is your one stop shop for everything canine, even refrigerated dog food. We know very little about dogs (although we have been told we resembled one once) but this place is highly regarded. 

Have you ever thought about a gift of a ‘non surgical Brazilian bum lift’? Well you can buy one for a loved one at Oracle Skin Clinic in Kennington Cross. Of course, you may never hear from that loved one again. 

Some of the shops that were ruthlessly turfed out of Elephant and Castle shopping centre in September have found a new pop up home in Elephant Street (that sketchy street behind the station). Great for you younger folk looking for baseball caps, hoodies and clothes. Happy shopping!

The KR Doghouse experiment

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Last night we ventured out to local Kennington watering hole The Dog House as a flimsy excuse to get tipsy in the middle of the week means to ascertain how the new Tier 2 system works in pubs. We do suffer for our craft. 

We were a group of six so we sat outside. The tables were spaced comfortably far apart and half the tables were not occupied. This could have possibly been due to the fact that it was flipping freezing outside (if you’re reading this, Dog House, you might want to think about heaters). A group of seven men arrived and the staff told them they couldn’t sit at the same table, which was laudable. Tables inside were also spaced about a metre apart. 

Now for the interesting bit. You are not able to order a drink before your meal and they must be ordered with the food. The Dog House had an ‘express special’ of a jacket potato at £7 which counted as a mains. We didn’t meander into ‘does a Scotch egg count’ territory. We were able to order more drinks during the meal to our hearts content. Even if it is a technical no no, someone even ordered a drink after their plate had been collected. 

So life is pivoting toward a semblance of pseudo normality day by day. And It’s  even possible to book the tables outside, just give them a call.