Ta Ta Tesco

For those of you new to the area, or those who are of a forgetful disposition as we are, you might not be aware that Tesco Kennington Lane will be closing forever in June. It will be replaced by a Tesco (probably the Metro variety) in the soon to vanish car park.

How can this be happening, you ask? Well several years ago Berkeley Homes purchased the Tesco site and the redundant gas holders behind it. After several years planning permission was granted for the construction of 728  new homes ranging from 4 to 17 stories, and 23, 000 sq. feet of commercial space. And taking a page out the King’s Cross book, one of the gas holders will have flats in it. The Lambeth planning application  (great for insomniacs) indicates that this will take 30 months (a gentle way of saying 2.5 years) but the Berkeley homes website indicates ‘Phase 1’ will take 40 months.

Not to worry, dear reader, when all is said and done there will be a new all singing and dancing Tesco, and a pic of it is below. The footprint is slightly smaller than the old store, but according to a consultation I went to last year it will be better laid out. Precisely how Berkeley Homes know how Tesco will lay out its store I’m not exactly sure.

If you want to make yourself feel all warm inside about our neighbourhood, have a gander at the slightly fictionalised description of Kennington/Oval on the Berkeley Homes website . Oval Village beckons!

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The Mighty Hercules (Pub)

Up we go to the very northern fringe of Kennington, (formerly known as LAMBETH NORTH). Across from the tube there’s a new pub (OK it’s been there 5 weeks, but we’re busy) in a building that used to house the most depressing Chinese restaurant on earth. It’s called ‘The Hercules’ and KR gave it a visit on Sunday for some daytime boozing and roasting.

The Hercules features 24 cask beers (each described on a handy LED screen) and an impressive array of wines and spirits. For roasts, one of us had beef and the other pork belly. The portions were generous and the meat well cooked. The roast potatoes were also browned and just the right side of charred. The cauliflower cheese was commendable and the Yorkshire pud was huge and crispy. The butternut squash, however, was liquefied and didn’t work. As for the crowd, it’s a mix of youngish locals and tourists trying to figure out the contents of sticky toffee pudding while also figuring out how they ended up in Lambeth North when their hotel is advertised as ‘Waterloo’. The atmosphere is the upmarket ‘old school meets new school’ of the White Bear. Overall, great atmosphere and drinks, but there are better roasts in SE11 and environs. But try it out if you tire of your favourite roast.

Finally, *expects hate mail from millenials*  kale is lovely but it has no place in a Sunday roast. Bring us savoy cabbage!

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The Elephant in the Room

And over to East Kennington (the area formerly known as WALWORTH) we go for a visit to our favourite SE17 cafe, The Electric Elephant in Crampton St. It’s located in one of three Victorian mews yards  in the area which will be flinging open their artistic doors at the beginning of June. But I digress.

OK back to the cafe……..It is owned and operated by Louisa (who makes and sells a mean marmalade) and for lunch features a selection of salads, omelettes and sandwiches all made to order. Breakfast offers a very hearty fry up or croissants. Homemade cakes are also on offer. All very reasonable, and a mug of tea will set you back just £1.50 (what’s that sound…Vanilla Black gasping?). And they have WiFi.

The decor has a kind of ‘charity shop being squatted in by hippies’ vibe to it which is very relaxing and a perfect place for a quick lunch or a jaded Saturday morning. Image.png-4 Image-1.png Image-2.png

The top ten best restaurants in Kennington – no. 1 – The Garden Café at the Garden Museum

Positives: This is simply one of our favourite ever London restaurants. The seasonal menu changes every day and has never let us down. Hearty, flavoursome, unfussy food, just brilliantly executed.

The Garden Museum cafe interior - kenningtonrunoff.com

Negatives: Their only evening openings are Tuesdays and Fridays. They’re not particularly flexible with substitutions and such like, but only because they take such pride in their plates. The food is expensive but totally worth it. As for the building, we can’t still can’t believe the Garden Museum destroyed their beautiful, tranquil knot garden as part of the development that led to the new Garden Café. If this restaurant had been able to serve diners in the old knot garden on a summer evening, it would have been unbeatable.

Pappardelle, courgettes and parmesan at The Garden Cafe Museum - kenningtonrunoff.com

The top ten best restaurants in Kennington – no. 2 – Louie Louie

Positives: Most well-off residents of East Kennington have probably experienced Louie Louie by now, as a daytime brunch spot or nighttime bar or party venue. But have you eaten there in the evenings? They host residencies from up-and-coming chefs and they must choose well because we’ve never had a meal there that was anything but great. They serve real ale from the nearby Orbit brewery, and the co-owner Chris is lovely.

Louie Louie - kenningtonrunoff.com

Negatives: The gentrification of Walworth and Elephant & Castle has rightly been controversial and Louie Louie could be seen as a symbol of that, but it’s a genuine local business. Let’s hope Louie Louie can continue to thrive alongside the likes of the Red Lion (the massive old Irish pub) and Oli Food Centre (the Turkish 24 hour food shop opposite with the insanely delicious and cheap pide bread and dozens of different kinds of feta).

Louie Louie bar - kenningtonrunoff.com

The top ten best restaurants in Kennington – no. 3 – Brunswick House

Positives: Brunswick House has an utterly unique and magical interior, courtesy of LASSCO the architectural reclaim shop, and the building it takes its name from, a Georgian mansion with a colourful history. The atmosphere is always good, the food is inventive and seasonal, and the clientele is cultured – when Florence Welch wants to meet Lena Dunham for dinner, this is where they go.

Brunswick House restaurant - kenningtonrunoff.com

Negatives: Since founder Jackson Boxer, a Kennington resident, started opening hot new restaurants outside of Kennington and became a cover star (and what a dashing one too), we have to say the food is not quite as great as it was, and still expensive. So we’re not the regular visitors we once were – but if you’ve never been, you really should…

Salsify, cauliflower and olive at Brunswick House - kenningtonrunoff.com

Salsify, cauliflower and olive at Brunswick House – kenningtonrunoff.com

The top ten best restaurants in Kennington – no. 4 – Bonnington Café

Positives: We were recently asked to recommend places for a group of Spanish art students to go when visiting London and Bonnington Café was the only place on our list. It’s off Bonnington Square, a magical, unique place which is surely the crowning achievement of the squatting movement in London (the café was originally a communal kitchen for the squatters, many of whom didn’t have functioning kitchens of their own). The food is crazy cheap and it’s BYOB. It has always been vegetarian and nowadays seems to be vegan as well. Best of all is the atmosphere – never not joyous.

Bonnington Square Cafe - kenningtonrunoff.com

Negatives: The chefs and waiters are keen amateurs on a rota so don’t expect fine dining, but do expect wholesome, tasty vegan food, generally served very quickly if rather eccentrically at times. The café was briefly “threatened with closure” but like 6 Music, this only served to make it stronger. Viva Bonnington Café!

The fifth best restaurant in Kennington – you decided it’s 24 The Oval!

Marcel & Sons was our fifth favourite restaurant in Kennington but then it closed along with the rest of Artworks. We are gutted, but hopefully they’ll be back before long.

So we made a list of all the restaurants we didn’t include in our top ten and let you vote for your favourite. 24 The Oval was the winnner, narrowly beating Theo’s Pizzeria. A fair result as both restaurants might have made it into our top ten if we were meat and dairy eaters. Amici and Kennington Tandoori – two other restaurants we frequent – tied for third place.

24 The Oval exterior - kenningtonrunoff.com

what's the best restaurant in Kennington that's not on our list?

  • 24 The Oval (21%, 15 Votes)
  • Theo's Pizzeria (19%, 14 Votes)
  • Amici (8%, 6 Votes)
  • Kennington Tandoori (8%, 6 Votes)
  • The White Bear (6%, 4 Votes)
  • The Coriander (6%, 4 Votes)
  • JIHWAJA (4%, 3 Votes)
  • Dragon Castle (4%, 3 Votes)
  • Seveni Bar & Restaurant (3%, 2 Votes)
  • Rare Burger Co (3%, 2 Votes)
  • Oaka at the Mansion House (3%, 2 Votes)
  • Café Van Gogh (3%, 2 Votes)
  • La Luna (1%, 1 Votes)
  • POTUS Bar & Restaurant (1%, 1 Votes)
  • The Old Red Lion (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Maximo Italian Bistro (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Leños & Carbón (1%, 1 Votes)
  • The Black Dog (1%, 1 Votes)
  • The Tommyfield (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Firecracker (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Daebak (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Above the Stag (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Aobaba (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Toulouse Lautrec Brasserie (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Chino Latino (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Mama Thai (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Florentine Restaurant & Bar (0%, 0 Votes)
  • The Elephant & Castle pub (0%, 0 Votes)
  • CheeMC (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 72

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The top ten best restaurants in Kennington – no. 6 – Doost Persian Grill

Positives: About 65% of our Kennington takeaways over the years have been from Doost. The food is simply delicious. The chelo kabab koobideh (lamb kebab) is one of the things we miss most from our meat eating days, although their veggie kebab is great too. We’ve never had a bad dish there. Even their rice is next level.

Doost Persian Grill & Vodka Bar

Negatives: We just can’t understand why it isn’t full all the time!

 

 

The top ten best restaurants in Kennington – no. 7 – Adulis

Positives: Kennington and surrounding areas are blessed with an extraordinary number of Eritrean and Ethiopean restaurants – Red Sea on Walworth Road, the ever-popular Zeret Kitchen on Camberwell Road, St Gabriel Cafe on that sketchy little alley between Kennington Park Road and Kennington Lane, Harar on South Lambeth Road, Beza in Artworks (Artworks has now closed permanently), plus Bar 48 on Brixton Road only recently closed… we even bought some Eritrean food at the Archbishop Sumner school fete once. The pick of the bunch for us is Adulis on Brixton Road – great atmosphere, nice African decorations, Ethiopean lager, and the crazy odour of the coffee ceremony…

Adulis Eritrean Restaurant - kenningtonrunoff.com

Negatives: Every Ethiopean or Eritrean meal we’ve had has basically been the same but that suits us just fine – the food is always delicious and fun if not too photogenic:

Adulis platter - kenningtonrunoff.com