Mamuśka Polish milk bar

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

Mamuśka, in Elephant & Castle shopping centre, is pretty much the Polish equivalent of a diner. It’s actually a “bar mleczny” – a milk bar – and the interior feels authentic, not least thanks to the Polish clientele, newspapers and television. As in the milk bars of Poland itself, the food is very reasonably priced, and they emphasise that it’s made fresh every day. Try the dumplings, the Borscht, kotlet z soczewicy (crispy lentil and potato cake), washed down with a Polish beer or vodka. To go here is to experience a slightly bizarre but very enjoyable, almost theme park-like notion of what another country is like, not unlike the Lobster Pot’s take on France. Get along while you still can.

farewell Elephant & Castle shopping centre?

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

The latest news from the London SE1 website suggests that the Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre will now be demolished as part of the regeneration of North Kennington.

This is good news for anyone wanting to see North Kennington successfully regenerated – there’s no denying the shabbiness of the building.

On the other hand, it’s one of London’s most vibrant and culturally diverse shopping centres and it will be missed. We don’t need another Westfield.

Some of our favourite things about it:

– Palace Superbowl – the only bowling alley in London where you can always get a lane, and at a reasonable price as well.

– When The Royal Court opened a theatre in a vacant shopping unit on the first floor.

– Mamuska, the Polish milk bar, which we review here.

– Table tennis:

– And, as well as the various Latin American bars and restaurants in and around the shopping centre, we like the fact that North Kennington now has not one but two Oriental supermarkets. This one is called Little Orient:

Kennington curry houses

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

We can highly recommend two curry houses just outside the borders of West Kennington: Mumbai Delight on South Lambeth Road which makes a point of using natural ingredients and has a good vegetarian selection, and Hot Stuff on Wilcox Road, a family-run, BYOB restaurant that gets very busy thanks to the reputation of its food and its low prices.

Kennington itself has two renowned curry houses: Kennington Tandoori and Gandhi’s. Both trumpet their celebrity fans. Gandhi’s displays Seb Coe, Richard & Judy (whose Channel 4 show used to be filmed in Kennington), regular Kennington Oval visitor John Major, Kennington residents Ken Clarke and Jack Straw, former Kennington resident Geoff Hoon, Gordon Brown, Jerry Springer, Neil and Christine Hamilton, and a former prime minister of Bangladesh in its window.

Kennington Tandoori has a more discreet rotating selection featuring Matt Lucas, Jon Bercow and various cricket players. The whole front of the restaurant opens up which is welcome on a warm evening. And the owner responds to criticism on TripAdvisor which makes for an interesting read.

A plot to oust Gordon Brown as prime minister is believed to have been hatched by Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt in a private room at Gandhi’s, which perhaps inspired its new colour scheme of black and blood red, not to mention the LOOK RIGHT sign on the pavement outside.

Kennington Cross: one of London’s most colourful areas

Posted on September 1, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

Even estate agents and chain restaurants look nice in Kennington.

The Tea House Theatre

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

On the edge of Spring Gardens, between the Black Dog and Vauxhall City Farm, is a unique kind of tea house. There’s a huge range of loose leaf teas, but be prepared to pay Mayfair prices for the specialty teas, or plump for a mug of Tetley for £1. They’re so militant about their tea that they make a point of not serving coffee, but they do have a big choice of cakes, plus breakfasts and lunches. There are board games. And yes, sometimes there is theatre, not to mention film screenings, a knitting club, chess club, and a debating society (more like a Radio 4 panel game). It’s also exceptionally baby friendly – sometimes it feels like the babies outnumber the adults.

If you’re wondering why there are stacks of The Dangerous Book for Boys around the place, one of its authors Hal Iggulden is director of the Tea House Theatre.

has anyone been to Emanuel Peruvian Restaurant on Amelia Street?

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

Peruvian restaurants are a relatively new phenomenon in London so it’s exciting to see one on the Kennington side of Walworth Road. We haven’t been yet but the reviews online are promising. Another benefit of North Kennington’s status as London’s Latin Quarter (St Mary’s Churchyard also hosted the Azucar Flower Festival last weekend).

Quiet London

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

We were recently given the book Quiet London by Siobhan Wall, which features “over 140 quiet places to meet, drink, eat, sleep, read or browse”.

Nine of them are in Kennington:

* The Garden Museum

* The Cuming Museum which is currently closed due to fire, but their events programme continues

* Bonnington Square Garden, a magical place which we will write about another time

* Italo Delicatessen on Bonnington Square

* The Tibetan Peace Garden in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, which also deserves its own entry here, being one of London’s nicest and quietest parks

* G Baldwin & Co., a health food shop and apothecary on Walworth Road, which according to Siobhan has “probably the largest selection of essential oils you can find anywhere in England”. Entering the apothecary side of the shop does feel like stepping back in time (it has been open since 1844).

* Siobhan Davies Studio

* Danielle Arnaud Gallery – another of Kennington’s art galleries. It is based in one of the lovely Georgian houses on Kennington Road and we can testify as to how quiet it is – when we went we were the only visitors.

* The Ragged Canteen at Beaconsfield

Quiet London by Siobhan Wall

Beaconsfield Art Gallery and the Ragged Canteen

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

Beaconsfield, based in a former Victorian Ragged School, is the biggest and architecturally most impressive of the surprisingly large number of art galleries in Kennington, although it’s likely to be trumped by Damien Hirst’s new gallery which is due to open just up the road in 2014.

Art at Beaconsfield tends towards the modern and the conceptual, and they are funded by the Arts Council.

On weekday lunchtimes their Ragged Canteen serves really great vegetarian food (at other times they serve drinks and cakes). In an area with various good veggie cafes in surprising places – see also The Garden Museum and the Jamyang Buddhist Centre – The Ragged Canteen is the best. If only it were open more often and for longer.

The door is permanently locked – ring the bell to get in.

Dirty Burger opened in West Kennington tonight with half price food

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

Dirty Burger is a burger joint from the Soho House Group and its second branch opened tonight in West Kennington under a railway arch right by Vauxhall station (the first was in Kentish Town).

It won’t take you long to work your way through the menu, especially if you’re a vegetarian:

Let me guess, you chose the cheese burger? Good choice – juicy and tasty – even the aspiring vegetarian in our party enjoyed it. Here it is:

And for the actual vegetarian, there are always chips:

There are stools inside, or four small tables on the roadside:

The Garden Museum

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

[Update July 2017: The Garden Museum and Cafe have been redeveloped since this post]

The Garden Museum (formerly the Museum of Garden History) is in the deconsecrated St Mary’s church next to Lambeth Palace in North West Kennington. Even if you’re not interested in gardening, it’s worth a visit for the good quality vegetarian cafe and the lovely garden (there’s a charge to enter the museum but not the shop, cafe or garden).

The knot garden with the walls of Lambeth Palace in the background:

William Bligh lived in Kennington, on Lambeth Road in a house that is now a B&B, and was buried at St Mary’s. Appropriately enough for a site that was to become a garden museum, his grave features the breadfruit plant which he discovered and brought back to England. Presumably whoever designed his grave was hoping he would be remembered for this, rather than for being the ship’s captain who inspired the Mutiny on the Bounty.

The well-stocked shop featuring gifts for gardeners and books:

The interior of the museum:

The Kennington Observer

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

Category Archives: cafes and restaurants