Category Archives: cafes and restaurants

The Murger Han Experience

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We experienced a small gust of thrill when we saw the sign for new Chinese in Elephant called ‘Murger Han’. As it rhymes with ‘Burger Van’, we envisioned delicacies such hamburger egg rolls. As it turns out, it’s billed as ‘London’s first authentic Xi’ian restaurant ‘, which provided us with another gust, as two of us at KR towers have actually been to Xi’an on the very street where this food is made. The food is a wonderful departure from the Cantonese gloop that we’ve been spoon fed for decades, and comes from an area of China where wheat replaces rice and the food becomes infused with spices such as cumin.

Murger Han promotes itself as Chinese street food, and  murgers themselves are meat filled sandwiches. They looked hearty, but the thing to order here is the speciality of the house, and that is biang biang noodles. These noodles get their name from being stretched and slapped into long slinky bands until they’re thin and chewy. Your scribe  had the noodle with shredded beef and black fungus, with the compulsory Chinese black vinegar sauce and added garlic oil.

  • Believe it or not, this was not taken by a professional food photographer

Alice from Finance had her noodles with spicy pork, tomato, egg and vegetables (the variations being endless). She reported the dish as having ‘quite big flavours and spicy but not overwhelmingly – really rich and flavourful, served in a beautiful big bowl’. The noodles have a long and almost intestinal look to them but don’t let that put you off as they result in a joyous slurp. The mains are between £12-£14 which without booze (rare for us) is pretty reasonable. They also serve noodle and dumpling based soups. 

We visited Murger Han on a rainy Saturday, which proved almost fatal as the floor is totally marble and patrons were sliding all over the place. The marble extends up the wall, giving the place the appearance of a 90’s strip club, softened somewhat by the presence of cute emoji throw cushions, which we found curiously appealing.  But if the atmosphere doesn’t arouse you’ll find the food absurdly satisfying, and is a great, slurpy and slippy way to spend an afternoon or an evening. 

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Simply Bread

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In the guise of overly curious members of the public, we recently paid a visit to brand new sandwich joint Simply Bread in Black Prince Road. Simply Bread is a few doors down and run by the folks who operate the Jolly Gardeners Pub. The manager explained that all of the sandwich fillings are created in the Gardeners kitchen by the same trained chefs who make the meals, and contain the same quality of sourced ingredients that you find in their meals. So, your coronation chicken is the same chicken found in their Sunday roast. And their bread is purchased at Alby Bakery in Vauxhall. Looking good so far…

The sandwiches at Simply Bread are the same day on day but the specials change, and our intern Kate had the aforementioned coronation chicken. It was very generously filed with juicy and moist chicken in an authentic tasting coronation dressing, and appetisingly sunny in colour. Of course it also featured a wealth of raisins, so if they’re not your thing you’ve been warned.  Your scribe had the tuna loin sandwich in a sub roll which was well filled with large pink tuna chunks and a waist expanding amount of mayo just this side of decadent. And the bread was slightly sweet and very fresh. With all sandwiches a range of toppings (onion, salad, tomatoes etc) can be added. 

  • These sandwiches look
  • much more appetising in the flesh

We give Simply Bread our stamp of approval as a solid, independent lunch spot.  In the morning they also serve coffee, tea, pastries and sausage/bacon rolls. (or vegan).  When I pointed out to the manager  that the name of the shop rhymes with a certain washed up band from the 80’s with a lead singer who nowadays resembles Little Orphan Annie, he responded with a puzzled and somewhat worried expression. But don’t fret, he’s much more adept at sandwich making. 

  • Mick Hucknall
  • Annie
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The Resurrection of Amici

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If you’re a frequent Runoff Reader (and if not you’re really missing out) you’ll be aware that we review places anonymously in order to avoid preferential treatment and to remain unbiased. So we have to put our cards on the table as we kind of know the proprietors of ‘Amici’ in Kennington Cross  so the information is not technically a review but just details.  

After mostly being closed for the past 2 ½ years, Amici is back in soft launch phase. They’re goal is to merge the classics from their (RIP) Persian restaurant Doost with the Mediterranean offerings of Amici. For a split second we had a nightmare vision of pomegranate pizza, but owner Houman explained that it’s just the greatest hits of each place, and as the kitchens get fitted it’s primarily Persian, which suited us just fine. 

Phil from IT had one of the specials, a meatball dish from the northern, Caspian region of Iran. It was markedly tart with a pomegranate and herb-based sauce, so a bit different from what we think of as “standard” Persian. It was served with fluffy basmati rice. Your scribe had a long grain rice dish with fresh prawns and calamari. And of course, served with loads of dill. It was light and had a slightly nutty tone to it. 

  • Fritata
  • Bruscetta

Our party of five weren’t planning to get starters, but co owner Sethi was able to tell us not only from where each dish originated and how it’s made, but even offered insight as how her family members have been making them for years. So we caved in and had a kind of Persian bruschetta topped with aubergine, and a spinach frittata. As this is just info we’re imparting, you’ll need to decide for yourselves if this is for you.  

Sethi also explained that they plan to re open the deli which briefly held sway at the front of the shop, and have themed nights such as Persian dancing and speakers. That sounds great, but Houman if you are reading this (and if not you’re really missing out) please do not again fill your restaurant with used books, clothes, tinned food and jewellery for sale. You might think it looked like a canny business move, but to the rest of us it just resembled aunt Mable’s loft after she’d kicked the bucket.   

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Market Place Vauxhall

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We bear a degree of pragmatic skepticism when it comes to the independent credentials of these food halls which have been popping up recently such as Mercato Metropolitano in Elephant. However, we love the small traders which use them to establish and build their little foodie businesses, which is why we just inspected the spanking new Market Place in Vauxhall. 

Over the years many things both enriching and a bit disturbing have sprung out of the railway arches in Vauxhall, and luckily Market Place next to the station falls into the former category. The collection of stalls includes Thai, Mexican, Mumbai street food, pizza, pasta, Sri Lankan, Argentinean, and Turkish. There are also a few exports from Borough Market including ‘Bread Ahead’ and Caribbean joint ‘Rudi’s’, and we can definitely recommend their chicken wrap. As there is also a bar and is open until 10:00, Market Place can be useful for those ‘I don’t wanna cook and want a drink’ nights. So, most nights for us in the office. 

Marching merrily on to the food, your scribe headed to MoMo Thai and had the Pad Kra Pao stir fry. A Thai staple, it was packed with chicken mince and holy basil with a slightly spicy jasmine rice and topped with a fried egg. Karen from Finance took the low carb route and headed via the Argentinean Grill for her steak salad. It came with a surprisingly large amount of steak which was slightly cut and pink. A bit chewy but pleasant. A proper amount of salad came with it as well as a generous lash of chimichurri sauce. 

  • We”ll say it again…
  • But photographing food is really difficult!

We here at the Runoff are hoping that the folks over at Market Place aren’t charging extortionate rents to these small traders as it will only hobble their chances of growth. When we’ve interviewed some of these folks they’ve expressed gratitude at the platform and exposure it has given them, and long shall it continue. And it also exposes us all to cultures and cuisines that we might otherwise not encounter in our fair manor. Bon appétit! 

Casa Madeira

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If you’ve ever strolled through Vauxhall you’ve certainly walked past Casa Madeira multiple times. Madeira is the restaurant in a quartet of Portuguese establishments in Albert Embankment and is flanked by a cafe, supermarket  and further down by a further bar/café called ‘Pico’. Outside you can usually find clusters of folk drinking Sagres under umbrellas and chatting in Portuguese, which makes you feel as if you’ve just stumbled across a delightful bar in Lisbon as opposed to a railway arch in Vauxhall next to a petrol station. 

We chose to sit outside on what was a balmy, lovely evening and without a reservation, which was fine. The space was large and well set up, with some high octane background muzak and screens and plants which provided helpful sensory deprivation from the road and aforementioned petrol station. The service staff were friendly, efficient and drilled to near perfection about the food on offer — with our waiter’s specific knowledge of the fish market in Funchal leaving just this side of aroused. We therefore started our journey with deep fried whitebait which were nicely plump, breaded, and plentiful. Served with lemon and tartare sauce, their little silvery tails popping out to remind us of the goodness inside. 

Portuguese mains are more or less variations on a theme, and this is the case at Madeira. We saw whizzing across the pavement chorizo, lamb cutlets, and chicken escalopes. However, we came here for the fish and seafood and to satisfy you, dear reader, we splashed out on the fish grill for two. This huge dish consisted of two chargrilled pieces of seabass, blackened salmon, black scabbard fish, and this was topped by two enormous butterflied king prawns and a scattering of calamari rings. All soaking in olive oil with sides of carrot, beans and new potato. Delicious and grilled by a person who knew what they were doing. This was perfectly matched with a Portuguese white (wines start at £26)

Prices at Madeira are reasonable, and at times remarkable, based on what they are serving and given the joint’s proximity to the West End.  We paid £41 for the seafood but you can blow the bank on turbot for two (£75) or just pop in for a pint and pastal de nada (£1.50). We recommend the fish and seafood and also the meats on offer. Pizza and burgers also make an appearance for some surreal reason but if the spirit takes you there then go for it. And if you’re wondering just what the hell scabbard fish is, lets just say that it resembles one of those deep sea creatures that washes up on beaches every few years that people assumed was extinct.   

You Gotta Have Faith

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It’s almost as if our friends over at Vauxhall City Farm have read our Runoff minds as they have managed to roll three of our most cherished concepts into a single destination. These are, in no particular order, 1. Charitable causes 2. Farmyard animals 3. Cocktails. 

Set inside and out of their buzzy café, we recently visited the Farm’s newish pop up bar ‘Faiths Place’ on a sweltering early evening (and to the Runoff mandarins this WAS a work event). Faith’s Place is open Thursday – Sunday from 5 – 11 and during our visit had a clientele of after work people peppered with a few families who were a bit befuddled that their kiddie café had been transformed into a bar. The beers on offer were four different offerings from Brixton Brewery and a further four from Gipsy Hill Brewery, all served in cans. Also on offer were four different reds and four whites. On the spirits front we’re afraid its only gin and tonics, but they had some good looking gins and that posh Fever Tree tonic. All were very reasonably priced. 

On the nibbles front, we encountered a range of sandwiches and some very inventive sounding crisps. We enjoyed Adnams citrus beer flavoured crisps, but for the more conventional souls there are staples such as cheese and onion. We were unsure about the ethics of eating a hoisin duck sandwich when there were actual ducks only a few feet away so we didn’t go down that road. But,  while you’re in the place knocking a few back, there’s no ethical quandary in buying something from the impressive line of City Farm related merch on offer. 

A New Theatre for Greater Kennington

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There’s a brand spanking new 300+ seat theatre set to fling open its cutting edge doors in Greater Kennington and we’ve just had a behind the scenes sneak preview of the place. Located in the surreally named ‘Uncle’ building in Newington Causeway, Southwark Playhouse is actually just moving from the other side of Elephant. The old site will be open for a few more years, but this will be the new permanent home of one of the most acclaimed theatres south of the river. The opening is set for the end of 2022, and if there’s a gala opening party we’ll play the ‘but we’re Kennington INFLUENCERS’ card to bag an invite*. 

The design of our new playhouse is actually something to behold in itself. The theatre is fully adaptable with the ability to remove all of the seats or even the galleries (!) to create theatre in the round, traverse, or proscenium staging. The new space also prides itself on its green credentials: Much of the wood is reclaimed and kept to a minimum, and there are a few living green walls in the cafes. One thing we love about the other venue is the very cool and somewhat ramshackle café area, where you can get a cheap pizza and cocktail before a show or at other times of the day. They’re hoping to recreate this in their new venue with council approval. Southwark, we’re wagging a fat Runoff finger at you as we type! 

What really makes Southwark Playhouse special is its free outreach programmes for young people aged 11 – 18 (Southwark residents). They also have acting groups for people aged 65+ and a ‘people’s company’ geared towards all adults who are interested in different aspects of the stage, from set design to acting. There is a studio in the building for the bespoke use of these groups.

If you’ve never been to the Playhouse, it focuses primarily on new writing and emerging artists in a manner similar to that of the Young Vic. Sometimes this work is challenging (the current offering is a musical about yeast), but at other times fun and delectable. Earlier this year we saw a Romeo and Juliet re-imagined  in a south London council estate in 1981 set to a soundtrack by Madness. We also had underpants thrown at us but we’ll ignore that. 

*This never works 

Lightnin’ Hot Things @ Orbit

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We recently paid a visit to Greater Kennington’s (Walworth) own local brewery ‘Orbit’ on a hot sunny day to inspect their Sunday roast offerings. The roast and indeed all the food on offer at Orbit are provided by the chefs of ‘Lightnin Hot Things’ (below) who run a very experimental kitchen in one corner of the brewery. It’s actually quite remarkable that they produce such a range of food in such a proscribed space.  We sampled some of their other offerings a few months ago and you can read about them and the beers here. 

There were four of us on our visit but it was almost three, as Doug from IT was pretty sure the guy in the middle of this photo was the same person who mugged him in Soho in 2018. When we convinced him that this was pretty unlikely we had enough people to enjoy a variety of the roasts on offer.  Our booked table was initially outside, but when we pointed out that we’d rather not end our meal resembling their acclaimed pickled beetroot, the chipper barman moved us indoors and with its makeshift plywood seating created a distinct elbows on tables experience. 

Doug opted for the lamb shoulder which was generous, soft, flavourful and dolloped with mint sauce. All roasts come with an enormous Yorkshire pudding, and owing to its juicy and crispy quality it hadn’t been anywhere near Aunt Bessie. Other sides were great too – its always good to see Savoy cabbage, tasty roast carrots too and caramelised onions on a plate. And the confit garlic was a nice surprise touch. 

  • Chicken
  • Beef
  • Lamb

Your scribe indulged in the herb fed chicken topped with two chunks of chicken crackling. The chicken was moist and bountiful- just about cooked perfectly.  From the gravy I received a distinct hit of rosemary and garlic,  and  given its meaty and flavourful nature obviously owed none of its heritage to Bisto and a kettle. The sides were the same as Doug’s with the addition of what seemed like a very nutty butter puree. Another of our party had the rump of beef roast, which had obviously been slow cooked and melted in the mouth. Overall these were well worth the £18.50 price. 

If you don’t fancy the Sunday roasts, the Lightnin’ Hot Things boys offer up some pretty avant garde fair during the week such as octopus salad and curried coconut. We’ve commented on the beers in previous posts, but as its summer the current favourite at the moment is, hang on……tzatziki flavoured beer. We tried some and it had zesty, cucumber notes and it rather reminded us of cider. With this observation the chipper barman became slightly less chipper, saying ‘no, this is not cider’. 

Kennington Lane Kebab

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A few weeks ago an adorable little kebab shop popped up at the top of Kennington Lane in Vauxhall (where it meets Harleyford Road) and it’s been on our radar ever since. It’s cleverly carved out of the back of the ever popular greasy spoon Kennington Lane Café and you can even use their outside tables for your lunch if don’t mind your lamb doner mixed with a few bus fumes.  

As our Runoff identities are top secret, I’ll call my dining partner ‘Donna Kebab’, and Donna joined your scribe for the special offer at lunchtime. She had a lamb doner wrap for £6 , and I had a £5 chicken doner wrap. Donna’s was filled with tasty lamb kebab slices with some lettuce, tomato, onion and cucumber and a good slosh of chilli sauce. Mine was similar, and with the added kick of saltiness that is essential to a chicken kebab. They were slightly shrunken and encased by a tortilla wrap rather than a pitta bread which makes takeaway and eating on the run easier. Veggie kebabs are also on offer in addition to falafel. Overall much better than your average kebab, and Donna agreed. 

  • Lamb. And please don’t judge us. Photographing food is hard
  • Chicken

If you don’t have the fortune to live in Vauxhall, on Walworth Rd. there exists another of our of kebab favourites, Shawarma Hut. This is more of a Lebanese fast food affair serving up mezze, kofta, falafel, and all varieties of delicious shawarma (even Mexican). Also offered is that Lebanese staple,. Chicken wings. All very cheap and filling And on our visit this was accompanied by unnerving yet invigorating house music. 

Both are available on Deliveroo and Uber Eats

Cherry Tiger

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Suffer as we do for our readers, we just checked out Elephant and Castle’s very first cocktail bar, Cherry Tiger, which opened last week. It’s perched at the top of Elephant Square, incongruously set amongst shops selling wigs, figure shaping garments and costume jewellery. The location affords nice views towards our newly created little patch of green, Elephant Park. 

James on the left, 75 on the right

Cherry Tiger is owned by the highly regarded and ‘oh my god does that pint really cost 9 quid’ Vauxhall taproom Mother Kellys, so it comes with a fine pedigree. Having said that, most of the cocktails at CT come in at £8 here, which is pretty reasonable for London. Julie from our accounts team likes a nice cocktail, and she had the ‘French 75’ with gin and sparkling wine. It was semi dry, zesty and lemony. Your scribe had the very sweet ‘James Brown’ featuring bourbon, amaretto and sugar. In addition to the inventive drinks below, CT can also mix up more traditional cocktails and also have a beer and wine list. 

As you can see, the design aesthetic of Cherry Tiger is a kind of mashup of fancy wallpaper meets weekend project following a B&Q visit. The highly energetic staff explained that it is still early days at CT, and the look will change over the next few weeks. While it might not be an evening destination per se, Cherry Tiger is a fine way to either start or finish your evening. But if you do spend your whole evening there, if the stairs prove too daunting there is a lift.