Category Archives: Elephant and Castle

Theo’s in Elephant

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At the Runoff we take our annual top 10 Best Places to Eat © rundown very seriously. So purely under the guise of quality assurance and not as a flimsy excuse wolf down pizza on a weeknight,  we return to Theo’s in Elephant to see if it still deserves it’s #2 ranking.

Our marketing intern Millicent ordered one of the specials: the Fugazzeta. It was  topped with mozzarella, gorgonzola, onion, olives, garlic and parmesan. Millie is proving to be an intern without a great eye for detail, and had not read that it was in fact a “white” pizza, ie without tomato sauce. Luckily, the well drilled staff at Theo’s heeded her request to throw some sauce on top and probably upset the chef in the process. Moving on, there was no stinting on the gorgonzola, so not for the fainthearted. The result was a super cheesy-oniony topping,  complemented by plump olives and subtle garlic. And of course the usual top-notch, chewy, blistered Neapolitan-style base.

  • The not so white pizza
  • Sausage and Tropea

Your scribe had another special, the sausage and tropea onion pizza. We had frankly never heard of a tropea onion, but it was delicate, sweet, and quite tender.  The yellow tomatoes were a treat as was the inclusion of a cheese not often seen on a pizza, pecorino. But what made this pizza were the sizeable chunks of fennel sausage. And again, the sourdough and slightly scorched base finished it off perfectly. And for £12/13, it seemed pretty fair to us and in our less than humble opinion Theo’s remains the best pizza in Greater Kennington, and that is no mean feat in these parts. 

On the drinks front, Theo’s has a good selection of Italian wines and beers at good prices.  Millie was a bit alarmed that the carafe of wine ordered was solely for the consumption of your author. But if you’re reading this Millie (and if not you really should be) at the end of a day you’re just an intern so content yourself with that Pepsi Max and a made up pizza. 

Pot and Rice

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As a Runoff rule, when we hear the name ‘pan’ added to any restaurant cuisine we run and hide for cover. However, we’ve been hearing favourable things about pan Asian joint Pot and Rice and we recently checked it out for you. Pot and Rice can be found hipster foodie haven Sayer Street (as it turns out sadly not named after the washed up 70’s pop star) in Elephant and Castle. 

We’re big believers in sticking to what a restaurant does best, and in the case of Pot and Rice it has to be their traditional clay pot rice dishes. These bowls of goodness are a staple in south China and adjoining countries such as Laos and Vietnam. If rice isn’t your thing they also offer a selection of Udon dishes, Cheung fun, and Bao buns. But you’re on your own with those. 

Your scribe and dining partner Karen from Finance started with four beef dumplings, which were well grilled and heartily stuffed. I continued by ordering the chicken and shitake mushroom pot, filled with a ginger and soy marianated chicken thigh, and a combination of dry and fresh mushrooms with a topping of spring onion. The pots come with an ample side of soy sauce, which boiled and sizzled when poured into the aforementioned pot.  

For her mains, Karen opted for the Chinese sausage and chicken pot, with the chicken also marinated in soy sauce. The sausage was made from duck, and the deep flavour of the fat bled into the rice mixture. It was topped with some broccoli which pleasingly created the illusion that you were eating something healthy. The pot is actually hot in the very literal sense, resulting in lovely, chewy burned rice at the edges, so a bit like a Chinese paella. Karen so eagerly consumed her clay pot dish that she then had a go at mine. This resulted in an unsightly yet very entertaining sword fight involving chop sticks and flying soy sauce. Wine may or may not have been consumed. 

Pot and Rice has a casual and informal atmosphere with ambient music and well drilled, informed wait staff. There were also a number of patrons speaking Cantonese/Mandarin which is an accolade in itself, with a smattering of East Asian students.  Best of all, it’s a family run business. 

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Strike! At Southwark Playhouse

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We recently popped into our much loved Southwark Playhouse to review their latest offering ‘Strike’ and we’re here to tell you rebellious souls all about it. Those of you lucky enough to be Runoff regulars will be aware that the Playhouse now has two locations. Strike is staged at the original-but-soon-to-be-extinct venue in Newington Causeway. The new, more flashy venue is much closer to Kennington in Newington Butts at the base of curiously named high rise Uncle. 

Strike is a true story set in Dunne’s department store in Dublin circa 1984. When a worker follows through with directives from her union and refuses to sell an item made in South Africa, she is suspended from her role. However, she takes 10 like minded colleagues with her and the story evolves into life on the picket line. As their movement grows the group learn lessons from South African exile Nimrod, who had been incarcerated at Robben Island with Nelson Mandela and gives insight into daily life under Apartheid.  

In spite of opposition from Dunnes, the Catholic Church, the government and even union bosses themselves, the strikers persevere and their profile grows and they begin to spread their message as far as the United Nations and beyond. After 2 ½ years Ireland becomes the first western nation to ban South African agricultural goods, contributing to the fall of Apartheid two years later. Although the subject matter is bleak and serious, the play is at times funny, touching, and even has a few musical numbers thrown in. 

Strike is about justice, rebellion, and the right to stand up for what you believe in, which more or less sums up most Greater Kenningtonians. The only thing we could fault about this play was that it didn’t celebrate the fact that almost all of the strikers were female and had to make great sacrifices to pursue what they felt passionately about. However, with all of the strong ensemble female roles this will become evident to everyone in the audience. 

Strike is on now and runs until 6 May at the old venue. For some strange reason there are still tickets available and they can be purchased here. 

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The Walworth Farce @ Southwark Playhouse

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If you’re a committed Runoff reader (and when you think about it, why not?), you’ll be aware that we’ve been closely monitoring the opening of the new Kennington facing Southwark Theatre and we toured the place last summer. It’s now open for business with the geographically appropriate dark comedy ‘The Walworth Farce’ and we’ve just checked it out for you. 

Set in three claustrophobic rooms in a council block in Walworth Road, Irish brothers Blake and Sean live with their father Dinny and spend their day recreating a script of their previous life in Cork. In some scenes Blake and Sean play younger versions of themselves. In other scenes they depict older members of their family in various scenarios primarily centred on murder and inheritance, to an audience of no one. As the older sibling, Sean vaguely remembers what actually happened to his family in Cork and presents this to Dinny, who has an vested interest in reinterpreting the narrative. 

Sean is the only member of the household allowed to leave the flat, and in his daily visit to Walworth Tesco he befriends Hayley, who turns up to drop off some shopping. Seemingly obvious to her presence, the trio continue to depict their series of tragic events and struggle to bring Hayley into the narrative. We won’t tell you if the arrival of Hayley becomes an existential threat to their endless play or if she can liberate Sean to safety. The play’s theme of physically and emotionally trapped characters, compelled to act out narratives in an endless loop, certainly reminded us our lives in 2020 and 2021. 

The Walworth Farce is on now until 18 March and £15 tickets can be purchased here. Or you could just sit at home and watch a programme about Katie Price doing her house up. The choice is yours. 

And only five days to go until we unveil our Ten Best Places to Eat in Greater Kennington (+ One Sunday Roast)!

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Bert Hardy, Chronicler of Greater Kennington

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From the archives, the sixth and last edition of our month of best history posts

Bert Hardy (1913-1995) was a self trained photographer and resident of Elephant and Castle who worked as chief photographer for the Picture Post during a pivotal moment in the history of the UK. Hardy travelled the world photographing wars and current affairs and closer to home covered the D-Day landings and a certain royal wedding. Closer to home ever still, he was commissioned a series of photographs called ‘Life in the Elephant’ over a three week period in 1949 depicting working class life in the Elephant.  

Set amidst a backdrop of bombs and building sites, Hardy captured the backdrop of a seemingly unchanged pattern of life….horse drawn carts, trams, kids playing…juxtaposed against a community that was changing radically. The wintry weather had a great deal to do with the effect of these photos, as did Hardy’s predilection for haze and smog. The photos below are just a snippet of those generated for the Post. We invite you to Google the man and you might just find yourself down your own time consuming but very enriching rabbit hole. Meanwhile enjoy the photos below.

A small boy reads a newspaper at the kitchen table while his mother opens a tin of food at their home in the Elephant and Castle area of London, 8th January 1949. Original publication: Picture Post – 4694 – Life In The Elephant – pub. 1949 (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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Faking it at Southwark Playhouse

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Are you at that point in January where there isn’t much to do but you’re nevertheless scratching to get out of the house or office? So are we, so to address the scratch we just checked out the intriguing and timely show ‘Fake News’ at Southwark Playhouse. Not the new Playhouse in Kennington that we visited last summer (it’s a thing), but the original in Newington Causeway. 

Originally presented to a sold out crowd at the Edinburgh Fringe, Fake News revolves around a budding journalist who’s just landed a plumb internship at the country’s foremost news organisation. With the audience acting as younger interns, Millennial Times is described to us as ‘the most lucrative and therefore respected media company on earth’ (we thought that was Kennington Runoff, but moving on). Given this, what the Times value most is the pursuit of clicks and money above ethics. But as long as people remain entertained, is this such a bad thing? 

As our budding journalist finds himself increasing enmeshed in a hilarious and distressing workplace with Angus and Debbie, he struggles to find a story that will launch his career and prove that he deserves to be there. Eventually he stumbles across a story that might not only make his career, but might disprove one of the biggest news stories since 9/11. But is his revelation itself fake news and if so, does it matter if it makes people happy and shareholders richer? Of course we’re not going to tell you.

Fake News is on now and runs until 28 January and tickets can be booked here. A delicious irony is that it’s received rave reviews from some of the same news outlets that it bashes. Below is the writer appearing on Sky News. The running time is one hour so you can toddle on home and still make it an early night. 

We here at the Runoff will be taking a break for the next month. But before you fall into apoplectic fits of anguish, don’t worry as we will be spoon feeding you with highlights from our history archives. We’re offering you these stories purely because they had the most hits give Greater Kenningtonians much more depth and context into our anointed patch. Enjoy!

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Call the Doctor!

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Since the demise of Elephant and Castle shopping centre a few years ago, we’ve been telling you how the small businesses that were there have adapted to other premises. Two sterling examples are the great Black Cowboy Coffee and critically acclaimed Kaieteur Kitchen. As it’s January and we’re now expected *eats doughnut* to lead much more healthy lifestyles, we’re here to tell you about another of these ventures; ‘Dr. Juice’.

Dr. Juice is the brainchild of Colombian born entrepreneur John Parra. In 2015 he was working for M&S and he and his friends noticed a distinct lack of healthy food options around Elephant and Castle. Given that healthy juices are a feature of most Colombian tables, the gap in the market seemed obvious and John tasked himself with addressing the issue. According to John ‘I just wanted to make the community become healthier’.

On our stopover, my juicy companion had the ‘Dirty Passion’ smoothie, comprised of mango, passion fruit, orange and pineapple. Your scribe had the ‘Dr. Classic’ juice drink consisting of carrot, apple, orange and ginger. All of the ingredients worked powerfully when whizzed together. These drinks are made before your very eyes and there are no artificial additives, but you can add items such as chia seeds and protein. Dr. Juice also sells acai bowls and fruit bowls 

We remember John’s petite pop up juice bar in the shopping centre fondly as they were located across from the erotic electric massage chairs. The new location is much more spacious and benefits from being in an area full of students. However, as we know post pandemic, every food establishment is at risk and benefits from our patronage. 

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Lenos & Carbon

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We recently paid a long overdue visit to Colombian staple Lenos and Carbon in Elephant Street in Elephant and Castle. If you’ve never been to Elephant Street, it’s a delightful little strip of earth full of northern South American restaurants, shops and cafes which nourishes us with the diversity of our anointed patch. 

Hidden behind a tiny door next to the entrance to the station, the first impressions of L&C is that it’s beguilingly large. The walls are adorned with handicrafts that can be purchased, and on our visit the majority of the punters were speaking Spanish – two big ticks from the very outset. We started by trying their empanada, which had a pastry thicker and softer than what we are accustomed to from Argentine restaurants, and was overall more corn based. A tasty and filling bargain at £1.70. We also indulged on a shredded beef arepa. It left us feeling a bit bland but was rescued by some very zingy salsas. 

For the mains, Phil from accounts had the Bandeja Paisa, which rather resembled a greatest hits mixed grill meets breakfast buffet dish. The Colombian style chorizo was less paprika flavoured than its Spanish cousin, but still tasty. Around these were an assortment of shredded beef, cereal, corn bread and beans. And both of our plates extended two second plates containing fried plantain, rice and salad. Whew. 

Your scribe had the Mojarra Marinera with plantains and rice. Mojarra is a tropical fish and this one was served as a whole, head and all. This mind bogglingly large dish was accompanied by mussels, tiny calamari, prawns, and baby octopus. It was sprinkled with parsley to accompany the very creamy and succulent sauce. Both of these dishes were washed down with Corona on tap, but wine and cocktails are also available. 

Colombian food will probably never rise to the dizzying heights of Colombia’s other great export*, but what we love about L&C is the overall experience and vibe. With the Colombian staff and punters it transported us to a place much further south, far removed from train strikes and melting snow. 

*We’re talking about Shakira, so please get your mind out of the gutter.  

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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Gardening Fun in Walworth

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We were overcome with giddy thrill when we saw a range of free gardening related courses had just been announced over at Walworth Garden. We weren’t so thrilled to discover that they’re only free to our lucky readers in Southwark. But you can still attend if you have a spare £85 or so kicking around. And if you do then, well, congratulations. And even if you don’t book a course, the Garden is a fine place to visit. 

These courses are aimed for people who have gardens and also those who garden from a window. There are courses on composting, herbal medicines, soap making, houseplants, terrariums, how to lay out a garden, and many more. Imagine all the pleasure you can give your loved ones at Christmas by saying ‘look aunty Claire, I made you a bar of soap with some thyme stuck in it’! Or by taking the moral high road with your flat mates when they complain that your bedroom smells like a decomposing rat, by saying  ‘excuse me, but I’m HOME COMPOSTING’! 

For those of you not aware of Walworth Garden, it is a small, green, urban oasis our not so green patch of land. Their motto is ‘if it isn’t in the ground then its for sale’. So you can buy plants (including loads of cacti), soil, herbs, and even a few pots. It is also a very relaxing place to just wander and sit on the many benches. The Garden also has an apiary, which got us very excited at first as we thought it had something to do with actual apes. It is in fact a place where bees are kept and they even offer a course on bee keeping.  

So, you lucky folks in Walworth, Elephant, or wealthy people in Lambeth, click here to book those courses! 

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