If you have a spare 14 minutes (and we know you do) have a listen to a delightful podcast about the current life and history of Kennington Park by Blue Badge tour guide and Walworth resident Isobel.
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Category Archives: Oval
The top ten best places to eat in Greater Kennington – no. 1 – Adulis
If right now you are thinking ‘my god, it seems like it’s taken a year to get through this top ten list’ then trust me reader, you ain’t the only one. In our crazy reality of face masks and washing hands five times a day, stability seems to be a vacant resource for us all. But your wait has been worth it, as the top spot is awarded to an excellent Eritrean restaurant in Oval which has been a source of continuity in our crib since 1996.
If Eritrean food is new to you, or even if it isn’t, the best launching point at Adulis is the sampler plate called ‘Kirchat’ (there is a vegetarian version as well). It is fundamentally a selection of their best meat and veg dishes served on a platter usually featuring Kifto, which is tender meat in Ghee and to die for. All of the dishes haver have a sweet and sour, almost vinegary tinge to them. They gladly pimped our 2 person serving up to 3 as we had a third diner, and the pic is below. Please don’t let our bad photo below put you off, as not all Eritrean dishes look like cat food.
The dish above is served on a platter with a base of bread called ‘injera’, which is a leavened pancake made with sourdough (and if you run out you can get more for free). Almost all meals here are served with it and the whole shebang is to be eaten with your good hands (remember those days?). We also recommend the chicken stew ‘dorho’ with loads of herbs and also the prawns. They also have some fine looking vegan options.
On the drinks front, we usually have the Kenyan beer ‘Tusker’ or a South African white. Having said that, the speciality of the house is their Adulis honey wine. We’ve had this previously and let’s just place it in the category of ‘experimental’. The place has a slightly retro Eritrean feel to it with memetoes both current and from the past. The staff are very friendly and a good chunk of the punters are (tick!) Eritrean themselves. The place also wafts with the aroma of their coffee and popcorn ceremony.
Adulis is closed at the moment and we can’t see if they deliver by the usual sources. Keep looking online, give them or call to see if you can pop for a takeaway. Failing that, stick it in your pocket diary as all of our venues will need our support in order to survive. As they say in Eritrea, Tsibuk E’dl!!!
The top ten best places to eat in Greater Kennington – no. 10 – Cafe Van Gogh
Welcome to our almost annual run down of the best places to eat in Greater Kennington. Let us start with a few caveats. You might notice that we generally give good reviews to eating places here. This not due to lack of scrutiny as we eat out in Kennington all the time. Rather, we choose to promote the places we enjoy and feel passionate about, as opposed to the places which aren’t up to standard (and you know who you are..we can hear your microwave humming). Also, there are many places which we know are wonderful (such as Bonnington Cafe) but we just haven’t been able to make it there recently, so we apologise if your favourite hasn’t made the cut.
Number 10 is Cafe Van Gogh. a glorious vegan cafe on cusp of the KR catchment area in Brixton Road. Not afraid of being lauded, it was recently anointed as one one of the Guardian’s best vegan friendly restaurants in London . We visited on a weekday during half term, and the place was full of people working on laptops and folks with kiddos. We chose the vegan mac-n-cheese partially as a challenge, as it is pretty hard to pull off in a vegan joint. Our server explained that the cheese is achieved by a mixture of mustard, garlic and onion powders. We were very sceptical about this but the result was delicious. Those around us had a butternut squash pasta dish and a plant based based burger with chips. On the other table a mum told us that she just had an aubergine stuffed chapatti with dhal. It should be noted that the menu is concise and well curated.
Cafe Van Gogh is a not for profit social enterprise who work in conjunction with a range of local Kennington/Oval/Brixton charities. They provide paid employment for people who have faced challenges in life and who want to get back into the realm of employment. We are not vegan ourselves, but having lunch here was a truly delicious eye opener and even more valued with the knowledge that we’re giving something back to the more vulnerable in our shire.
Vincent himself was not present for this dining experience, but if you want to experience his work without even seeing anything he actually painted, then you might want to check out the totally bonkers Vincent Van Gogh experience just up the road at the Southbank..
Collective in Kennington Park
The café in Kennington Park has experienced a number of permutations over the years, almost to the point of us assigning the designation of it being a ‘jinxed property’. It was resurrected in July of last year as a lunchtime pizza place called ‘Collective’. We went for the pizza, but as they open at 10am they also have croissants, coffees, muffins and teas. If the mood takes you, you can even have, umm, a morning ice cream.
Pizza seems to be the current vogue in Greater Kennington (with barbershops a close second), supplanting estate agents, which is a good thing. We’ve been meaning to visit Collective since last summer but gave it a miss as it interferes with Loose Women our healthy daytime regime. It bats above it’s weight from the outset by having a large, wood fired pizza oven.
A good pizza is all about the base, and we had a basic marinara to maximize the experience. The dough is definitely sourdough, and thin almost to the point of being transparent. True to Neopolitain pizzas, it is blistered and slightly charred, but not to the finger blackening gorgeousness of Theo’s in Elephant. The marinara was good but we encourage you to branch out to the ‘spicy boy’ or the several veggie options. Vegan cheese is also available.
The place is especially good for kids as it is spacious and the kiddos can even run outside without the fear of the number 3 bus mowing them down. If you’ve been in a coma for the past 5 months and you’re presently reading this in July, the outside space is great and even BYOB. In our estimation the only downside is that many people do not want to devour an entire pizza in the middle of the day so it might be bountiful to invite your colleagues or take some home, which is an option. They are also open at weekends. Very good, but will it be in our top 10?*
*The final plug, honestly.
Getting a Bit Gassy in Oval
As your devoted public servants, last night we popped over to Montford Place with our almost alliteratively titled ‘Gasholder Building Public Consultation Invitation’ to meet with a group of chirpy Millennial Berkeley Homes Reps and one rather grumpy architect.
Regular Runoff readers are probably aware that we are closely watching and musing over the inexorable rise of ‘Uptown KenVo’ in Kennington Lane, and this consultation was about the high rises which will be erected inside the largest gasholder, located just behind ‘shipping container Tesco’. The other two gasholders will be pulled down in March (read about them here) and will be the site of the first stage of the development which will eventually have 1300 (!!!!) homes.
There will be 225 flats inside the gasholder, and grumpy architect mentioned that the plan had recently been altered to provide more green spaces for residents. Also, the building will have an arc shape which will reflect the very fine looking arc at the north side of the Oval. The gasholder will not be dismantled, and apparently construction materials will delivered underground (!!!!).
When completed the whole site will be set between Kennington Lane, Montford Place, the Oval and Vauxhall Street, which is pretty huge. Apparently the elevation to Vauxhall Street will be retail, as will a strip that runs through the gasholder itself (at bottom). At this point a Millennial Berkeley Homes Rep joined the convo and this is when we decided to get a bit subversive. The conversation went accordingly:
Berkeley – We’re thinking that there could be some locally owned cafes in there, or maybe a crèche
Runoff – Or there could be a Starbucks
Berkeley – Umm…or there could be a library in there.
Runoff – Or what about a Pret INSIDE a Starbucks?
Berkeley – Err….
If you want more information or your own chance to be a bit subversive, the next consultation is this Thursday (6 Feb) from 6-8 at 37 Montford Place. If you choose the subversive route you first might want to pop into the Pilgrim Pub for a swift one.
An Apple a Day Doesn’t Keep the Developers Away
Guess what, Greater Kennington? You’re about to be the proud parents of another high rise! Yep, the Apple Green petrol station (and home to our favourite Greggs) in Kennington Lane has been sold to developers. Tonight we went along to their consultation to find out more.
First of all, the developers want us to know they want to ‘make maximum use of the site’, which is developer’s parlance for ‘lets build loads of luxury flats’. Apparently the building was going to be 62 metres but ‘we decided to be sympathetic to the scale of the local area’. That’s developer’s parlance of ‘Lambeth wouldn’t let us make it that big’. The building will have 15 floors and contain 116 units, and of these units 35% will be for affordable rents. That developer’s parlance for ‘Lambeth told us they couldn’t all cost two million quid’.
To their credit, they have stated that they will be using light green terracotta tiles and draw influence from Royal Doulton Ceramics, respecting local history. However, they also said that they will ‘be influenced by the Berkeley Homes development across the street (say what!). They’ve also said that the want to emphasize cycling, and this is how that conversation went:
DEVELOPERS – “Yes, we’re thinking that the retail until on the ground floor could be an independent cycle café concept shop”
RUNOFF – Yeah, or it could be a Poundland.
How they manage to contort 116 flats into a what is essentially a petrol station forecourt is certainly a daunting task. And if you want to behold the daunting task yourself, or if you want to lose your collective sh*t then you are in luck as they are having another consultation tomorrow (Saturday) from 12 – 4 at the Foundry, 17 Oval Way. The website for the development can be found here. Apparently they have a few more hurdles to pass with Lambeth, but construction could start by autumn of 2020.
In other matters, we just had wind of more high rises that just passed the planning stages that will be located on that no mans land of a vacant lot next to the Beafeater Gin distillery. When we go to the consultation we’ll fill you in.
A Little History of 20th Century Architecture in Our Realm, Part 2
Pull those chairs a little closer still, boys and girls, as promised this is the second installment of the Duchy of Cornwall’s influence on the architecture of our area. This time we move forward and north east towards Oval and Vauxhall. Sorry Walworth, we will spread our pixie dust on good yourselves as soon as possible. We’re currently investigating zebras and lions in Pasley Park.
As mentioned last week, the town planner and architect Stanley Ashtead is responsible for the look and feel of much of post Victorian Kennington. He was influenced by the Georgian architecture of Kennington Road and this is heavily in evidence at Kennington Palace Court, below, circa 1922. There are also other examples in Black Prince Road and Sandcroft St. However, at the same time change was afoot in our area, and there was an increasing need for more high density housing.
Following WW1 the Duchy undertook a number of projects to further alleviate some affects of local deprivation. In spite of the Duchy’s many achievements conditions of poor housing endured, and as land became available (called ‘disposals’ for the nerdy sort) London County Council demanded that something be executed. As a response the Duchy sold sites to the east of the Oval to LCC (which later became Lambeth Council). The Kennington Estate was the result, and the buildings live on as mighty tributes to famous Cricket players of the past, such as George Lohman and Bill Brockwell. You can even see the influence of the Duchy incorporated into the columns at the Oval end of the Cricket ground, if you look closely. If you don’t fancy looking closely we have a picture below
We again post an interesting doc about the Duchy of Cornwall estate and it can be found here. The Kennington funness kicks off at minute 41. If you’ve read this far then you probably have an interest in buildings. If this is the case we are going to a consultation this week about a proposed high rise slated for Kennington Lane, and we will let you know what we find….A case of history repeating, if ever there was one.
Kennington Runoff Eats a Sandwich
We haven’t reviewed any lunchtime spots recently here on the Runoff, so to rectify the matter we hopped along to local institution Mimi’s Deli, located at the cusp of Brixton Rd. behind St. Mark’s church.
Mimi’s is an excellent lunchtime sandwich/salad joint that also stocks a range of deli items such as Italian meats (salami, prosciutto) and cheeses (mozzarella, parmesan in addition to soft cheeses), and also features Italian pantry staples such as beans, tuna and wine (a staple frequently deployed at Runoff Towers). A real feature, however, is its range of different pastas, from spaghetti and gnocchi to obscure, multicolored pasta you’ve never heard of.
Back to sandwiches. Yours truly had a massive chicken and provolone affair that looked less like a sandwich and more like a baby leg. It was generous with the meat but too big for one human. Other sandwiches are filled with meatball, porchetta, chicken parm, and peppers. I didn’t see any vegan options. Some are served on Italian breads and others more curiously on croissants and bagels (lets apply the word ‘fusion’ here).
There is a small dining area at the back of Mimi’s but it is a teensy bit soulless so you might want to eat your sandwich in Kennington Park. If you are not based in Kennington on weekdays they are also open at weekends. Happy lunch eating!
Top tip: If you want homemade pasta walk five minutes down Brixton Road to Di Leito, who make it on the spot. To impress your friends, before they arrive throw flour over the pasta you’ve bought and then tell them what an exhausting day you’ve just had kneading dough.
A Celebration of the Gasholders at Oval
As regular readers to the Runoff are aware, the iconic gasholders at Oval will soon become past tense, with the exception of the possibly least attractive one (Gasholder 1,below, in a photo from 1957) closest to Montford place which will have it’s middle filled in by flats. The others are to be taken down and replaced by mixed use flats and shops constructed by Berkeley homes. This little missive is not to open the Medusa like can of worms that surrounds the judgement of this decision, but rather a celebration of our soon to be extinct wrought iron friends.
Our gasholders are symbols of a bygone age of belching factory chimneys, pea soup fogs and mass manufacturing in London. They stored gas and moved up and down depending on the time of day the gas was needed by industry and residents. When regulators in homes and factories became more robust, however, this became less essential .The paired green gasholders closest to Vauxhall street were erected in 1874 and 1876 in a neo classical style and have Tuscan columns. These would have originally held gas used to service industries at Vauxhall Bridge, and later to homes in Oval, Vauxhall and Kennington. After quite a bit of disagreement in Lambeth these structures were not granted Grade 2 listed status, but given a ‘local listing’, which ultimately sealed their fate.
The iconic Gasholder 1 was constructed in 1877 and at the time was the largest such structure in the world. It was designed by Frank and George Livesey and these two factors, combined with it’s very fortunate location overlooking the cricket ground, saved it’s hollowed and hallowed skin. In a similar note, after being behind hoardings since the dawn of time the sketchy Cricketers pub at the base of the holder seems to now have a new lease on life, risen like the phoenix from the ashes as depicted on our soon to be removed gasholder 4.
