Category Archives: pubs and bars

The Ten Best Restaurants in Greater Kennington #8

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(+ One Sunday Roast)

Beza Vegan Ethiopian

The number eight spot has been procured by Ethiopian Vegan hotspot ‘Beza’ in Elephant and Castle. It was recently lauded by the Guardian as one of the best vegetarian restaurants in London, and a few weeks ago by the same publication as one of the best restaurants in the UK run by immigrants. The review below is from last spring but we went again  last week and the standard remains. If you want to make a night of we suggest popping into the fun sports bar ‘Tap Inn’ to experience their complex and well selected range of beers and ciders. And yes, this is probably the first and last time the Runoff will ever recommend a sports bar, so truly something to tell your grandchildren about. 

The jury is still out as to whether the mind bending juggernaut that is Elephant Park is actually in the Kennington Runoff catchment area (if you live there don’t get your hopes up). But for the purpose of this review lets just say it is. Beza Vegan Ethiopian started its local life as a pop up in Elephant and Castle shopping centre in 2016. It was one of the many establishments that were kicked out when it closed and it has certainly landed on its feet. It now has a spiffy new premises very close to the new ‘so hip it hurts’ dining area Sayer Street.

If you don’t know a great deal about Ethiopian food they make it easy for you as there is only one thing on the menu, and the very friendly Ethiopian staff can tell you all about it. The food is served on a giant platter and is intended to be eaten without cutlery by means of a glorious bread called injera. Injera has a slight tangy flavour to it and they will bring you as much as you want. On the platter we had red lentils with garlic, sautéed mushrooms, chickpeas, spinach, beetroot and cabbage cooked in a variety of ways. The heat level was moderate but if want to ramp it up we were given some condiments that would set your toenails alight, mitigated by free minty water.  All extremely pleasing.

We went to Beza on a cold Saturday night but we were provided with little blankets to drape over ourselves.  All in all we felt very healthy when we left, other than the bottle of wine that we managed to neck in half an hour. And at only £28 for two people it was certainly good on the wallet. They also serve an even larger (were talking car tyre size) portion for four people for  £44! አስገራሚ!

Back Dog Sunday Roast

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Ahead of our profound and moving, yet highly subjective,  ‘Top Ten Best Restaurants in Greater Kennington’ (plus one Sunday roast) countdown, we recently enjoyed a Sunday roast at local stalwart the Black Dog in Vauxhall and were here to tell you about it. 

Aside from the roast, what the Dog is particularly good at are the starters and bar snacks. With a Spanish/European tilt, what looked good to us were the padron peppers, squid with wasabi mayo, and their signature Scotch eggs. For roast one, your scribe had the sirloin steak roast with a curious spinach and cream mash. The steak was very lean and thinly sliced, with generous vegetables and a not-very-Sunday-roast-but-still-delicious curious creamed spinach mixture. Sides of horseradish and apple sauce were also a treat.

  • Pork
  • Steak

Our Ombudsman Phil had the pork belly roast, which was a thick slice of rolled pork belly topped off with some crackling. The meat was well cooked, with delicious but not overwhelming fat. Yorkshire pudding pulled off the great feat of being soft yet crispy – a triumph. Good veggies alongside, not over cooked. Paul is a gravy man and gave it a big tick. There is also a good selection of Casque Marque accredited ales and beers. And a good value at £17. 

The look at the Dog is one of a fun antiques shop mixed with assorted kitchen tables.  The crowd is an interesting mix of middle class white people under the age of 35. If this describes yourself, then congratulations and you’ll fit right in. if, like us, that does not describe yourself then you’ll still feel at home as the atmosphere is very inviting. But please be warned, that the toilet marked ‘U’ is ‘urinals’ and does NOT stand for ‘unisex’. God knows we’re  not making that mistake again. 

The Three Stags Sunday Roast

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Last weekend the Runoff visited celebrated Lambeth North pub The Three Stags for a long overdue visit to check out their Sunday roast. As part of our contract with management we work on only limited hours at weekends so we arrived at a venue not yet full of patrons, but when full is a good mix of locals, groups, and confused tourists who were led to believe that the pub is actually in Waterloo. The atmosphere is kind of punky with a huge range of music and, on our visit, loads of Halloween decorations and very spookily attired yet well informed bar staff. On that subject, the slightly morbid Chaplin corner is where Charlie last saw his dad alive.

My colleague had the free range pork belly which was a generous, fat and meaty balanced slab with loads of gravy.  The roast hit all the main points well and was a very solid effort. All roasts come with a Yorkshire pudding, which gets a big tick. The roast potatoes were flavourful with a soft middle and some crisp edges, similar to how our bodies have evolved since the pandemic.  The star veg was some cabbage, with just enough bite and surprinsingly very peppery. 

  • We’ve said it before, but
  • taking pictures of food isn’t easy!

Your scribe had the chicken which was a mighty leg and thigh. The stuffing was a bit on the mean side, but was nice and flavourful.  The honey glazed carrots and parsnips weren’t too strong in the honey notes and were so plentiful that we had to leave some on the plate, and  cooked just this side of firm. And the roasts were topped with, um, watercress.  Everything seemed very much home cooked, and that is what you want from a Sunday roast at a good price. And no to mention, they have a good selection of ales.

Although we were certainly carnivorous on this visit, The Stags takes pride in ‘ethical food with an emphasis on more veg and better meat’. And apparently they are South London’s most sustainable pub. In fact, the menu indicates that in order to protect the rainforest they no longer serve beef.  If you’re a true Sunday roast purist, we suggest the Jolly Gardeners in Vauxhall or the very ‘cheffy’ 24 The Oval. But if you live in Lambeth North and want a well priced, dependable,  sturdy and fun roast you could do a lot worse than The Stags. And if your tastes extend to listening to Lionel Ritchie while sitting under a picture of Sid Vicious you’ll fit right in. 

Four Quarters

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We confess to a degree of shame at our embrace of the soulless juggernaut that has become Elephant Park. That shame is mitigated, however, by the fact that it is now the home of some of the independent shops that were turfed out of the shopping centre (sadly the electric massage chairs didn’t make it over). And also home to some very cool micro chains, and one of them is a 80/90’s video game themed bar called ‘Four Quarters’. 

Four Quarters bills itself as a ‘no fills bar’ but they really don’t do themselves justice as they have a good selection of lagers, IPAs, wines and spirits. We booked a table (a Space Invaders table video game, no less) but this is not mandatory. How it works is that you buy real US quarters at the bar and each games costs 25 cents (about 20p). 

For those of you who get thrilled by your 80’s games, on offer they have Pac Man (Mr and Ms), Donkey Kong, Galaxian, Asteroids, Frogger and a nice range of pinball machines, among others. For those of you who prefer your 90’s games they have early Guitar Hero, Alien v. Predator, The Simpsons, NBA Jam, and Pole Position II. For those of you into gaming after that period then you probably have no idea what we’re talking about, but we’re impressed that you’ve read this far. 

If you register on the Four Quarters website you can compete for a high score with other users which is a fun way to lure you back. They also have console booths with games such as Nintendo and X Box. They do serve food, but we didn’t see anyone eating there in the midst of the fun. If you’re peckish we recommend 400 Rabbits, which we reviewed a few weeks ago and is next door. 

Orbit Brewery

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Were you aware that Greater Kennington has it’s own top flight micro brewery?  Well if not we’re here to tell you about Orbit Brewery, located in a tiny pocket at the corner of the KR catchment area, off Walworth Road. We wrote about it’s more embryonic concept in 2016. 

Orbit Brewery is the brainchild of Scotsman Robert Middleton, who has been producing beers under the arches in Walworth since 2014. Orbit used to sell a small volume of beers on site and about three months ago hired another arch across the road to create taproom selling their wares and, straight on the pulse, pop up food. We went on a Friday evening and sat outside and it proved to be a little urban oasis. Well, if you can escape the notion that you could be in the forecourt of a car repair shop or that place behind a nightclub where they store the bins. BUT, it had a good mix of locals and we were very pleased to see groups of women in what is sometimes construed as a male space. 

In a very challenging assignment, your dedicated scribe opted for the ‘IVO’ pale ale. I was getting hits of tangerine and some tropical fruits, cream and honey with just a bit of bitterness. My colleague had the ‘Peel’ pale ale.  It was Belgian and intensely hoppy, with notes of lemon and lime zest and bits of pepper and other forms of citrus. The colleague then had the ‘Dead Wax’ London porter, with a great deal of malt, not a great deal of bitterness, and spicy hops. And it was particularly coffee flavoured. They also feature a tzatziki flavoured beer which featured notes of cucumber and, yes, yogurt if you want to create illusion that you’re drinking something healthy.  The beer is served in pints, 2/3 and half pints if you like to mix things up. 

On the food front, we must disappointedly report that it was adequate but did not just really justify the £12 price point for a burger and potatoes. Granted, the potatoes were well cooked and the right side of greasy. We had the Challah baps which just didn’t really hit the mark on the flavour and seasoning front. We think bar snacks are the best accompaniment to your very own delicious Walworth crafted beer. And, like us, after a few you might find yourself in Orbit too. 

Always Be Comedy

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At Runoff Towers we are haltingly reentering the galaxy of semi normality and now attending Greater Kennington’s own top flight comedy night Always Be Comedy in person. Over the past 16 months MC James Gill and his ever optimistic team made a noble attempt to make ABC a virtual experience but it was a bit like watching stand up in a toilet cubicle, so it was refreshing to see a return to face to face laughing. 

On Monday night we saw the irrepressible Joe Lycett and the hilarious Sarah Pascoe, and on previous trips we’ve seen the likes of Harry Hill, Katherine Ryan, Russell Howard, Romesh Ranganathan, Josh Widdecombe (whoops – better pick up those names we just dropped!), all for a tenner. The only trick is you need to be quick off the mark, and also some are billed as ‘secret’ so it is probably a good idea to be on their mailing list. And if you’ve never heard of the comedian, you might discover somebody new and only exerted a walk over and hobble back from The Tommyfield pub in Kennington Cross in the process. 

MC James Gill

The demographic at ABC does makes you feel a bit like you’ve stumbled across reunion of contestants from ‘The Apprentice’, but if you can move beyond that and a the pricey pints then it’s a fun night. At the moment the seating is limited and socially distanced and people wear masks when they are milling around, and as expected you’re expected to tap in when you arrive and this will continue to be the case next week. 

A Party for the Elephant

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This coming Saturday (26th) the much loved and much refurbished Elephant and Castle elephant will be making a return to the area and perched in its new home in Castle Square, which is in Elephant Street behind the now mostly past tense shopping centre. We are dearly hoping that the statue will be dragged trojan horse style through the streets by the executives of Lendlease, but our dreams rarely come true. 

We give you this information as the return will be accompanied by a kind of street party, and we are all invited. According to the press release, the Elephant and Castle Town Centre Team (whoever the hell they are) will be laying on a whole day of family fun that includes world music and food, cocktails (!), history, dancers and talks. It runs from 11:00 to 17:00. 


A selection of local traders will make up the backbone of the event and will include Coma Y Beba and Caribbean dishes from Kaieteur Kitchen. As this is Elephant, also expect lots of Venezuelan and Colombian fare, in addition to African dishes. Also on hand is Vauxhall staple and ‘wow I never knew a pint could cost 12 quid’ taproom Mother Kellys, who will be opening a new outlet in Elephant Square. We expect free samples. 


And if you are thinking that this celebration is just a cynical way for the property developers to win over local residents we could not POSSIBLY comment. What we can comment on is the chance  to support local traders, eat some interesting global food and catch some free music and stimulate that long dormant grey matter.  For a video of the elephant losing it’s perch, see below.

The Jolly Gardeners

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Some of you might remember a curious German themed sports pub called ‘Zeitgeist’ at the top of Black Prince Road. We reviewed it last year and described the fare as ‘food best consumed when you’re not entirely sober’. Shortly afterwards it went under. It has now been resurrected in its original guise –  ‘The Jolly Gardeners’. We had a clandestine and very pleasing meal there a few weeks ago and then caught up with the current proprietors to find out how they plan to please us Greater Kenningtonians. 

The Gardeners was purchased late last year by five mates from Essex, Dan (who now lives next to the Gardeners), Nick, Jonathan, Ryan, and Rob. All come from different professional backgrounds but are rooted in running restaurants and pubs. As the pub is enormous, I asked one of the guys how they plan to use the space. They explained that part of it will be a reservable restaurant in a ‘family sharing vibe’ (think Sunday roasts, bloody Mary’s, scotch eggs, etc.) the other 70% will be more of a traditional pub. They’ve also built an outside area (which rather resembles a ski lodge) which will be useful in the summer, if that ever happens.

On the food and drink front, the boys informed us that over 50% of the food items will be vegan but ‘more interesting than you might think’. They are trying to source things locally and are tapping into local producers. On the subject of tapping they are not tied to a brewer and are trying to use localish brewers such as Coalition. Pub snacks will also be on the menu, featuring items such as confit potatoes and cauliflower wedges. According to the boys, they acknowledge that dining and drinking habits have evolved over the past 18 months, for instance with more people working from home, and they are keen to address this.  

One of the issues with the Gardeners is that it does not have a great deal of footfall and people might forget that it exists. When I asked the guys how they plan to address this niggling issue they replied ‘by serving excellent foot at a reasonable price point so people don’t forget us. 

The menu below might have changed but gives you a sense of what they do. The pub is open now for drinks and food. Even if all the boys aren’t locals, lets embrace them as one of our own! 

Greater Kennington Opens Up – The Duchy Arms

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We’ve always felt a little sorry for the Duchy Arms and have developed a soft spot for the place. Located off the main drag, its never enjoyed the passing trade of other venues and has seemed a bit, well, lost. However, it has benefitted from one quirky trait not enjoyed by other pubs…..it has a car park. The car park has now been transformed into an umbrella strewn beer garden, so it’s moment has arrived. As it is truly outside the area has more space and circulation than the Dog House and you do not feel fork to fork next to your fellow diner. Although more spread out, it still has a lively ‘we’ve just come from football practice’ vibe about it. And great staff. 

Your scribe and a Runoff colleague enjoyed the lamb kofta with couscous, flatbread and little bowl of tzatziki. It was well spiced lamb and they brought more tzatziki when requested. Another colleague had beer battered haddock with mushy peas and hand cut chips. It was described as ‘lovely, nice and fresh with a crisp batter’. As for the chips, they were definitely made fresh and had not visited the north pole. Our French colleague had the pie of the day, which was creamy chicken and leek. When asked to describe the quality, the colleague shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat. We’ll interpret that as ‘pretty good’. 

If you are planning an outing to a Greater Kennington pub in the next week or so if it is within popular hours we strongly suggest that you book first. And after our sub polar dining experience we think it might good to idea to book earlier in the evening.  And please remember to bundle up. Humans can do many great things, but eating dinner in a 7 degree car park requires a degree of forward thinking. 

Greater Kennington Opens Up – The Dog House

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Over the next week we’ll be visiting five diverse Greater Kennington establishments that have been partially or totally closed since Christmas. We’ll be giving you the KR lowdown on how safe they feel, how seating works, improvements in their menus, issues of overcrowding, and we might even have a cheeky drink or two or six. Our handy guide to how pubs and restaurants are operating is at the bottom of this post.

As you likely already know, from now until 17 May all food and drink served must be outdoors. However, unlike the last time pubs were open, which feels like 45 years ago, you do not have to order food. Also, venues no longer have to close at 10:00pm. First on our journey across Kennington Land is the Dog House in Kennington Cross, which for the record is open until midnight and 2:00am at weekends. Neighbours must love that.

Your scribe and five selected interns and sales people from the KR office had dinner and drinks on Monday night and it was very full. In terms of social distancing, well, lets just say at least people weren’t licking one another. As you can see by the picture below, the benches were packed tightly under the awning, and if this makes you feel a bit uneasy you might want to opt for the uncovered seats. And if you go this week it is best to reserve. 

The food at the Dog House has always been a bit on the ‘meh’ side, but on this outing it was suspiciously ‘meh’. People in our group had burgers, pies, and chicken escalope. We all agreed that the poor quality food could not just be a result of just opening again, and the chips had definitely seen some freezer action which did not used to be the case. The service was slow, but we attributed this to the crowd, and the server was apologetic. The apologetic server appeared new, as did all the other staff that night, and that got us thinking. We asked the server if the pub was under new management. The server excitedly explained that the pub is now operated by mega chain ‘Punch’. Oh dear. 

Unfortunately we cannot recommend a meal at the new Punch operated Dog House, but it’s still a great place to people watch and have drinks with friends. When thinking about the new Dog House don’t lose heart as at least it isn’t a boarded up shell. Or worse, a Foxtons.