Kennington Park and its new Flower Garden

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Kennington Observer

It’s all change in Kennington Park at the moment, and this weekend was a big one thanks to the reopening of the flower garden after a £500k makeover. We bring you photos, with apologies to the woman who we inadvertently followed around:

The flower garden originally opened in 1931 and its layout has remained much the same since, including this water feature:

This new sundial was made from Welsh slate by Sam Flintham, a student of historic stone carving at Kennington’s own City & Guilds:

Get down there quick while the roses are still in season:

Elsewhere in the park, the Kennington Park Centre on Bob Marley’s old hang out, St Agnes Place, is newish and features an arts and community centre, a stay and play club, and an adventure playground. Also newish is the exercise equipment just north of the cafe, which is proving very popular.

Finally, one of the big concerns about Northern Line extension works in the park was that Bee Urban, those harvesters of the world’s tastiest honey, would have to be relocated. Well, they have been, and their new site next to the cafe looks mightily impressive:

Join the Friends of Kennington Park here – they made all this happen.

The Top Ten Best Restaurants in Kennington – no. 6 – Adulis

Posted on April 26, 2015 by Kennington Observer

Positives: Eritrean food is delicious, unique and great fun for parties. We’ve been to a lot of Ertitrean and Ethiopian restaurants and Adulis might be the best of the lot.

Negatives: Occasionally sketchy, but friendly, service. The coffee ceremony basically involves burning the beans – that’s the Eritrean way – and will keep you awake for a week or so. And the food, although delicious, ain’t photogenic:

Hygiene rating: 4 out of 5

Address: 44-46 Brixton Road, London SW9 6BT.

Come back next Sunday to find out the number 5.

Mazí Mas at the Ovalhouse Theatre

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Kennington Observer

Over Easter Weekend we went to Mazí Mas, a roaming restaurant that’s currently resident at Ovalhouse Theatre, and we were blown away.

We’d never plucked up the courage to go to Ovalhouse before and, arriving after the performance had finished, we were pleasantly surprised by how vibey the bar is on a Saturday night (it got even busier later). And they serve Effra Ale which is no Kernel but it’s pretty good.

The restaurant’s adjacent to the bar and was also full – they say there’s no need to book but we had to share a table with another couple.

Mazí Mas is a social enterprise whose chefs are female migrants and refugees from Brazil, Iran, Ethiopia, Turkey, Senegal and Peru, cooking recipes from their home countries. When we went, Roberta from Brazil was cooking and the food was delicious.

These are Roberta’s pao de quiejo (Brazilian cheese bread) and they taste as good as they look, plus they only cost £4 for five:

They use local, seasonal, sustainable ingredients and sure enough, everything tastes fresh and home-cooked. This is a main of pumpkin moqueca in coconut milk with lime (£7); they were also doing the same dish with white fish (£8) – both were great:

This is a dessert of passion fruit mousse for £4 (possibly not sourced locally but still):

The menu changes daily depending on who’s in the kitchen, although the cheese bread and passion fruit mousse seem to be permanent fixtures. Check their Twitter to find out what they’re cooking each day.

Their crowdfunding campaign is about to close and one of the offers is a meal for two for £25 which would work at as good value.

They will be at Ovalhouse every Tuesday to Saturday from 6pm to 10pm until May 30th. After that, we’d love to see them find a permanent site in Kennington.

Ovalhouse Theatre is at 52-54 Kennington Oval, SE11 5SW.

The top ten best restaurants in Kennington – numbers 7 to 5

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Kennington Runoff

7. Dirty Burger
pros: top quality, posh, juicy burgers
cons: the Vauxhall gyratory goes right past the outdoor tables, and the veggie burger features mushrooms, which everyone knows are banned throughout Kennington on grounds of taste, texture, appearance, smell, and name
hygiene rating: 5 (Reassuringly Clean Burger)

6. Doost
pros: delicious Persian specialities, a charcoal grill, and loads of vodkas
cons: it’s a little pricey
hygiene rating: 5

5. Adulis
pros: Eritrean food is such good fun
cons: the service can be a little sketchy
hygiene rating: 4

Doost Persian Grill & Vodka Bar

Adulis Eritrean Restaurant and Bar

Posted on February 9, 2014 by Kennington Observer

There are a surprising number of Eritrean restaurants in London. Adulis is one of the longest established, having been in South Kennington since 1996, and probably the best (also check out Kifto House, just outside the borders of West Kennington on South Lambeth Road).

Eritean food is really tasty and fun. It’s all about the injera – leavened pancakes made with sourdough of teff flour, which is a grain grown in Ethiopia and Eritrea that’s gluten free and nutritious. Your food will come served on a giant injera, and you’ll get a separate bowl of rolled up injera which you’ll use instead of cutlery to scoop up the food. Order the vegetable or meat platter, or a mix of the two, and you’ll get a variety of delicious stews, including goat and boiled egg. It makes for an unusual and enjoyable communal eating experience that’s great for parties – the atmosphere in Adulis is always good. The only snag is it’s arguably the world’s least photogenic cuisine:

Eritrea does have one brand of beer – it’s called Gold Star – but in South Kennington you will have to settle for Tusker Lager which is from Kenya and annoyingly owned by Diageo:

After dinner comes the coffee ceremony, which begins with heavily roasted coffee beans being waved in front of you so you can absorb the aroma. These will then be ground, placed in a traditional clay vessel, boiled several times, and served with popcorn, accompanied by the smell of burning frankincense.

After the coffee ceremony comes hour after hour of caffeine-induced mania (that must be what the early morning clubbers of West Kennington have been drinking).

what part of Kennington should you live in?

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Kennington Observer

What could you eat forever?

A) coconut and tamarind fish curry
B) double Ginger Pig-bred cheeseburger in a brioche bun
C) ceviche
D) lemongrass sesame pork rice vermicelli
E) quinoa and camargue red rice salad
F) spicy hot beef and okra stew on injera
G) McDonald’s happy meal

What is your jam?

A) Heaven Is A Place On Earth by Belinda Carlisle
B) Slave To The Rhythm by Grace Jones
C) Windowlicker by Aphex Twin
D) Pass Out by Tinie Tempah
E) Vindaloo by Fat Les
F) You Got The Love by Florence & The Machine
G) Timber by Pitbull feat. Ke$ha

Which is your favourite Kevin Spacey?

A) House of Cards Kevin Spacey
B) LA Confidential Kevin Spacey
C) The Usual Suspects Kevin Spacey
D) Seven Kevin Spacey
E) Late night dog walking Kevin Spacey
F) American Beauty Kevin Spacey
G) K-PAX Kevin Spacey

What’s on the top of your Kennington bucket list?

A) watching Florence from Florence & The Machine do an impromptu drunken covers set at a tiki bar
B) dancing till the sun comes up then comes down again
C) going to Radiohead’s Boiler Room takeover at Corsica Studios
D) exploring urban forests and soaking up ruin porn before it’s too late
E) attending a private view at Damien Hirst’s new gallery
F) going to a test match
G) watching Millwall play at home

How did you score?

Mostly A’s – you should live in Central Kennington
Mostly B’s – you should live in West Kennington (formerly known as Vauxhall)
Mostly C’s – you should live in North Kennington (formerly known as Elephant & Castle)
Mostly D’s – you should live in East Kennington (formerly known as Walworth)
Mostly E’s – you should live in North West Kennington (formerly known as Lambeth)
Mostly F’s – you should live in South Kennington (formerly known as Oval)
Mostly G’s – you should not live in Kennington; would suggest Fallujah, or Clapham

excellent new single from South Kennington resident Kyla La Grange

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Kennington Observer

It’s called Cut Your Teeth

Mimi’s Italian Deli

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Kennington Observer

Stuck for a Christmas present for that special food lover in your life? Get along to Bon Vivant Boulevard (AKA Brixton Road) and assemble a hamper from all the delights that are on offer.

South Kennington institution Mimi’s Deli is a good place to start. It’s a family-run deli and cafe selling Italian foods and wines, many of which would otherwise be hard to find in London.

Meats and cheeses:

Italian wines, starting at £7.50 per bottle:

If in doubt, there’s always Panettone:

They open till 7pm every day except Sundays when they close at 3pm. Still not sure? Let inspiring testimonials from the likes of Joanna Lumley, Kevin Spacey and Will Self convince you.

Malinka Continental Delicatessen

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Kennington Observer

We need to think of a name for the northern stretch of Brixton Road to reflect all its foodie delights. Bon Vivant Boulevard? Gourmet Ghetto?

Anyway, Malinka Continental Delicatessen has been at 58 Brixton Road for at least six years but people are still discovering it. From the outside you could mistake it for a standard Polish delicatessen, and the aesthetic of the cafe area is rather utilitarian, but they make up for it with a great range of products – some Polish but mostly not – and a five star hygiene rating from the Food Standards Agency (we are sticklers for hygiene).

Teapigs tea – hurray:

Cheeses:

They also do sandwiches, lasagne, pierogi and such like, and they have a comically bad website which claims they are closed on the weekends but we think this is wrong.

Malinka is a village in Northern Poland and has several meanings in Polish: raspberry, or love bite, or person who is prepared to pay wildly over the odds for nicely branded tea. Yes, we’re a pair of malinkas here at Kennington Runoff.

Cable Bar & Café

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Kennington Observer

The South Kennington end of Brixton Road in is becoming a haven for food and drink lovers. There’s the Oval Farmers’ Market on Saturdays, plus some very good delis and restaurants which we’ll write about soon. Best of all for hot drinks and extended visits is Cable Bar & Café, from the people behind the Scootercaffe on Lower Marsh in Waterloo – a cafe so cool it wouldn’t be out of place on Redchurch Street or in The Marais in Paris.

Cable, which used to be a greasy spoon, has a similar aesthetic to the Scootercaffe, which used to sell scooters, with vintage furniture, exposed brickwork, a poster for North by Northwest, a playlist featuring Edith Piaf, Françoise Hardy and the Velvet Underground, and live music on Tuesdays (jazz, bop, bluegrass – that kind of thing). Bands playing the nearby Brixton Academy gravitate here after soundcheck, so if you see someone who looks like they’re in Gogol Bordello or Lamb of God, they probably are.

Their coffee is top notch and food-wise they offer a selection of sausage rolls, scotch eggs and cakes. The Evening Standard have been breathlessly promoting West Kennington for some time now, which stretched to this South Kennington spot not long after it opened.

They also have a piano:

Cable Bar & Café

8 Brixton Rd, London SW9 6BU
020 8617 9629

The Kennington Observer

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

Category Archives: South Kennington

Kennington Park and its new Flower Garden

The Top Ten Best Restaurants in Kennington – no. 6 – Adulis

Mazí Mas at the Ovalhouse Theatre

The top ten best restaurants in Kennington – numbers 7 to 5

Adulis Eritrean Restaurant and Bar

what part of Kennington should you live in?

excellent new single from South Kennington resident Kyla La Grange

Mimi’s Italian Deli

Malinka Continental Delicatessen

Cable Bar & Café