Category Archives: Stuffing your face

Kennington Tandoori

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Owning to our upcoming totally scientific yet utterly subjective top 10 best places to eat in Greater Kennington, we’ve just made a revisit to Kennington Cross staple Kennington Tandoori.

Our recent sucking up to rapprochement of the Observer senior management team was furthered on this evening by extending an invitation to Ella, who is our Creative Consulting director. We have no idea what she actually does  but the title reeks of responsibility, so the meal was on us. Ella is apparently a massive fan of Biryani, and she ordered Lamb Dum Pukht. Presented in a pastry case, Ella described the meal as benefitting from being cooked in  this manner as  it resulted in succulent, slow cooked lamb with complex fluffy basmati and a range of spices. The dominate notes of the spices being saffron, ginger/garlic and slightly sweet and acidic kick, possibly lime.

Such a forensic description of a dish left your scribe at a bit of a loss to describe the Agara chicken with roasted cumin. This was from the tandoor (we love a tandoor) and had a slow burning heat element mitigated by a yogurthy and garlic sauce. The roasted cumin presented a nutty and smoky feel in the mouth which lived on long after the meal. Mostly as seeds between our teeth. It came with a salad highlighted with pickled onions.

KT if you’re reading this, we love your interior of low lights, dark wood, banquettes, and the subtle nod to the subcontinent. You also embrace all of the qualities that we demand from a London curry joint. Namely, balaclaved dudes bursting in to grab a Just Eat order, a curious sense of being overstaffed, and brusque service by militarily efficient,  middle aged men who’ve worked there since the dawn of time. Keep up the good work!

Jeju, new Korean in Walworth Road

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One thing we love about London is that all you need to do is turn the corner and you’re in an different environment completely. We thus we find ourselves a world away from the leafy homes and estates of Walworth and deposited into the galaxy of African restaurants, kebabs, Caribbean butchers, Poundstrechers and wig shops in Walworth Road. And nestled appropriately between a jerk chicken joint and a Halal Ghanaian hangout we find ourselves in new Korean restaurant ‘Jeju’ because yes dear reader, Korea is still a thing.

Our Finance Director (and Karen’s boss) Alex joined your scribe after telling us that his daughter is crazy about NewJeans. When it dawned on us that daddy was probably not shopping for clothes, we deduced that NewJeans must be a K-Pop band and we proceeded to a surprisingly sprightly and packed Jeju. We assumed that Jeju didn’t take reservations but be aware that they do, but only over the phone. So Alex and your scribe booked and spent the unexpected half hour interregnum in the mysterious bar Feed the Yak, which kind of wants to be a global sports bar/restaurant/off licence all at once. But loving the name,

With the reassuring dulcet tones of Kpop in the background (possibly NewJeans themselves) we were seated and began to peruse. Hoping that Finance Director Alex would get the hint about the importance of sharing, we collectively ordered Cheolpan bulgogi, kimchi pancake and steamed rice. We were worried this might be scant food for two but in fact it was bountiful. Portion sizes are generous, to the extent that half of the pancake found its way back to ever frugal Alex’s home., The bulgogi arrived as a sizzling plate, piled high with beef and vegetables in a strong gochujang sauce. This is a decent serving for two and thus well-priced at £16.50. It’s a spicy bulgogi here, and a good one at that. High praise also to the generously proportioned kimchi pancake, which was also spicy and just the right kind of stodge to provide a satisfying meal in itself. At only £11.90 it has to be one of the bargain items of the menu.

Walworth Road has an undeserved reputation for being a bit sketchy but it’s anything but. A sashay down the road will reveal a host of bargains, plants, and a mind boggling assortment of butchers and fishmongers to provide you with cooking inspiration.   And if you’re lucky you might just pick up a dress for £10 or an Iphone 17 that’s just been unlocked. But that’s London and that’s why we love it. And so do you.

A Return to the Tommyfield

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Further in our mission to achieve gastronomic excellence by means of overeating, your scribe and Karen from Finance just revisited stalwart pub the Tommyfield in Kennington Cross. We invited Karen as she was upset after someone in the office laughed at her when she asked “if Claude is so helpful, can’t we just hire him?”.

Karen ordered her go-to item of Chicken and Leek pie as it’s been on the menu for years and Karen hates change. For the uninitiated, a proper pie is fully encased in pastry and in this case filled with chicken chunks in a creamy, leek filled sauce. Karen found that the only thing better than the filling was the pastry itself: buttery and flaky without being too flaky. The substantial pie sat atop smooth mashed potatoes and a serving of sauteed cabbage. Karen observed that  “the miniature jug of gravy allows soothing lubrication to be added to the plate”. So the pie continues to be a classic but Karen, please never again use that phrase to describe gravy, or anything else for that matter.  

Your ever virtuous scribe ordered chicken skewers on a bed of quinoa tabbouleh with tenderstem broccoli and a tiny mango salsa. The chicken was plentiful and marinated in lemon and olive oil and just the right char. Your scribe generally loathes quinoa, but In this format it worked as it was tossed with parsley and mint. The broccoli was plump and plentiful and the mango salsa a sweet surprise. On the wine front, the waiter guided us through the list and recommended a chewy and cheap red. His oenological knowledge was in fact so comprehensive that it left us wondering why he worked there.

The Tommyfield is run by independent south London based Three Cheers Pubs, who operate nine other swishy yet beautiful pubs, mostly in Clapham/Balham. It’s also the venue for the now almost legendary comedy night Always Be Comedy, where we’ve seen the likes of Joe Lycett, Sarah Pascoe and Harry Hill.  At the end the bill was reasonable but we nevertheless tried to score a discount by explaining our role as anonymous yet highly successful influencers*.

*This never works

Jack Whitehall

Cable Cafe & Bar

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As many Greater Kenningtonains spend a few days working from home, we thought we’d up our lunchtime review game by checking out Oval staple Cable Café at the top of Brixton Rd. By all the brick a brac you might think you’d stumbled into dear Aunt Flo’s house clearance after she refused to let anybody in for 40 years, but what you’re getting is a mighty fine and eclectic café surrounded by Flo’s shabby/chic bric a brac.

The daytime trade consists primarily of people popping in for hot drinks and working on their laptops, and the atmosphere is laid back and quiet. We stopped in for lunch, and the specialty is the bang on trend sourdough toasties. Your scribe had it with cheese and tuna, and Phil from accounts had his with cheese and jalapeno. The sourdough was crisp and with sharp and abundant cheese (£8) . Phil had to be reminded that we were at work and chose an Americano as opposed to his usual bottomless red wine.  We also had our eyes on the homemade pastries, sharing boards, and smoothies.

What Cable does ingenuously is to transform itself from a lunchtime sandwich/coffee bar to an evening cocktail and beer joint. The transition happens during the 3-5 happy hour when laptops and chargers give way to candles and, on Wednesday and Saturday, live free jazz. There is a full bar on hand (cocktails £10) in addition to wines both bottled and draft. A good alternative to the at times chaotic pubs of Greater Kennington and Brixton Road outside.

Cable Café is open from 9:00 to 23:00 (midnight at weekends) and is even available to hire out for parties. We need to keep independent places like this going and we’re particulary fond of the food places along this strip such as Conuco and Nosh. More importantly, we need to keep these places going to prevent them from descending into the hellish netherworld that is the ‘bottomless drag brunch’. Because we’ve been there dear reader, and it’s a very dark place. 

The Dragon Castle Experience

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A trip to Dragon Castle in Elephant is a joyfully kitschy experience as it feels and smells like a genuine mega restaurant in Beijing with its sad goldfish, plastic plants, rude service, and chairs/tables that look as if they were nicked from a conference centre in Solihul. Not to mention Christmas lights in September. There is an updated menu since our visit in 2023 with sections for set meals, a la carte and dim sum options, so that was our flimsy excuse for a revisit.

For this meal we were joined by new Finance Director Amy. She opted for the double cooked pork belly with black bean sauce and egg Fried rice. The pork dish was denoted on the menu with two chillies and was as spicy as hoped. The pork itself was thin strips that worked well with the vegetables and spicy sauce, an interesting element of which was a mushroom fungus. This was an oily dish so Amy suggested using  a napkin to ‘cover your essentials’. Exactly where on the anatomy those essentials can be located remains unclear.

Your scribe suggested getting a range of dishes to fully sample the breadth of food on offer at Dragon Castle. This was met with what we now understand to be Amy’s ‘death stare’, so we opted for the more parsimonious tofu and prawn salad. This was a light and flavourful protein packed dish augmented by ginger, garlic, spring onions, and coriander with s savoury, soy based sauce. Your scribe also ordered rice but as they are so big you really need to order just one.

To be frank Dragon Castle is not a great deal better than most Chinese takeaways but its loads of fun and gets you out of the house. With a beer and wine the bill was just over £50. At the end of the meal we had to bid a sad adieu to the plastic plants, goldfish and Solihul influenced dining furniture to be dispensed into the unmitigated reality that is…… Walworth Road.

The Daebak Reunion

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In our relentless pursuit of  gastronomic excellence, sometimes referred to as gluttony, we recently revisited Korean joint Daeback in Vauxhall. Daebak hardly needs our support as it’s always rammed with on trend young foodies which is a good sign. Or it could be a horrible sign. Anyway, our visit was inspired by our recent office discovery of hot new acts Stray Kids and Blackpink. In the real world they’ve been around for over a decade and have played Wembley Stadium. But when you’re stuck working in an underground bunker one loses the sense of time.

Daebak has a varied menu, including Korean classics (fried chicken, bulgogi, bibimbap) alongside more traditional Japanese dishes which are also served in Korea. We are again joined on this excursion by office ‘fun guy’ Phil from Accounts.  We wanted the classics and chose Korean fried chicken and beef bulgogi, along with some steamed rice – all to share. The chicken is available in various sizes and with a variety of sauce options. One of these was sweet cheese but Phil murmured/slurred something about that combo being “just whack” and so we opted for soy-garlic sauce. The chicken was salty and super crispy with a great deal of sauce suitable for dipping. It was all boneless, and suitable for our bone averse culture. The small option is an easy starter for two or a mains for one.

Moving on to the main event. The bulgogi (say it like a pro… bull-gah-gi) was something that Phil was expecting to be spicier although was pleased with the generous helping of steaming finely sliced beef strips. This had quite a sweet and savoury quality and very moreish. If Phil had done his research and was remotely sober he’d be aware that bulgogi is rarely spicy. You’ll need to look elsewhere on Daebak’s menu for that, and spicier options abound. However, there are spicy additives on every table. On previous visits we’ve enjoyed the fermented, intense cabbage based bibimbap.

One feature of Daebak is the quick service, making it more suitable for a midweek treat.  There are Korean beers, sojus (alcoholic fruit drink) and wine. Phil made good use of the quick service and beers and the result can be found in the photo he took on the right ‘of the whole table’..  The crowd tends towards twenty-somethings and all-in-all, it’s a great value stop.

Best element – Cooling and sweeping open doors with Vauxhall vistas.

Worst element –  Cooling and sweeping open doors with Vauxhall vistas.

The Nellie

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An implausibly matched duo from  Observer team recently attended the opening of Queer cocktail bar The Nellie in Elephant Park. This consisted of office ‘fun guy’ Phil from accounts and our diversity lead Marcus, who’s claim to diversity rests in having dated a Dutch guy for six months. What could possibly go wrong?

The Nellie occupies the site of the not very good Latin restaurant Cheeky Chicos, and prides itself on being a quiet refuge in a busy location, and the Elephant is far from quiet. The focus at The Nellie  is cocktails, which can be time consuming to create but gratifying after a patient queue at the bar. This sedate nature of the place was confirmed by Phil/Marcus, but we can imagine this vanished by their second round.

Phil ordered a bloody Mary and Marcus a spicy margarita. There might have been further beverages consumed but this wasn’t recorded or remembered. Phil vaguely described his Mary as ‘very tomatoey’ with an abundance of vodka and pepper. Marcus more lucidly described his spicy marg as mixing citrus orange liqueur, and tequila accompanied with a firey kick not often comfortable to the UK palette. Other punters were enjoying Stonewall beers and wines. Phil WhatsApped us something about the toilets being nice but when the quality of loo roll was detailed management found this content to be a bit compromised.

The Nellie serves food which Marcus viewed with a degree of curiosity. In a move of uncharacteristic scrutiny he connected the  improvised swag, a remaining fake cactus, a surreal lady on the keyboards  to a menu  almost identical to not very good Latin joint Cheeky Chicos.  With this discovery he bolted out of his upholstered armchair and shouted ‘in the name of Gaga I know what’s going on here!’.. It would appear that  Cheeky Chicos lives on but has been reimagined as an upmarket gay bar by means of a few pride flags and photos of Oscar Wilde. Listen, we all have bills to pay so hats off to the Chicos mafia for making such a bold but slightly odd transformation.

The Nellie is a fun night out for our Queer readers and people who like sitting amongst giant fake cacti. They offfer loads of outside space and is a great way to spend a sweaty evening. As for the Observer staff reading this, we’ve told you a million times not to trust Phil with a camera whilst at the pub or anywhere else for that matter as the results are, shall we say, ‘unhelpful’.

Jack the Chipper

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We just paid an Observer visit to new Chippie on the block and it’s the unfortunately named ‘Jack the Chipper’ in Sayer St. in Elephant. It’s part of a micro franchise and this third location is run by a father and daughter team. It exists as both a takeaway and as a higher priced dine in establishment with other options to order such as burgers and pasta (but don’t). On this occasion we were accompanied by Marsha from Business Support, who needed her spirits lifted after worrying that she was about to be replaced by AI (she is).

Jack the Chipper works as both a traditional fish and chips takeaway service but also, with the same menu but higher prices, as a dine-in restaurant. This isn’t like the chippies with a few afterthought tables, but a proper restaurant experience with full table service, and a bar. The menu covers all the chippie classics, including sides such as mushy peas or pickled onions. Marsha ordered haddock and chips. While she was chewing she noted is that the batter was light and the fish tasted fresh. The chips are proper, thick, chip shop chips, made in-house without resorting to Mr McCain or a freezer. There are even reassuringly large bags of potatoes out front.

Your scribe ordered the frankly quite fancy sounding grilled seabass with cherry tomatoes. Playfully assorted was garlic, lemon parsley, capers and baby potatoes. The seabass flaked easily and had a delicate, mildly sweet flavour. Each portion comes with tartare sauce and lemon, as is correct procedure and salt and malt vinegar was on the table. We could have done with a bit more tartare sauce; I’m sure we would have been granted had we asked With an airy ambience to the restaurant and substantial outside seating, this is a good place to stop. We feel reassured that everything was of high quality, which it should be for £22

At the Observer we pride ourselves on being the least ‘woke’ site you’ll find, but we draw a line under your name, Jack. Ten years ago it might have been very clever to name your gaff after a serial killer of vulnerable women but its 2026 and its not on. When you arrive at that giant deep fat fryer in the sky you’ll understand this, but hopefully before. In spite of the name we hope Marsha had a nice evening as she wistfully and correctly pined ‘this might be the last time I eat out for a while’.

Three Buds

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In this climatically challenging spell we’re having, ice cream becomes less of a luxury and more of a need. We’ve just undertaken an almost unheard of face to face interview with Sarah, who’s just opened gelato/coffee/bagel spot ‘Three Buds’ right in the middle of Vauxhall park. The buds refer to Sarah’s kids aged  3, 5, and 7. How she’s managed to start a business with three little ones whist we struggle to find a dropped paper clip eludes us, but this isn’t about us.

Sarah’s lived in Greater Kennington (Vauxhall) for 10 years and recently left her job in the City as she spotted a hole in the market for a quality café in Vauxhall Park. She was inspired by seeing her neighbours and kids using the park and wanted to extend that community feel by creating a space where they could relax. The concept of her business is to select food that she would want her kids to eat. So the gelato has no artificial ingredients found in creams you might get in Tesco (a supermarket). In fact, their gelato is sourced from the same supplier that’s used by the Italian embassy.  Whilst there we indulged on (don’t judge us) pistachio, vanilla and strawberry, Belgian chocolate, strawberries and crème, and salted peanut butter, the latter being vegan. All rich and delicious. And if you’ve never eaten five gelatos at 10am it’s a whole different vibe.

We don’t usually accept freebies but as we’d already broken the fourth wall by pitching up in person we thought ‘screw it’ and accepted a creamy and balanced  iced latte and a raisin bagel with homemade berry crème cheese. This was an example of breakfast fare and Sarah explained that they have a range of lunchtime bagels as well. The bagels are sourced from NYC and ours was doughy and excellent. Sarah road tests all of her goodies, such as coffee beans, before they hit her café. When asked how she makes margins work as food prices increase, Sarah put on her sunglasses and said, wearily, ‘I don’t know’. So this is our call for you to pop over to Vauxhall Park and say hello to Sarah and her new local business. Oh, and buy things.

Matiz – A Mighty Fine Latin American Joint

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Perched at the periphery of the Observer catchment area near St. George’s Circus, we find ourselves at new kid on the block Matiz to sample their pan Latin American cuisine. Matiz is curiously located next to the delicious yet more pricey joint Paladar restaurant which we reviewed in 2021 and dined with a B list pop star. As they serve the same cuisine we queried if the establishments were in some way related. They deny the coincidence but frankly we don’t care as the food at both establishments are great.

Matiz is a family owned business and everyone who served hailed from either Spain or Latin America and is well located as its close to the wonderous Latin American offerings in Elephant Road. On group office outings we long ago learned that splitting main courses ends in bloodshed or a chopstick crammed into an ear, so we avoided the mostly Latin American mains and shared Spanish tapas. The group ordered up a range of classics with free flatbread served before. We recommend hanging on to the bread to soak up the juice of the tapas. This message didn’t appear to apply to Kevin from personnel who chose drown his sorrows over his recent hair loss by downing two bowls of the aforementioned flatbread.

The ordered classics included chorizo al vino, gambas al ajillo, mushroom croquetas, calamari and patatas bravas. All were tasty and well sized and plenty to share among four people. Remember to order spartanly as you can always just order more, and the delivery is quick. A special shout out goes to the chorizo al vino which was perfectly rich and chunky, and the gambas which may be the most garlicky thing we’ve eaten this year (that’s a compliment). When Karen from Finance wanted an open mouth kiss at the end of the evening we were able to use the gambas/garlic consumption to escape.

An even bigger shout out is owed to the  ceviche Peruano, which worked well as an additional small dish. It consisted of bite sized pieces of sea bass well marinated in lime juice mixed with onion and Peruvian-style crunchy corn and sweet potato. It’s a lovely, refreshing plate and perfect for the summer. Wines were reasonably priced, including some sub-£30 and our Rioja rosé was spot on for a warm evening. But please be aware that the value rather dissipates when bottle number five hits the table. A fun night in a part of Greater Kennington often not visited by locals like you.

As we’re on a Latin American theme, the prospects don’t look good for the Latin food outlets and indeed the culture in Elephant Road as the malevolent shopping centre emerges behind it. They also need our support lest they be turned into a Joe and the Juice or, lord in heaven help us, Gail’s Bakery. Adios!