We’ve been waiting for this new Japanese/Korean joint to open almost all log as we waited for The Great Pong of Kennington Tube to subside. We were rewarded when it opened to the public yesterday (23 Nov) in the space that used to the ‘Doost’ and tonight we made a visit. It is a great stop if you fancy variety in your east Asian food and features bento, kimchi, BBQ, bibimbap, and some sushi. They also have plenty of wines and beers.

At first we had a mild hesitation that Kuma was going to feature fusion cuisine (imagine the horror of kimchi sushi) but were assuaged when the menu featured a distinction between it’s Korean and Japanese fare. The vibe was young, casual, and the lighting was on the bright side of acceptable. The timing of the food wasn’t great but you except this in a place open for two days,

My dining partner had the tonkotsu bento box, with the main feature being breaded pork katsu.   Said partner would have liked a bit more slop of the tangy sauce but it was very well proportioned and the sauce even managed to make the bean sprouts better than usual.

I had prawn gyoza which were grilled well and had definitely not had part of their lives wasted by a freezer. I then had the chicken bulgogi (say it like a pro…..Boo-GOH-gee) which are very thin strips of meat grilled on a BBQ. The chicken had a very good sauce and  featured spring  onion. It was billed as ‘hot’ and it certainly was. And so generous that I couldn’t finish it.

Earlier this year we reviewed Korean Place Daebak and the now well established Japanese place Taro. I think Daebak takes its fare a bit more seriously and Taro is a kind of Japanese sushi ‘canteen’ and can’t really be compared. I went downstairs to go to the toilet and ‘accidentally’ walked into the kitchen. I could not see any sign of sous chef Mike(rowave) and it appeared that everything was made on site. The bill, with four beers, came to £50 which was reasonable. When the bill came we tried to pull the ‘but we’re Kennington INFLUENCERS’ trick, but they were having none of it.

From this moment forward the Runoff will be referring to the patch of our terrain between Kennington Cross and Vauxhall as ‘Uptown KenVo’ due to the volume of high rises going up in the area. This afternoon we attended a consultation about a new development proposed (which means, it’s gonna happen) in Montford Place next to the gin distillery. For the observant sorts, we wrote about this plot of land in May as it used to be a pickle factory and was laterally used as a bottling site for Beefeater. Since it was purchased by TfL for the northern line extension  in 2013 it has been the site of gravel and lorries…But not for much longer!

Developers Grainger Plc recently purchased the site  and are in the early consultation stages of developing the site into two buildings. They aren’t as far along as development of the Applegreen site, but they could confirm that there will be two buildings, one 8 floors and the other 12 floors, with 140 flats. Of these 40% will be affordable housing and most will be studios and one bedroom flats, with building to start in 2021.  We were told that the buildings will have the ‘look and feel’ of the homes on the Tesco site, which we assume was meant to be positive. The architect illustrated  how the buildings will look by means of playing ‘Jenga’ to entertained onlookers and his efforts are below.

There will be a kind of ‘avenue’ between the buildings and Lambeth have stipulated that the shop fronts at ground level be dedicated to businesses which are not retail and reflect the demographic of people who might live in the residences, such as workspaces. While this is very laudable, the counter argument is that it deprives Kenningtonians of places where they can go in the evening, such as restaurants or microbreweries, and will be closed by 6pm. We love a lively KV debate, so if you agree or think we are bonkers feel free to leave your comments below.

If you are curious or just bored the consultation is will be taking place again on Saturday, 23 Nov. from 10-4 at Kennington Park Community Centre in Harleyford Road. I’m sure the architect will be on hand to play Jenga if you fancy a twirl.

 

A few months ago you might recall that we visited Lambeth County Court. Well it appears that it was unknowingly rented to Extinction Rebellion and was raided yesterday. Oh dear. The following below is  from Cleaver Sq. residents association.  A number of you will be aware of the current police activity outside the County Court in Cleaver Street.Offices in the County Court had apparently been rented out by a charity linked to Extinction Rebellion, and these ended up becoming the main storage depot for equipment destined for the major ER protests planned from Monday onwards. There were a large number of lorry deliveries throughout the day and evening on Thursday/Friday. I understand from the organisers that other more suitable warehouse space had failed to materialise.The ER team barricaded themselves in when police tried to gain entry this afternoon, but the front door of the court was broken through and several activists were arrested. Here are further details in BBC and Guardian news reports: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49946821 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/05/london-police-arrest-extinction-rebellion-activists-in-advance-of-environment-protest There has been liaison between us, the ER team and the police over the previous 36 hours to keep the situation peaceable, but we are now leaving the matter to the police. The manager of the building has been on site and will be securing the court building once the police have finished clearing the offices later tonight. Best wishes Penny Chair, Cleaver Square, Cleaver Street and Bowden Street Residents’ Association and Neighbourhood Watch

 

As busy Kenningtonians we sometimes forget that we have a massive, world class museum on our doorstep. To address this we recently decided to take a moment out of our exhausting cycle of  Murder She Wrote repeats deadlines to pop along to the Imperial War Museum to see their latest show ‘Culture Under Attack’,

Culture Under Attack is set over three gallery spaces and grapples with the  distinct ways in which our cultural lives are compromised during conflict. We spent the most time in ‘Rebel Sounds’, an immersive exhibition which deals with music censorship in four vastly different eras and cultures; Nazi Germany, northern Mali, Northern Ireland in the ‘70’s, and Serbia in the 90’s. The theme is how specific people or institutions sought to rebel against censorship and prevail. The Northern Irish story is told by record store owner Terri Hooley. The northern Mali story is told by the band Songhoy Blues, who now perform their music as exiles in the south of the country.

A second exhibtion is called ‘What Remains’, and focuses on how war kills not just the ones we love but also the cultural symbols which help make up our identity. The exhibit moves in time from the physical destruction of Hiroshima to the very conscious destruction of icons and art by ISIS only a few years ago. In each of these exhibitions you are invited to take a quiz about the importance of culture, censorship, and the protection of buildings.

The third exhibition is called ‘Art in Exile’ and it focuses on attempts by the IWM and other galleries to safeguard their works of art during WW2, and how at times these attempts failed. This exhibit also details the heroic and altruistic methods employed to protect other forms of material culture in times of conflict by undertaking activites such as concerts and plays. It poses several intriguing questions such as ‘to what lengths do we go to preserve culture’.

Culture Under Attack is free to all of us and open until 5 January. Get your good selves along this weekend as it’s a hell a of a lot better than thinking about Brexit or climate change.