Category Archives: Vauxhall

The Currency in Newport St.

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When Time Out, or as we like to call it, ‘that listings site from a bygone era’ described the new show at Newport Street Gallery as ‘stupid, lazy, arrogant, crap art’ we knew we had to get over there as soon as possible.  This very controversial show is called ‘The Currency’ by Damien Hirst and features 10,000 of his dot paintings in several eras of existence. These range from physical paintings to photocopies and then cinder, as the artworks are torched on the first floor. 

For people not aware of Mr. Hirst’s oeuvre, he has spent a large amount of his career preserving dead animals in formaldehyde, sticking diamonds of skulls, and exterminating flies. We reviewed a previous show at Newport in October, 2020.  An abiding theme of Hirst is the repetitive nature of objects and their cycle from inception, to life, to being fetishized and worshiped, and eventual meaningless demise. 

Hirst’s interest in the repetitive nature of dots is well established, and last year he gave 10,000 people the option to buy an NFT .jpg dot painting for £2000. The NFT could then be traded for an original 8×10 work. About half the punters traded it for an original and the remaining suckers  folks stuck with the NFT option. It is these physical works which are on display in monumental floor to ceiling displays and ultimately dispatched into ashen bits above Vauxhall.  

The exhibit is peppered with TV screens featuring live footage of the works being prepped and torched. When the fires aren’t on, there are clips of Mr. Hirst in conversation with actually responsible people such as former Bank of England boss Mark Carney and Stephen Fry, with topics ranging from the absurdity of the art market to the meaningless value of money. Try telling that to the single mum who can’t heat her home at the moment. But we digress. 

Damien Hirst: The Currency is on now until 30 October and is free. Even if you find the theme distasteful, the exhibition itself is quite thought provoking as the paintings/photocopies begin to incrementally disappear. There is also a great gift shop. The fact that over the past 12 months the NFT market has crashed is just a side giggle. However, we at the Runoff would never capitalise of personal loss as that would make us no better than a Florist. 

Best Pub Quizzes in Greater Kennington

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After a long day at Runoff Towers, a gaggle of us hopped over to gastro pub The Rose in Albert Embankment to bask in their pub quiz, among other temptations. The quiz is held upstairs and MC’ed by a slightly bumbling but endearing American chap who ironically lays on some very, very tricky questions involving songs, maps, letter games and general trivia (mind bending picture round clues below). There are free drink questions and prizes to be won and on our night the jackpot was at £200. The crowd was very convivial but contained, and there wasn’t a cheating mobile in sight. 

On the food front, it pains us to say that the mains had, well, spent most of their short lives in a freezer. However, some of the starters were very tasty and we can recommend the calamari. And, as if arisen from the ashes, there  was a pop up menu selection from the short lived Kennington Cross burger joint Rare Burger Co. which looked more enticing. The Rose pub quiz is on Monday nights from 19:00 and can be reserved on their website. Time well spent after a day at work. 

If you like a bit of stand up injected into your pub quiz, we highly recommend the quiz at The Old Red Lion pub in Kennington Park Road. Hosted by the deadpan and pseudo legendary ‘Paul Partridge Experience’, there is often a theme (music is common) and games such as throwing rings around bottles or dancing. Listen closely and he will manage to insult most celebrities, and even if ask himself existential questions such as ‘how did my life end up like this’. The Old Red Lion pub quiz is on Sunday nights from 20:00 and can be reserved on their website. 

Paul Partridge, Quiz supremo.

And if you’re wondering if team Runoff won the pub quiz then let me be the first to tell you that we didn’t. That honour was bestowed on the young men with great hair who scored our quiz sheet, who then eagerly informed us that they live in north London and are great friends from Uni. We resisted the urge to say ‘oh yeah, well we all work at an imaginary publishing house so TAKE THAT’ and throw our crumpled quiz sheet at them. 

Market Place Vauxhall

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We bear a degree of pragmatic skepticism when it comes to the independent credentials of these food halls which have been popping up recently such as Mercato Metropolitano in Elephant. However, we love the small traders which use them to establish and build their little foodie businesses, which is why we just inspected the spanking new Market Place in Vauxhall. 

Over the years many things both enriching and a bit disturbing have sprung out of the railway arches in Vauxhall, and luckily Market Place next to the station falls into the former category. The collection of stalls includes Thai, Mexican, Mumbai street food, pizza, pasta, Sri Lankan, Argentinean, and Turkish. There are also a few exports from Borough Market including ‘Bread Ahead’ and Caribbean joint ‘Rudi’s’, and we can definitely recommend their chicken wrap. As there is also a bar and is open until 10:00, Market Place can be useful for those ‘I don’t wanna cook and want a drink’ nights. So, most nights for us in the office. 

Marching merrily on to the food, your scribe headed to MoMo Thai and had the Pad Kra Pao stir fry. A Thai staple, it was packed with chicken mince and holy basil with a slightly spicy jasmine rice and topped with a fried egg. Karen from Finance took the low carb route and headed via the Argentinean Grill for her steak salad. It came with a surprisingly large amount of steak which was slightly cut and pink. A bit chewy but pleasant. A proper amount of salad came with it as well as a generous lash of chimichurri sauce. 

  • We”ll say it again…
  • But photographing food is really difficult!

We here at the Runoff are hoping that the folks over at Market Place aren’t charging extortionate rents to these small traders as it will only hobble their chances of growth. When we’ve interviewed some of these folks they’ve expressed gratitude at the platform and exposure it has given them, and long shall it continue. And it also exposes us all to cultures and cuisines that we might otherwise not encounter in our fair manor. Bon appétit! 

Beaconsfield Gallery

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We have an intriguing exhibit and sauna (?) to tell you about at the ever avant garde Beaconsfield Gallery in Newport St. The exhibit is ‘Monica Soo – The time is NOW and it is overdue!’. Soo was a feminist Swedish painter who explored subjects which are now researched and discussed but were at the time still mostly not part of the common vernacular. Namely, anguish about the environment, systemic violence against women, and non binary ways of living. This is told through the vehicle of the celebration of the Goddess culture. This isn’t the most uplifting giggle of an exhibit, but it is thought provoking and in a way is even immersive, as the paintings and drawings snake up the wall. 

Sticking with all things Scandi, also being exhibited is ‘The Finnish Sauna’, created by architect Sami Rintala in collaboration with architecture students from the University of Westminster. We had a chin wag with gallery staff about just how in the world a mobile sauna ended up in their car park, and they explained that it has been transferred from the London Festival of Architecture, who they have collaborated with for years. Inside you’ll find all of the usual accoutrement associated with a sauna, such as coals and a giant ladle to pour water over your head. Also in the car park is a watchtower associated with the Soo exhibit. We’re not sure what it was for, but it afforded sweeping views towards Pimlico Plumbers. 

Monica Soo – The time is NOW is open until 10 September and the Sauna until October, and private bookings for the sauna can be found here. When a show is on (which isn’t very often) Beaconsfield Gallery is open Wednesday – Saturday from 12-5 and is totally free. However, getting inside the sauna costs £20 and Runoff bosses refused to sign off on it. Perhaps we approached the topic wrong when we said ‘please give us 20 quid to visit a sauna in Vauxhall’. We’ll try to be more subtle in future. 

Casa Madeira

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If you’ve ever strolled through Vauxhall you’ve certainly walked past Casa Madeira multiple times. Madeira is the restaurant in a quartet of Portuguese establishments in Albert Embankment and is flanked by a cafe, supermarket  and further down by a further bar/café called ‘Pico’. Outside you can usually find clusters of folk drinking Sagres under umbrellas and chatting in Portuguese, which makes you feel as if you’ve just stumbled across a delightful bar in Lisbon as opposed to a railway arch in Vauxhall next to a petrol station. 

We chose to sit outside on what was a balmy, lovely evening and without a reservation, which was fine. The space was large and well set up, with some high octane background muzak and screens and plants which provided helpful sensory deprivation from the road and aforementioned petrol station. The service staff were friendly, efficient and drilled to near perfection about the food on offer — with our waiter’s specific knowledge of the fish market in Funchal leaving just this side of aroused. We therefore started our journey with deep fried whitebait which were nicely plump, breaded, and plentiful. Served with lemon and tartare sauce, their little silvery tails popping out to remind us of the goodness inside. 

Portuguese mains are more or less variations on a theme, and this is the case at Madeira. We saw whizzing across the pavement chorizo, lamb cutlets, and chicken escalopes. However, we came here for the fish and seafood and to satisfy you, dear reader, we splashed out on the fish grill for two. This huge dish consisted of two chargrilled pieces of seabass, blackened salmon, black scabbard fish, and this was topped by two enormous butterflied king prawns and a scattering of calamari rings. All soaking in olive oil with sides of carrot, beans and new potato. Delicious and grilled by a person who knew what they were doing. This was perfectly matched with a Portuguese white (wines start at £26)

Prices at Madeira are reasonable, and at times remarkable, based on what they are serving and given the joint’s proximity to the West End.  We paid £41 for the seafood but you can blow the bank on turbot for two (£75) or just pop in for a pint and pastal de nada (£1.50). We recommend the fish and seafood and also the meats on offer. Pizza and burgers also make an appearance for some surreal reason but if the spirit takes you there then go for it. And if you’re wondering just what the hell scabbard fish is, lets just say that it resembles one of those deep sea creatures that washes up on beaches every few years that people assumed was extinct.   

You Gotta Have Faith

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It’s almost as if our friends over at Vauxhall City Farm have read our Runoff minds as they have managed to roll three of our most cherished concepts into a single destination. These are, in no particular order, 1. Charitable causes 2. Farmyard animals 3. Cocktails. 

Set inside and out of their buzzy café, we recently visited the Farm’s newish pop up bar ‘Faiths Place’ on a sweltering early evening (and to the Runoff mandarins this WAS a work event). Faith’s Place is open Thursday – Sunday from 5 – 11 and during our visit had a clientele of after work people peppered with a few families who were a bit befuddled that their kiddie café had been transformed into a bar. The beers on offer were four different offerings from Brixton Brewery and a further four from Gipsy Hill Brewery, all served in cans. Also on offer were four different reds and four whites. On the spirits front we’re afraid its only gin and tonics, but they had some good looking gins and that posh Fever Tree tonic. All were very reasonably priced. 

On the nibbles front, we encountered a range of sandwiches and some very inventive sounding crisps. We enjoyed Adnams citrus beer flavoured crisps, but for the more conventional souls there are staples such as cheese and onion. We were unsure about the ethics of eating a hoisin duck sandwich when there were actual ducks only a few feet away so we didn’t go down that road. But,  while you’re in the place knocking a few back, there’s no ethical quandary in buying something from the impressive line of City Farm related merch on offer. 

Deadname @ Gasworks Gallery

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If you visit us regularly here on the Runoff you’re aware that when a new show arrives at Gasworks Gallery in Vauxhall we like to check it out for you. If you’ve never been to Gasworks it’s located at the Oval end of Vauxhall St. and is perfect if what you demand from a gallery involves Styrofoam coffins or dolls that talk to you. 

The new exhibition at Gasworks is called ‘Earth is a Deadname’ by Rotterdam based artist Lou Lou Sainsbury. This show was commissioned by Gasworks and is an exploration of transgender life outside the limiting language of medicalisation. The exhibition revolves around a performance film which touches on aspects of intimacy, feelings of difference, chance encounters, and evolution. A giant cymbal also features on screen and over your head but were going to leave that interpretation up to you. There is also a bedroom cabinet in the room with a range of items telling us that the trans experience is a collective one of unmaking and making the body. 

The larger gallery is dominated by a large scale glass installation with fluctuating levels of transparency, again alluding to the trans journey. As the journey is rarely straightforward, imbedded in the glass are trapped cigarette butts, dried flowers and other debris. The exhibition is punctuated by flesh like texts on the walls which swell like scars or stigmata. All very thought provoking for a little gallery in Vauxhall, and time well spent. 

Earth is a Deadname is on now until 18 September and is totally free. Gasworks is only open in the second half of the week so have a look at their website. The amber resin on the floor is part of the exhibit, so in your leaving comments please don’t write ‘Sainsbury, clean up in aisle one’!!!!!  (we couldn’t help ourselves). 

Bearpit Karaoke

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It seems like such a distant memory now…The Queen having tea with Paddington Bear, Prince Louis clasping his ears in agonising pain, and performances from faded pop stars who now look rather like those statues on Easter Island. But fear not Greater Kenningtonians, as there is always fun around the corner.

No, it isn’t Catherine Tate

Last summer when we took our roller suitcase over to Majestic in Vauxhall to stock up for our next Runoff ‘business meeting’, we noticed something curious in the Pleasure Gardens- there was a large audience and people were having a great time with an MC and a karaoke machine. As it turns out it was ‘Bear Pit Karaoke’ and it’s coming back this weekend. The press release states ‘Come and strut your stuff at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens with karaoke anthems, lots of energy and even more singing (some of it in tune!) – this is not to be missed. Bring mates, stay for the atmosphere and the odd car crash’. The bit we saw looked like great, if sometimes cringeworthy, fun and a laugh for people of all ages. 

Bear Pit Karaoke takes place this Saturday (11th) from 3 to 7 and then on 16 July, 13 August, and 10 September. It’s located at that sketchy bit at the end of the Pleasure Gardens where you indeed might be accustomed to seeing people singing, but for once it won’t be men on their own bursting into song while gripping a bottle of ‘White Lightning’. 

This is sponsored by Vauxhall One and is totally free, just turn up. 

Springtime Fun in Greater Kennington

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Our long Bank Holiday is now a thing of the past and we hope the elements that you actually remember were wonderful. With spring well and truly underway, we have three fun activities to tell you about and the first one takes place this Sunday (24 April) at the Gardening Museum. It’s time for their annual Spring Plant Fair, featuring expert plant growers from around the UK selling their wares for your allotment, windowsill, or garden. In addition to getting to pick their ample brains for advice and tips, the Museum is also laying on talks in areas such as planting in the shade and making your own compost (we might give that one a miss). Time slots are going fast and can be nabbed here. It also includes access to their museum, featuring a creepy gnome that’s a dead ringer for Tony Blair. 

If gardening is your thing, over at the wonderful Vauxhall City Farm on Friday (22 April) from 11 to 3 they are having an open day in their community garden. It is totally free and people will be on hand eager to tell you how their garden has changed over the years, their plans for the future, and how you can get involved as a volunteer. They will offer tips about maintaining a sustainable garden and how to grow your own food at home. 

Moving on to the parallel universe that is Cleaver Square….If your interest/fetish is not so much plant based but focussed squarely on older white men who throw kitchen towels in the air, then we have JUST the thing for you! A large display of Morris dancing will take place on Saturday (23 April) at noon to commemorate St. Georges Day by a group called Greensleeves. We don’t have a great deal of information about this happening but there are signs about it everywhere. Whether its men throwing things, a tipsy Vicar acting as MC, or a totally inappropriate Punch and Judy show, we can always rely on our friends in Cleaver Square for a laugh. 

If you want to discover more about Greensleeves then look no further than their extremely comprehensive and *coughs* handy website.

Fridas

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Unless you live in one of those new zillion pound high rises in that sketchy stretch of Albert Embankment (and if you do, well, congratulations) you probably haven’t noticed that we have a spanking new (well, only) Mexican food joint in our midst! The restaurant is called Frida’s, and is on the ground floor of one of those ghastlycharming towers. 

My colleague Laverne and your scribe dropped to Fridas the other day and what first strikes you is that it has fully embraced the ‘maximalist’ design trend of the moment. The flowery wallpaper, Frida Khalo banners, plants, Christmas lights are all charmingly bonkers and strangely comforting. Your scribe had the Cochinita porl pibil tacos, which featured a mound of tangy pulled pork topped with sour cream, pickled onions, and slaw. Your scribe had soft tacos but you can also have hard (corn). And like with all proper Mexican dishes, cheese does not feature prominently here. What does feature is Valentina sauce, which is on every table in Mexico.

Laverne had the chicken quesadillas, which did indeed have sprinklings of Mexican cheese but she found them to be a bit bland, so the Valentina sauce had to be deployed liberally. What totally hit the spot was their refried pinto beans. Packed with spring onion and chorizo, they were the great combination of chorizo smokiness and hearty smashed beans and some dense herbs. We would recommend this as a side, even if it looks a bit unpleasant. Frida’s  also has a massive bar so you just drop in for a margarita if you wish. The staff are all very friendly and are actually Mexican! Tick! 

Places like Frida’s need our support to stay afloat so do pop over and say hello. And given that most of the residents of those high rises probably have had their assets frozen, it means that they won’t be able to support the place themselves.