Earlier in the week we wrote about a collective of independent shops called Elephant Stores in the vast juggernaut that has become Elephant Park. At the core of the collective is a delightful cafe called ‘Little Louie’. Little Louie itself is a pint size, pop up version of the highly acclaimed restaurant Louie Louie curiously located in Walworth Road between a thrift shop and an Iceland.

Little Louis offers all of the cafe staples such as croissants (including vegan), buns, muffins and breakfast items such as bacon on sourdough, salmon, and veggie items, with a broad selection of coffees and teas. We went at lunchtime and opted for their lunchtime staple, toasties. Your scribe had a delicious and well grilled pastrami and emmental with lashings of mustard and horseradish. My colleague opted for the tuna melt with parsley mayo and pepped up with some pickled peppers. They were hearty and filling affairs served in sourdough. We’ve had their basque cheesecake before and it is to die for, even if it means running 30 laps around Kennington Park to work it off.

While waiting for our toasties we perused the wine on sale and also the beers from the very local Orbit Brewery. We were very excited to learn that at the end of November Little Louis will be open in the evening serving cocktails, wines and beers on tap with a turntable. And if you want to recreate the Little Louie aura in your home you can even buy the tables and chairs in the cafe as they are on sale through an antiques outfit on site. I suppose then Little Louie will force their customers to eat their toasties on the floor but that has a certain earthy charm to it. Elephant Stores also has wifi if you want to create the impression that you are working.