The top ten best places to eat in Greater Kennington – no. 5 – Daebak

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We’re going to ramp up our top 10 list in tandem with the almost hourly changes happening in our society. All of these places are now closed,  but put them in your little pocket diary for future reference. Most of these places are small businesses, and without our ongoing support they might become estate agents or barber shops never open again. Most of these places offer takeaway via Deliveroo or Uber Eats.

The number 5 prize goes to yet another new kid on the block, the excellent Korean restaurant Daebak in Vauxhall. Daebak is no stranger to plaudits, having been named one of the best Korean restaurants in London  by Time Out shortly after it opened. The venue slightly maintains  the greasy spoon aesthetic of the joint that was previously there, with the highest accolade being that actual Korean people frequent the place.

Daebak means ‘awesome’ in Korean and the meal we had there last year was just that. Three of us ordered soy garlic chicken (a speciality, below), spicy bibimbap,  Katsu curry, crispy tofu, and gyoza. Let me tell you, reader, we were rolling out of there by the end of it. We could have easily dropped one of the main courses as they were huge. We highly recommend the various kinds of fried chicken on order (crunchy, subtle) and the bibimbap is delicious and comes with two veg. variations. I would also experiment with a starter like octopus balls. They also throw in a few Japanese dishes to mix things up. Great food, and pretty kind on the pocket. If you are going on a weekend it might be a good idea to book, as the word has gotten out.

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Please don’t confuse the awesome ‘Daebak’ with the not so awesome ‘Jihwaja’ across the street.   Unless of course your idea of awesome comes with a hearty dose of blaring K Pop and karaoke.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The top ten best places to eat in Greater Kennington – no. 6 – Kuma

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As  said previously, we’ve decided to plow on, bull like, with our top ten list but not with the intention that you will rush out tonight and put yourselves at risk. Rather, you might consider takeaway or indeed write them down in your bejewelled pocket diary for future attendance. Importantly, these venues are mostly small businesses which are in acute risk without our ongoing support at some time,.

The newest kid on the Greater Kennington block gets the number 6 prize due to its menu of Japanese and Korean fare at good prices. When it opened we had a mild panic that Kuma was going to feature fusion food (imagine the horror of kimchi sushi) but were assuaged when the menu featured a clear distinction between the cuisines. They were also able to pull off the two cuisines in equal degrees, which is no mean feat.

My dining partner had the tonkotsu bento box, 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.  Your reporter 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.

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Korean and Japanese restaurants are the new gospel in London and don’t seem to be going anywhere, and Greater Kennington certainly has caught the bug (oops, sorry). Kuma holds its own by giving highlights of both cuisines without being too experimental.  I went downstairs to go to the toilet and ‘accidentally’ walked into the kitchen. I could not see any sign of notorious 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.

 

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Self Isolating in Greater Kennington? You’re not alone!

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We’ve just been contacted by a group of volunteers around Kennington looking to help members of our community (that is, Greater Kennington) through the Covid-19 crisis. They’re goal is to make self isolation a bit easier for you. They ask nothing in return, but just want to help the more vulnerable in our ranks during this time of crisis. They can help by

  • Picking up shopping and medication
  • Topping up electric and gas
  • Posting mail
  • Urgent supplies
  • A friendly phone call
  • Dog walking

The volunteers are not medical professionals, and are in no place to offer medical advice. For this use the NHS 111 online service which can be found here. If you would like general, local inormation about the crisis then check out their Facebook group here. This is a mutual aid and support group but has handy links for local support. A great deal of other information can be found on the AgeUK website.

To contact the volunteers directly just ‘leave a reply’ to this post. It won’t be published on this site but we’ll connect you to the volunteers.

The top ten best places to eat in Greater Kennington – no. 7 – Taro

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As habitués to the Runoff are aware, one of our missions is to get people out of the house and live by experience. In our current climate this might not be the best thing to do, but we have chosen to persist with our top ten list nevertheless. With the rest of the list we’ll let you know if they deliver, and we also suggest going for an early or late dinner if possible. And of course, you can always make a note of the venues in your little pocket diary for future reference.

Part of the Greater Kennington firmament for over a year now, Taro has secured the #7 spot by its consistent delivery of authentic ‘Izakaya’, (roughly meaning ‘pub food’) very similar to  the food you get in Japan, and is good value for money. They also have a menu more diverse than most Izakaya places (not always a good thing but it is in this case), which caters to varied tastes.  Believe it or not there are a number of Japanese joints in our area, but this is acres above the lot.

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We were in Japan before our Taro visit last year and went to Taro with our friend Mark, who lived in Japan for years and served as our culinary attaché. We had sushi (both tempura-maki and other maki) which was fresh and generous on the fish side. We also had fried chicken (above), which was crunchy and equally meaty. For a veg angle we also indulged in juicy tofu steak, with a surfeit of ginger and wasabi. For sides we recommend onshinko pickles and gyoza dipped in soy vinegar. Both veg and meat gyozas are great. The salmon teriyaki bento box at the next table also caught our eye.

Taro can be delivered to your door via Deliveroo,  and you can pop in and take it away. They curiously don’t have a website, but are located at 414 Kennington Road, close to the park.

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The top ten best places to eat in Greater Kennington – no. 8 – The Tommyfield

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The number eight position goes to central Kennington stalwart The Tommyfield.* The Tommyfield is the Kennington outpost of swish, small south London chain ‘Three Cheers Pubs’. Most of their other pubs are in Clapham and Battersea and have a similar cohort of punters.

The Tommyfield is the pub of choice here at Runoff HQ as it is just down the road and we have therefore tried just about everything on the menu. This isn’t too difficult, mind you, as we wouldn’t exactly call their menu ‘dynamic’. However, what they stick to they manage to do very well. We like the pies (steak and ale/chicken and leek) which are very rich, heavy on the meat, and the puff pastry flaky and buttery with pureed potatoes. The fish and chips are also to be lauded, and they have a reliable number of veggie options (but not vegan).

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The place is usually pretty full at weekends and they do a mean trade in Sunday lunch. The roasts are huge (we’re talking car tyre huge) and you can see the chefs undertaking their handiwork in the open kitchen (and yes, they make their own Yorkies). The ribeye steak is also something that we’ve had on a Sunday and it’s up there in Michelin star category and seasoned to perfection.

The Tommyfield is one of the few places in our area the accepts Tastecard (but not on Sunday) and they provide two for one mains if you have one. Perfect for those ‘I don’t feel like cooking’ nights or if, at this rate, there is soon to be nothing left on supermaket shelves but cat food.

For dessert we almost always plump for the banoffee pie, which is delicious.

*If you’ve been knocking around SE11 long enough to remember its previous incarnation as ‘La Finca’ you get a prize. Or something.

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The top ten best places to eat in Greater Kennington – no. 9 – The Hercules

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The number nine slot goes to new kid on the block ‘The Hercules’ located across from Lambeth North tube. The first of three gastropubs on our list, it’s made the list mostly due to it having the best selection of beers for a gastropub in Greater Kennington, with no fewer than 24  to choose from , and an impressive selection of spirits and wines. And a curious LED sign telling you about the rotating selection of beers on offer.

We thought it appropriate to go The Hercules with some tourist friends, as the crowd is a mix of thirty somethings with a melange of visitors wondering how the hell they ended up in Lambeth North when their hotel across the street is called ‘Waterloo’.  We went for Sunday roast, and one of us had beef and the other two pork belly. The portions were generous and the meat well cooked. The roast potatoes were also browned and just the right side of charred. The cauliflower cheese was commendable and the Yorkshire pud was huge and crispy.

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Aside from roasts, The Hercules offer other dishes that are more varied than most local gastropubs, and commendable  bar snacks. On another visit we snacked on spicy squid and Vietnamese chicken wings, and had some very juicy burgers and hake with chorizo. The place also opens at 8am if you fancy a fry up or a quick Merlot on the way to work. The atmosphere is the upmarket ‘old school meets new school’ of the White Bear and is relatively good value for money.

Finally, *expects egg throwing*  we are conscious that The Hercules is part of the Fuller’s pub chain, but even soulless chains can sometimes get things right. If it is just beer you fancy without the food, we recommend Mother Kelly’s under the arches in Vauxhall.

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The top ten best places to eat in Greater Kennington – no. 10 – Cafe Van Gogh

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Welcome to our almost annual run down of the best places to eat in Greater Kennington. Let us start with a few caveats. You might notice that we generally give good reviews to eating places here. This not due to lack of scrutiny as we eat out in Kennington all the time. Rather, we choose to promote the places we enjoy and feel passionate about, as opposed to the places which aren’t up to standard (and you know who you are..we can hear your microwave humming). Also, there are many places which we know are wonderful (such as Bonnington Cafe)   but we just haven’t been able to make it there recently, so we apologise if your favourite hasn’t made the cut.
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Number 10 is Cafe Van Gogh. a glorious vegan cafe on cusp of the KR catchment area in Brixton Road. Not afraid of being lauded, it was recently anointed as one one of the Guardian’s best vegan friendly restaurants in London . We visited on a weekday during half term, and the place was full of people working on laptops and folks with kiddos. We chose the vegan mac-n-cheese partially as a challenge, as it is pretty hard to pull off in a vegan joint. Our server explained that the cheese is achieved by a mixture of mustard, garlic and onion powders. We were very sceptical about this but the result was delicious. Those around us had a butternut squash pasta dish and a plant based based burger with chips. On the other table a mum told us that she just had an aubergine stuffed chapatti with dhal. It should be noted that the menu is concise and well curated.

Cafe Van Gogh is a not for profit social enterprise who work in conjunction with a range of local Kennington/Oval/Brixton charities. They provide paid employment for people who have faced challenges in life and who want to get back into the realm of employment. We are not vegan ourselves, but having lunch here was a truly delicious eye opener and even more valued with the knowledge that we’re giving something back to the more vulnerable in our shire.

Vincent himself was not present for this dining experience, but if you want to experience his work without even seeing anything he actually painted, then you might want to check out the totally bonkers Vincent Van Gogh experience just up the road at the Southbank..

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Greater Kennington in 1970 – And the Upcoming top 10

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We’re still in Cuba where disaster has struck..The umbrella has just fallen out of our cocktail….But in the meantime please titillate yourselves with this British Pathe video from 1970.  The clip starts at minute 11, on top of a bus going down Baylis Road towards Lambeth North and the spire of Surrey Chapel (now Oasis Hub), then various other clips past St. George’s Circus (?) toward the Elephant. The estates created in the 50’s ands 60’s still look new, and still in evidence are signs of bomb damage…The video then moves on to less interesting places like Westminster.

In a few days we will awe you (or depress you) with number 10 in our annual roundup of ‘top ten places to eat in Kennington’. Unlike in years previous, this list will cover both dinner and lunch venues and could even include the odd pub or two. The reason for this is because our predecessors ate out a lot more than we do  we appreciate that people work at different times of the day or their free times vary.

Marks to Prove it

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The secretive mandarins at Kennington Runoff finally signed our leave card so we are currently in Cuba. Of course we would never leave our readers without top flight infotainment, however, so if you’re lonely please watch ‘Marks to Prove It’ by the Maccabees  from a few years ago. The fascinating video was shot almost entirely in Elephant and Castle. If you don’t fancy the sound of young white guys screaming, you can mute it and catch Elephant Park being built, our our soon to be dematerialised Elephant Shopping centre. If you’ll look closely you’ll also see Waterloo, and perhaps where you live!

Now where’s my mojito?

 

Collective in Kennington Park

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The café in Kennington Park has experienced a number of permutations over the years, almost to the point of us assigning the designation of it being a ‘jinxed property’. It was resurrected in July of last year as a  lunchtime pizza place called ‘Collective’. We went for the pizza, but as they open at 10am they also have croissants, coffees, muffins and teas. If the mood takes you, you can even have, umm,  a morning ice cream.

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Pizza seems to be the current vogue in Greater Kennington (with barbershops a close second), supplanting estate agents, which is a good thing. We’ve been meaning to visit Collective since last summer but gave it a miss as it interferes with Loose Women our healthy daytime regime.  It bats above it’s weight from the outset by having a large, wood fired pizza oven.

 

A good pizza is all about the base, and we had a basic marinara  to maximize the experience. The dough is definitely sourdough, and thin almost to the point of being transparent. True to Neopolitain pizzas, it is blistered and slightly charred, but not to the finger blackening gorgeousness of Theo’s in Elephant. The marinara was good but we encourage you to branch out to the ‘spicy boy’ or the several veggie options. Vegan cheese is also available.

The place is especially good for kids as it is spacious and the kiddos can even run outside without the fear of the number 3 bus mowing them down. If you’ve been in a coma for the past 5 months and you’re presently reading this in July,  the outside space is great and even BYOB. In our estimation the only downside is that many people do not want to devour an entire pizza in the middle of the day so it might be bountiful to invite your colleagues or take some home, which is an option. They are also open at weekends. Very good, but will it be in our top 10?*

*The final plug, honestly.

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