I thew this up on Instagram a couple of weeks ago (if you don’t follow us there, please do!) and it seemed rather popular, so we’ll post it again here.
Have you ever noticed some strange looking railings outside a number of Kennington estates? Well they are actually stretchers left over from WW2 and have found a new life. The smaller ones were probably used for children. An early form of ‘up cycling’.
We are spoilt for choice when is comes to Eritrean/Ethiopian food in greater Kennington, and there a number just on our outskirts. We have tried them all as we have a problem with binge eating care about or readers. The best of the lot is called Adulis and is at the top of Brixton Road. It grabbed the #7 spot in Jamie’s pick of ‘best of Kennington’ earlier this year on the Runoff and is certainly on our long list and has been for a while.
As with any cuisine that might be new, if you’re not familiar with the cuisine the best launching point is a sampler plate. At Adulis it is the ‘Kirchat’ (and there is a vegetarian version). It is fundamentally a selection of their best meat and veg dishes served on a platter usually including Kifto, which is tender meet in Ghee and to die for. All of the dishes haver have a sweet and sour, almost vinegary tinge to them. They gladly pimped our 2 person serving up to 3 as we had a third diner, and the pic is below. Please don’t let my bad photo below put you off, as not all Eritrean dishes look like cat food.
This dish is served on a platter with a base of bread called ‘injera’, which is a leavened pancake made with sourdough (and if you run out you can get more for free). Almost all meals here are served with it and the whole shebang is to be eaten with your good hands. One speciality of the house is their Adulis honey wine. We’ve had this previously and lets just place it in the category of ‘experimental’. Since then we’ve stuck to the Kenyan beer ‘Tusker’ or South African whites.
Adulis has a slightly retro Eritrean feel to it with memetoes both current and from the past. The staff are very friendly and a good chunk of the punters are (tick!) Eritrean themselves. The place also wafts with the aroma of their coffee (and popcorn) ceremony. Tsibuk E’dl!!!
Third in our series of historic photos of Kennington takes us to St. Anselm’s church. This photo was taken during the summer of 1933 and depicts the frieze above the Romanesque doors being carved. The artist is Alfred Gerrard, who at the time was head sculptor at the Slade School of Art and is at the bottom of the photo. Carving must be very good exercise, as Mr. Gerrard lived to be 99, 65 years after this photo was taken.
Are you aware that you have top flight, A lister comedy our doorstep? The Tommyfield has a magnificent comedy on Thursday (and other) and it’s called Always be Comedy. We at KR have been frequenting it since it’s inception eight years ago and have seen the likes of Russell Brand, Katherine Ryan, Jimmy Carr and others. A few weeks ago we even saw Harry Hill
The first thing you notice about the ABC crowd is that it feels like you’ve just crashed a reunion of previous contestants from ‘The Apprentice’. That disquiet can be absolved by a few (not so cheap) bevies. Your MC and ABC creator is one James Gill, who is on hand to deliver games, anecdotes, foibles and all around mirth. James isn’t the kind of comic who picks on people in the front row, but you might be called upon to take part in a round of golf out of the window or the ‘how posh is your name’ quiz. You might even win a Kinder egg.
The remaining Thursdays are taken up by comics doing one hour sets, consisting usually of new material. This material might then be used on TV, radio or in Edinburgh. If a joke is received by a collective cough it will be classed as ‘Kennington Exclusives’. Late August sees a resumption of usual shorter sets, with great folk like Sara Pascoe.
Always be Comedy tends to sell out, so book some dates here and put them in your little diary. If you’re anything like us you’ll then forget about until the day before, and then it feels like a little Kinder Egg Christmas present.
The ‘mystery guests’ are usually somebody big, so if you’re short on time watch out for those.
James Gill
The last time I tried to papp a comedian a got dragged onstage and subjected to ritual humiliation. This crap photo of Mr. Hill is therefore explained.
As we love all things related to cheese, carbohydrates and comfort food, we recently checked out a newish Italian place called ‘Theos’ in Elephant and Castle. Trust us reader, this was one of the best pieces of dough we’ve stuck in our gobs into for a long time.
As with most good restaurants, the menu at Theos is very small and focusses squarely on the thing they do best. I had the Napoli Salami pizza, which was spicy, full of cheese, and presented with a crust so fine that it had be eaten with a fork.
My dining partner had the Nduja and Ricotta pizza. It featured sun dried tomatoes and huge mounds of ricotta. As you can see, both pizzas are deliberately charred and blistered, giving them a very earthy and almost smokey taste.
The vibe at Theo’s is youngish, but not so young that they shy away from playing 80’s music. The venue is bright, airy and staff very friendly. They explained that the venue is the ‘little cousin’ of their original branch in Camberwell. It therefore represents the good side of gentrification in Elephant. Given that the previous occupant was a dreary mattress store with the sinister name ‘Beddie Buyz’, anything would have been an improvement.
As you can see from the bill below, the price point is very reasonable, with pizzas coming in at £10 or less. As you can also see from the bill below our bar tab was more than the food bill, but don’t judge us. Theo’s also does a brisk takeway trade, as evidenced by the many men in helmets who came and went, so you can enjoy your pizza at home. We don’t recommend this manouver, however, as an ethos of KR is getting people on their feet and exploring….Plus Deliveroo is evil.
Do you recognise the festive, festooned building below? The date is 1935, and the kiddos outside are eagerly awaiting a visit by King George V to their home. The building still very much stands at the base of central Kennington, but is now largely empty except for a video production company around the back.
The neo-classical, Grade II building you are looking at below was built in 1852 and was the Vestry Hall (essentially the Town Hall) for Lambeth until things started getting a bit tight at the turn of the century. That’s when the Town Hall abandoned us for bigger spaces in Brixton. Lambeth then leased the building to the Church of England Children’s Society as their headquarters. Also known as the Waifs and Strays, the charity arranged pastoral care and fostering for poor and destitute kids who lived there, and the kids feature in this photo. It served this noble purpose until another Charity, the Countryside Alliance, moved in behind the columns in 1986.
We have a shameless obsession with old photos of greater Kennington here at the Runoff and here is a little mid week fix for you, the first of a series over the next month. My predecessor Jamie put up quite a few last year and they are delightful.
This picture is of a very different Vauxhall Cross circa 1958. The shot is looking east up Albert Embankment, and might have been taken on the top floor of the building were Starbucks now resides. The buildings on the left are now occupied by the bus shelter, and were the billboards are is now an expanded approach to Albert Embankment. So changes to the flow of traffic is not a new occurrence in Vauxhall! 
The annual North Lambeth Fete is back on 22 Jun from 12:30 to 4:30pm, and its a thing. We’ve never been as we usually opt for the Cleaver Sq. Fete, which has apparently been moved to Christmas in order to avoid clashing with this event. This is a bit of a shame, as we’ll miss the annual Cleaver summer spectacle of Kate Hoey getting heckled, a slightly drunk Vicar acting as MC, and a wholly inappropriate Punch and Judy show for the kids. But life goes on…
While we may have never before been to the Fete, we have been to the gardens of Lambeth Palace and they are stunning, extensive and almost never open to the public. The price of the ticket itself justifies a wander around. According to our sources, the North Lambeth Fete is more kid friendly than its Cleaver counterpart and is known for its dog show and features prizes, including fastest sausage eater and least obedient (we assume these prizes are for the dogs and not humans). There is also face painting, live music, and races for the kids. And if you don’t have kids there’s a Pimms tent to keep you sane. And if you do have kids there’s a Pimms tent to keep you sane.
To whet you appetite we found this totally manic video on YouTube. Free coffee mugs!!!!
Our second gardening blog in a week, you lucky devils! Over the weekend we popped over to the Gardening Museum to inspect it’s not so recent (2017) renovation and to see if it’s worth getting your hands dirty for.
The museum is set within a 12thcentury church next to Lambeth Palace (and visitors can climb the original tower). Surprisingly, the church was almost demolished in the 1970’s but saved by gardening enthusiasts (and Charlie Chaplin) keen to preserve the memory of John Tradescant, who’s garden themed tomb still stands in the outside garden. The deconsecrated church setting is one of the primary features.
The museum itself is on the small side and encompasses bedding design, implements, seeds, and how ‘plant hunters’ brought plants to the UK from around the world which still flourish to this day. There are also paintings and sketches. The exhibits also includes interesting displays of old lawn mowers, FlyMo’s and even (wait for it) a collection of garden gnomes! Our favourite is a slightly psychotic gnome which bears an uncanny resemblance to Tony Blair:
The author of 90% of content here on the Runoff was undertaken by my brilliant predessesor who heretofore shall be referred to as ‘Jamie’. Jamie was a big fan of the café at the Gardening Museum and s/he made it their number one pick for best local restaurant earlier this year (In case you wondered Jamie isn’t dead). It is bright, open to the gardens and very informal if not a bit pricey. A little courtyard in the middle of the restaurant is dominated by the tomb of William Bligh (of Mutiny on the Bounty fame) and family. The inscription to his wife being every bit as moving as that of his on the front.
At £10 the museum is a bit on the steep side but if you want to get the dirt on gardening it is certainly the place to be. And it has a nice shop!
We live in a lovely and luscious enclave of central London, but to be frank it isn’t the greenest place on earth. If you are ever in need of a little botanical realness in your life you could do a lot worse than pop over to the little gem that is Walworth Garden in East Kennington
In addition to being a great place to stroll around, sit and reflect (they have loads of benches), they also sell plants. If you’re fortunate enough to have a garden they can give you great ideas about what to plant and how to plant things. If your garden is in your front room they also sell a range of indoor plants. Walworth also has an apiary. When we first heard this we got very excited about the possibility of seeing actual apes. An apiary is in fact a place where bees are kept and feature centrally in what they do. Their honey harvest in July is an annual feature.
In addition to the many luxurious plants, Walworth also offers training courses for gardeners and a range of workshops including making eco friendly cleaning products, incense, oils, cosmetics and soap. Imagine the fun you could have by giving rosemary infused window cleaner as presents to your friends for the fifth year on the trot.
Walworth Garden is not a garden centre per se but it a registered charity, and they accept donations. However, they also have a very good gardening service, as recommended by a friend of the Runoff.
