Cable Cafe & Bar

As many Greater Kenningtonains spend a few days working from home, we thought we would up our lunchtime review game by checking out Oval staple ‘Cable Café’ at the top of Brixton Rd. By all the brick a brac you might think you’ve stumbled into dear Aunt Flo’s house clearance after she refused to let anybody in for 40 years, but what you’re getting is a mighty fine and eclectic café. 

The daytime trade consists primarily of people popping in for hot drinks and working on their laptops (menu below), and the atmosphere is laid back and quiet. We stopped in for lunch, and the specialty is the bang on trend sourdough toastie. Your scribe had it with tuna, and Karen from finance had hers with onions. The sourdough was crisp and with sharp and abundant cheese (£6.50) . These were accompanied by two homemade lemonades, one with rhubarb. Very tart and zingy. We also had our eyes on the homemade pastries, sharing boards, and smoothies.

What Cable does ingenuously is transform itself from a lunchtime sandwich/coffee bar to an evening cocktail and beer joint. The transition happens during the 3-5 happy hour when laptops and chargers give way to candles and, on Wednesday and Saturday live jazz. There is a full bar on hand (cocktails £9) in addition to wines both bottled and draft (they’re a thing). A good alternative to the at times chaotic pubs of Greater Kennington. 

Cable Café is open from 9:30 to 23:00 (midnight weekends) and is even available to hire out for parties. We need to keep independent places like this or they may go the same way as Cable Bakery, which hs sadly gone to that big flour mill in the sky. More importantly, we need to keep it going to prevent it descending to the hellish netherworld that is the ‘bottomless drag brunch’. Because we’ve been there, dear reader, and it’s a very dark place. 

Cable Bakery & Roastery

Cable Bakery & Roastery is a very exciting new arrival from the couple behind the Cable Bar & Cafe and Waterloo’s Scootercaffe. It’s situated at 82 Bolton Crescent, a street that runs along the side of Kennington Park and was previously most notable for an adventure playground and a bondage shop (Fetish Freak – “your fetish is our business”, but not if, like us, your fetish is for four coloured pens, although to be fair, we haven’t enquired so we can’t be sure).

Cable Bakery & Roastery exterior - kenningtonrunoff.com

The decor is every bit as stylish as their other two establishments, with vintage coffee machines scattered around the place.

Cable Bakery & Roastery shelving - kenningtonrunoff.com

As well as these stools, there are a couple of small tables. The establishment is already proving popular so you may not get a seat at busy times, but you can always head around the corner to Cable Bar instead.

Cable Bakery & Roastery seating area - kenningtonrunoff.com

They bake sourdough bread and roast coffee on site, all organic:

Cable Bakery & Roastery bread - kenningtonrunoff.com

As well as the expected hot drinks, they serve smoothies, sandwiches, chicken and beef broth and other lunch options with plans to add more. They also have a good selection of cakes – we had an excellent slice of apple pie.

Cable Bakery & Roastery cakes - kenningtonrunoff.com

They’re open Monday to Friday 9.30am to 7pm and Saturdays from 10am to 3pm, although hours may increase in the future. Let’s hope so – this place is great.

Address: 82 Bolton Crescent, SE5 0SE.