Following the huge excitement around our Top Ten Best Restaurants in Kennington list, this Sunday will see the start of our Top Ten Best Lunch Spots in Kennington. This is for all those establishments that don’t generally open in the evenings, from Sally White to the Imperial War Museum cafe. Suggestions welcome.
Sirena’s
On Sunday we will begin our countdown of the top ten restaurants in Kennington – and we’re looking for your input which we will ignore before compiling the list ourselves.
So don’t hesitate, leave a comment here or email your favourites to kenningtonrunoff@gmail.com
If you’re looking for inspiration, try here.
n.b. Dragon Castle is ineligible for this poll – don’t ask why, but there’s a clue here.
Big things are happening with Peruvian cuisine in London – Soho’s Ceviche now has its own cookbook, and Fitzrovia’s very fine Lima restaurant was recently awarded a Michelin star. But fear not – North Kennington, AKA London’s Latin American Quarter, has its own Peruvian restaurant, Emanuel on Amelia Street (in fact it has more than one, but that is for another day). We’ve never been to Peru but based on dining experiences elsewhere in Latin America, we suspect Emanuel is a lot closer to what you’ll find in Peru than Lima is. It’s not much to look at inside or out, but go there for the food and the atmosphere. We went on a Sunday lunchtime when the kitchen is open until 3pm, and it was packed with Latin Americans, including one birthday party.
While you’re waiting for your food – and it could be a while if they’re busy – they will bring you toasted chulpe corn, AKA cancha salada, Peru’s all-time favourite snack, which is like crunchier popcorn:
Ceviche (pretty different to what you’ll get in the Soho Ceviche):
Paella (pescatarians will do fine at Emanuel; vegetarians less well):
And to drink, how about an Inca Kola, a Peruvian national icon containing lemon verbena, or Cristal, a Peruvian lager (not to to be confused with the Chilean or Cuban beers of the same name):
Actually, before you order the Kola, check the nutritional advice:
We can highly recommend two curry houses just outside the borders of West Kennington: Mumbai Delight on South Lambeth Road which makes a point of using natural ingredients and has a good vegetarian selection, and Hot Stuff on Wilcox Road, a family-run, BYOB restaurant that gets very busy thanks to the reputation of its food and its low prices.
Kennington itself has two renowned curry houses: Kennington Tandoori and Gandhi’s. Both trumpet their celebrity fans. Gandhi’s displays Seb Coe, Richard & Judy (whose Channel 4 show used to be filmed in Kennington), regular Kennington Oval visitor John Major, Kennington residents Ken Clarke and Jack Straw, former Kennington resident Geoff Hoon, Gordon Brown, Jerry Springer, Neil and Christine Hamilton, and a former prime minister of Bangladesh in its window.
Kennington Tandoori has a more discreet rotating selection featuring Matt Lucas, Jon Bercow and various cricket players. The whole front of the restaurant opens up which is welcome on a warm evening. And the owner responds to criticism on TripAdvisor which makes for an interesting read.
A plot to oust Gordon Brown as prime minister is believed to have been hatched by Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt in a private room at Gandhi’s, which perhaps inspired its new colour scheme of black and blood red, not to mention the LOOK RIGHT sign on the pavement outside.
Doost is a Persian Grill & Vodka Bar that opened in the site Amici outgrew on Kennington Road. A Persian Grill & Vodka Bar might seem like a strange combination, but apparently vodka bars were widespread in Iran before the Islamic Revolution, and the food is really nice if not cheap. Their website appears to have been inspired by Hooters but despite that, it’s neither tacky nor unrefined.
