Craft Beer Co - Kaff Bar - Wishbone - Effra Social

Wednesday 29th May - I need to go to Brixton more often.  I am constantly convincing myself that £12 Soho and Shoreditch cocktails are worth it, but when you get the same quality and style for £5 in Brixton, it's hard to justify the extra expenditure.  Last time out, Lauren and I went to the excellent Crown and Anchor before trying out Gremio de Brixton, Honest Burgers and Seven at Brixton.  This time around, I met Lauren in Craft Beer Co (with Brixton local Luke not far behind).  The name gives it away - not much point coming here unless you are a beer fan (though there are excellent whiskies and pork pies!).  The range of beers is always impressive - this time I had a half of 10% Viking Chilli Stout.  Go along on Mondays when they open up a bottle of expensive beer for free to share with everyone.  This was only a flying visit to kill time before Luke arrived, but it's a wonderful place - highly recommended.

We made our way over to Kaff Bar on Atlantic Road for a quick pre-Wishbone drink.  It is a very chilled out café bar with sofas and plenty of natural light.  They randomly have a crazy Breakfast themed list of cocktails, though our barman seemed in no mood to do anything other than pour a pint.  Here are few of my favourite options from the website:

Jam infused vodka shots

6 different milky vodka cocktails

They also have three £3 cocktails available all day - Mojito, Moscow Mule and Louisiana Jam (with Southern Comfort - "SoCo" to cool kids - with apricot jam and apple juice) served up in jam jars.  £3?  They must be awful, right? Nope, actually pretty tasty.  If it had cost me £13.50 and I was told it was made my a renowned mixologist, I would probably have been content.  They currently have a chef from New Orleans serving up all sorts of delicious food - if they called it a pop-up Louisiana residency, everyone would be all over it.  I'm also intrigued by their Cake Club Cabaret which is held on Sundays once a month - bringing your own cake gives you the freedom to try 5 other cakes for free with prizes given out to the best baker.

The hunger set in so we moved on to Wishbone in Brixton Village.  Wednesdays are a great evening to go to Brixton Village with minimal queues but still a buzzing atmosphere.  We walked in to Wishbone without any wait.  Wishbone is the fried chicken version of Meat Liquor with a Sours focused drinks menu.  My Pisco Sour was fantastic and a steal at £5.50 - definitely worth experimenting with the DIY Sours options at that price.  Sitting at the bar always pays dividends and this time it came in the form of a taster of the comically named Ron de Jeremy rum.  Anyway - on to the food.  Lauren's portion of wings was generous to say the least.  I went for a limited edition Korean chicken sandwich that was available in conjunction with a Specials gig at Brixton Academy - it reminded me of the original GBK Chicken Satay burger that I have a soft spot for, but with actual peanuts in sight and vastly superior bread.  Hopefully the Korean Special will become a permanent fixture.  The accompanying chips were the most salty I have ever tasted - not quite sure what they were going for there.  I will definitely go for one of the more exciting sides next time.  Another excellent Brixton Village hangout - go midweek or book at the weekend.

We couldn't resist stopping for a quick drink at Seven (pintxos, taps and cocktails - read about my first visit here) where they have a £5 cocktail menu with names but no descriptions.  We tested our barman on all the ingredients before ordering three Thai Juleps - a spicy and refreshing frozen julep with ginger and lemongrass served in a solo cocktail shaker.

Our last stop was a 10 minute walk up Effra Road.  Effra Social has taken over the old Conservative Club which shut in November 2012.  It is the latest place from Antic London who also run Dogstar and Balham Bowls Club.  It has retained the character and look of the club, with a small living room bar upstairs and events in the main room downstairs.  A stand-up show was in full flow when we arrived so we didn't get to investigate down there this time.  We instead grabbed some pints and sat outside in the colourful front garden. It's a nice, little place away from the Brixton crowds, with a very sociable atmosphere - definitely one to check out.

Thanks to Team Brixton of Luke and Lauren for putting in a good shift on a Wednesday night.  Next on the Brixton Village wishlist - Franco Manca

Two big foodie events coming up this weekend:

Soho Food Feast - Sat/Sun
Foodies Festival on Clapham Common - Fri/Sat/Sun