Nanban at Market House - Shrub & Shutter - Three Eight Four - Rosie's Deli

Saturday 30th August - Here comes another evening of food & drink in Brixton, but did we end up at Seven or Craft as usual? Cast your votes now.

Team Brixton assembled at Market House, a Brixton bar bringing in the crowds with smartly chosen food residencies.  We went along to try out Nanban, Japanese soulfood from 2011 Masterchef Champion Tim Anderson (the youngest ever winner at 26).  His stint as manager of The Euston Tap (beer haven) and multiple collaborations with Pressure Drop Brewing are of more interest to me!

One problem with food residencies for chefs is not having total control.  I say this because Market House weren't very interested in fitting us in without a booking, despite there being an hour and a half window on some empty tables.  Eventually we decided to just sit down on one and force through an order, and *shock horror* everything arrived within 15 minutes and we were out within an hour.  Other groups were turned away - throwing away money.  And since when do trendy, hipster, popup, food residency thingamajigs take bookings? I can't keep up.

Making our minds up quickly, we ordered four bowls of ramen, bypassing tempting sides of Karaage and Ackee & Saltfish Korokke.  To drink, I was hoping to get a special Pressure Drop Nanban Kanpai on the side (wheat beer with yuzu, grapefruit and orange juices) but they were fresh out.  However, my Nagashima Iced Tea (with smoked black tea liqueur, patron tequila, peach schnapps, jasmine syrup, lemon juice) was an excellent replacement, especially at £5.

I thoroughly enjoyed my comforting bowl of Kumamoto Ramen (rich tonkotsu broth, pork belly, tea-pickled egg, fried garlic chips, burnt garlic oil, fermented greens etc).  Perhaps I'll tea-pickle my eggs this weekend, any tips?  Are greens still one of your five-a-day if they are fermented? Who knows.

My companions all went for Brown Stew Chicken Ramen (thick and spicy tomato-miso broth, pulled chicken, fried shallots, pickled Scotch Bonnets, slow-cooked egg, and miso-pickled Daikon), which was a much more filling affair.  In fact, two were defeated by it!  I prefer my ramen much less thick personally, but the flavours were good.

Kumamoto Ramen

Brown Stew Chicken Ramen

No time for their famous Whippy-San ice creams, or shots of Shochu, it really was a flying visit.  I hope Nanban settles down in a permanent location soon - I'll be back for some more thorough research.  Keep tabs on them via their Facebook page or Twitter.

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Next stop was the soft opening of The Shrub & Shutter, a new cocktail bar from Chris Edwards and Dave Treganza (aka cocktail consultants Salts of the Earth).  

We were warmly welcomed with a Nuclear Daiquiri of sorts (with an apple sour ice cube / sweet at the bottom) and an impressive plate of snacks, a hint of small plates to come once fully open.  

After a quick skim of the menu, we ordered our first round.  

Bandage of Brothers (snow queen vodka, poppy liqueur, wolfschmidt kummel, sherbert, sweetener, gunpowder) came with a little army man attached via a plaster, and a banger to throw on the floor at any time - the element of surprise and all that.  All good fun, though I'm not entirely sure how the super sweet drink connects to the title.  

The Shrub & Shutter intrigued Luke with blowtorched fennel & chlorophyll bitters garnishing a glass of gin, green chartreuse, maraschino, cucumber shrub and toasted fennel sugar.  

Lauren opted for a No Stone Left Unturned - effectively a sour with a choice of spirits and rotating flavour based on the stone fruit of the day (cherry in this case).  

However, I feel I made the best choice with Does A Bear Shit in the Woods? - St George's Terroir Gin (made with pine), Akvavit (distilled Scandinavian spirit), pine bitters and mancino ambrato vermouth served with smoked salmon on the side.  I can't resist a "spirits-focused" drink and this Scandi gin martini twist was right up my street, and the salmon (working well with the pine) was an added bonus.

Blackboards for all to use take up one wall

For round two, Caroline ordered pudding in the form of Wonka Bar - gin, vanilla ice cream, chocolate soil, truffle, gold leaf and truffle bitters.  The finer ingredients seemed to get lost in the mix but it was a very drinkable boozy milkshake.

Luke's Little Miss Sunshine was one of the more conventional drinks on the menu - an attractive sunny Bloody Mary with Beluga Vodka, Isle of Wight yellow tomato, tomato water, roasted balsamic shrub, celery, spice & seasoning - very tasty at all times of the day.

Vegetarians should steer clear of The Deer Hunter - woodford bourbon, orange, romeo y julieta bitters and birch sap, with a hunk of venison on the side for good measure.  Boozy and delicious.

Dare I say it, I think I won round two as well.  You Can't Handle Chartreuse arrived in a wonderful bath-shaped glass (don't go stealing them now!), with chilled gummy bears and neat squares of green chartreuse jelly on top. If only bathtime always involved Portobello Road gin, Del Maguey mezcal, yellow chartreuse, pineapple, lemon & elderflower.  

Does a bear shit in the woods?, Bandage of Brothers, Little Miss Sunshine, Wonka Bar

The Deer Hunter, The Shrub and Shutter, No Stone Left Unturned

You Can't Handle Chartreuse

All the while we were serenaded by a jazz trio who squeezed themselves into the corner of the relatively small back room.  Live music will be a regular occurrence, think ragtime / blues piano.  

Only half the cocktails were available on our visit, so I'm sure they have plenty more surprises up their sleeves, including some wacky sharing cocktails.  A return visit is in order for more research, but on this showing Shrub & Shutter will be a popular addition to the Brixton bar scene.  Well done lads.

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Our third stop on Coldharbour Lane (efficient eh?) was Three Eight Four, a small plates restaurant and cocktail bar from those clever folk at Seven.

Seven has made it on to Matt The List an unprecedented three times, as almost every Brixton trip seems to involve a couple of their fantastic £5 cocktails, so expectations were high for Three Eight Four.  The fact that the bar was at full capacity when we arrived only added to the anticipation.  

Thankfully, a large group soon left and we crammed in at the bar.  They won me over instantly with their well-lit bar surface, how novel to be able to read the menu and actually see your drink.  It's a good-looking place in general, which is no surprise given Seven's funky décor.

Cocktails are competitively priced at £6-£7.50 a pop, except for the rather special Mr.Flambastic at £8.75 - Blackwell's dark & Red Leg spiced rums mixed with Cointreau, shaken with flambéed peaches in Gran Capataz brandy, theatrically created at the end of the bar.

I went straight for a Smoked Manhattan - Pikeseville Rye with Punt e Mes, Luxardo Maraschino, stirred & smoked on the spot to great effect.  I wasn't so taken with the Negroni Sbagliato - Campari & Punt e Mes, stirred & topped with sparkling red wine. Very much an acquired taste, aggressively bitter and almost medicinal.  

Caroline chose well with Bombay Kitchen - Opihr Indian spiced gin & Koko Kanu rum, coriander, mint, tabasco & mango juice, with a side of papadum & chutney.  It arrived in a cezve, a pot usually used to make Turkish coffee.  There was just the right amount of tabasco, and the normally dominant cardamom heavy Opihr played well with others.

Last but not least was Tart'n Tide - Auchentoshan lowland whisky, stirred w/ Licor 43, Cointreau, lemon & honey, over a seaweed infused ice ball.  We ordered two of these which came out rather different to one another, perhaps an extra splash of Licor 43 found its way into one of them, but both were very enjoyable. Don't let the seaweed put you off, order this if you like a boozy whisky cocktail.

Bombay Kitchen

Smoked Manhattan

They've created an interesting little menu and there were some real winners in there, and at £7 they represent great value, though not quite enough to knock Seven off its perch as my favourite Brixton bar.  Classic cocktails are also available, alongside well-chosen wines and beers, and some old school American soft drinks (e.g. Dr Pepper Vanilla Float, Dad's Root Beer).

The food will have to wait for another time, but I'm sure you won't go far wrong with the likes of reuben sliders, slow-cooked beef brisket, 'nduja with ricotta on bread, and pear & pecorino salad.

View the menu and follow Matt The List on Zomato

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One more thing to quickly mention.  We wandered round the corner in to Brixton Village to have a quiet drink at Sean's Bar to finish, which is usually housed inside Rosie's Deli in the evenings, only to find that Sean is no longer there.  Apparently, he is looking to open up again in a new space in Brixton soon, though he is keeping busy with Sean's Thai Bar in Balham in the meantime.  

Anyway, there is still a bar there, now run by the Rosie's Deli staff, and not a lot has changed.  It's still a fun, relaxed spot for simple mixed drinks, beers and wines with some tempting food available for those that need it.  Prices have gone up a little bit, but nothing drastic.  Luke and I enjoyed bottled beers from Brick Brewery (Peckham) and the local Brixton Brewery, whilst Robyn had the world's biggest Aperol Spritz (£6). A cosy spot to end any evening.

Rosie's Deli is open all weekdays 'til 5.30, Thursday, Friday, Saturday evenings 'til 11, Sunday 10-5

Brixton: Nowhere near as good as Brixton thinks it is.
— Tweat_Up (@Tweat_Up) August 29, 2014

Each to their own, I guess. Definitely wrong though.  Brixton is great.

Oh, and we might have popped to Craft Beer Co afterwards very briefly. What can you do?

Nightjar - White Lyan - Liquor Cabinet - Mr.Buckley's

Friday 28th September - After seeing the state of the Team List Leaderboard, my siblings (and significant plus ones) decided it was time to get some more points.  Nightjar has been on The List for a long time, and Em has just moved up to Hoxton so I booked us in for some pre-dinner drinks at 18.30.  Early evening slots are quite easy to come by, but if you want to have a table later on (when the live jazz gets going) you need to book way in advance - I'm talking a month or two here.

Nightjar is tucked away inbetween various unsavoury looking kebab shops and cafés just off the Old Street roundabout.  You may have unknowingly walked past it during the day, but it is pretty obvious at night due to the queue and sore thumb doorman (Opium and Ballroom du Beef are also guilty of this hidden bar crime).  You instantly forget what neighbourhood you are in once you make it downstairs.  We were shown to a cosy table opposite the piano, which would have been ideal if it had been a little later on.  The background jazz was already much better than most bars manage.  We were brought the now customary jug of bizarre flavoured water (cucumber, apple, Miles Davis' sweat etc etc) with some free popcorn to keep us happy whilst we tried to make the tough first cocktail decision.

Waldorf Gloom Lifters and Cold Buttered Rum

The menu is split into Pre-Prohibition (1600-1918 - what happened in 1600?), Prohibition (1918-1932), Post War (1940-2000) and Nightjar Signatures.  There is also a Unique to Nightjar section which includes vintage liqueurs and spirits, an absinthe collection and all sorts of special gifts including the superb Nightjar pack of cards (see below) which I caved and bought.  Head bartender Marian Beke has travelled all over the world to source unheard of ingredients and garnishes, hence the need for a glossary at the back.  You can read an interesting interview with him here.

We were strongly advised to go for a crazy sharing cocktail with dry ice, but we steered clear since all the drinks are beautifully presented anyway.  We started with two Waldorf Gloom Lifters (served in Hip Flasks on ice), a Cold Buttered Rum (with a hot coconut butter float slowly infusing into the drink, and a dehydrated lime) and a Coffee & Cacao Soda (for a drugged up member of our party).  Al and I struggled to balance our hip flasks, which did actually fall and spill a couple of times before we just put them on the table.  It was a very boozy drink, which never seemed to run out.

Shrubbler, Nougat Cocktail and Rodriguez Sour

Our next round (pictured above) included a Shrubbler, a Nougat Cocktail and a Rodrgiuez Sour.  Al's Shrubbler came with an edible fruit basket (think creme brulee topping) containing his five a day.  Jo's Nougat Cocktail came with lightly singed white chocolate, and a liquid chocolate pot on top.  We had a taster of the very drinkable Ysabel Regina brandy that was used to make it.  My Rodriguez Sour had a paprika coated rim and a mysterious chocolate coated fruit dangling over the top of it.  As you can see from some of the cards below (which are slightly out of date), they really don't hold back on the presentation.  The drinks aren't just for show though, and they tasted as good as they looked.  Nightjar is quite comfortable one of London's best cocktail bars, and I think I would have to dedicate a whole evening (and a fair amount of cash) to it next time.  Book now!

Em only arrived as we were finishing our last drink, allowing Jo to gain a point on her in the sibling rivalry race.  We decided to pop in to the always wonderful Yum Bun (read more here) for some much needed sustenance before moving on to our second cocktail bar of the evening.  

It was the public opening night of White Lyan, a quirky new cocktail bar from master mixologist, Ryan Chetiyawardana, who has been involved with the much loved Whistling Shop in Shoreditch and Bramble in Edinburgh amongst other places.  The plan here is to speed up drinks preparation by pre-bottling many cocktails, giving the bartenders more free time to chat to customers.  No perishable ingredients are used behind the bar.  The most notable absence is fresh citrus - other souring agents are used instead.  There is also no ice involved to avoid unwanted dilution, with spirits and drinks instead being chilled to exact temperatures.  The bar therefore looks very different, with hardly anything on show except for a big fridge. Drinks are made with Mr.Lyan (Ryan's brand) spirits, and only house drinks are available.

They were lacking some electricity when we arrived, but candles were out on tables and the fridges seemed to still be working so we sat down in a quiet corner.  The menu is full of weird libations including Bone Dry Martini (flavoured with chicken bone tincture), Lyan Club Cocktail (gin, turmeric and red apple shrub, soda), and Lada Lada (tequila, smoke, elderflower and lager syrup).  Sadly though, the flavours didn't match the ideas at all.  We were really disappointed with 4 out of 5 of our drinks.  I don't think it helped that we had just been to Nightjar. The Beeswax Old Fashioned was the only cocktail that got the thumbs up.  Lada Lada and Yiddish Bubbles were far too sweet (bring a lemon) whilst the Lyan Club Cocktail tasted mostly of vinegar, with no obvious signs of turmeric and red apple shrub.  Al was unimpressed by his red wine, and it did not improve when they added a spice distillate the second time around to give it extra depth.  The only beer option is the canned (and highly overrated) Hobo Craft Lager, which you can alter with hop atomisation to turn it into a pale ale.  I know they are going for simplicity, but would it hurt to have a local beer or two in the fridge?

There is a club downstairs which wasn't up and running when we went.  The décor is minimal - I would imagine that the idea is to let the drinks do the talking, which worries me.  I find it hard to believe that they have tasted our drinks and feel that they are worth up to £9.  With any luck, all of the other drinks are great, and the others will be improved.  At any rate, I'm not rushing to go back to find out.

We lost Jo and Ant (still feeling under the weather, despite sensibly moving on to whisky drinks) allowing Em and Al to extend their Team List lead.  We crossed over to Hackney Road, aiming to go to Sager & Wilde to get Al a nice glass of wine after the last two.  Before we made it there, I diverted them in to The Liquor Cabinet, a tiny bar underneath the Golden Grill kebab shop run by the experienced duo of Mikey Seddon and Thom Docker, both formerly of The Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town.

Before The Liquor Cabinet turned up, the space was used by Quiquiriqui Mezcaleria, which I annoyingly didn't make it to.  List regular Sam reported back that it was a lot of fun, and that it stayed open so late that they had to be let out through the kebab shop.  Quiquiriqui have now moved in to Catrina the Cocktail Ambulance, which also sounds pretty wonderful - read more here.

The Liquor Cabinet has only recently managed to sort out a license issue, so it had only been open for a couple of days when we went in.  The idea here is to have one excellent variety of their favourite spirits and a few mixers alongside a couple of solid wines and beers, whilst keeping prices low.  The atmosphere was buzzing, and the simplicity really works here (unlike in White Lyan!).  Al and Em were very happy with their red wine, and I had a very nice £4.50 G&T made with Three Corners Gin (which uses only two botanicals - Juniper and Lemon).  If I was a local, I think I would be here all the time.  It is open Tue-Sat and the bar is cash only.

As it was approaching 11pm, we decided to hop on over to Sager & Wilde for a final drink, only to find that they had just called last orders.  Sager & Wilde is an attractive new wine bar on Hackney Road, set up by Michael and Charlotte Sager-Wilde, following on from their successful pop-up in Shoreditch last year.  They are however on their best behaviour with their new neighbours so they currently aren't staying open very late. They hope to extend their opening hours next year.

Sager and Wilde

They kindly pointed us in the direction of Mr.Buckley's which is a bit further down the road, and helpfully stays open til 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.  I have passed it a few times on the way to Broadway Market and it always looked fun.  Upstairs, you can have food and drink - they open up at 10am Mon-Fri and 9am Sat-Sun for brunch.  We headed down to the late night bar underneath, which was surprisingly empty for such a nice place.  It's the perfect chilled out place to grab a late night drink, and the barmen know their stuff. One of them was keeping himself entertained by practicing his flair skills.

I was impressed by their bottled beers, and got myself a local Pressure Drop Pale Fire, whilst Al and Em went for wine (best of the night) and an alcohol-enhanced hot chocolate respectively.  London needs more relaxed late night bars like this which don't try and turn themselves in to clubs.  I'm very jealous of the Hackney Road locals who have so many friendly watering holes on their doorsteps.

Just as we were leaving, I asked the bartenders about a Pressure Drop beer that I hadn't seen before, bizarrely named "Wu Gang Chops the Tree" after a character from Chinese folklore who is known for endlessly cutting down a Bay Laurel on the Moon.  Neither of them had tried it before either, and so they just opened it up on the house, and poured it into three glasses.  Don't ask, don't get!  It calls itself a Forged Herb Hefeweisse - a pale and hazy wheat beer, with pronounced herbal notes, and hints of clove, citrus and banana.  It was a bit late for me to notice all of that, but it went down very easily.  Read more about Pressure Drop brews here.

I ended up crashing in Hoxton with Al and Em since I couldn't face a two night bus journey home, and I was conveniently heading out to Dalston the next day for Street Food Europe and more.  I will leave that all for another post however.  Em has now shot on to the Top 20 Leaderboard - she is currently tied for 16th on 11 points.  Al is not far away in 21st place on 9 points, whilst Jo and Ant have moved to 30th on 6 points. All to play for.