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

Crown and Anchor - Gremio de Brixton - Honest Burgers - Seven at Brixton

Wednesday 1st May - I have been waiting for a few weeks to go to some places in Brixton with Luke and Lauren who live nearby, but Luke is busy being flown around the world for work so we caved and went on a friend-date instead.  The sun was out so we found a bench outside the excellent Crown and Anchor pub on Brixton Road.  It is relatively new so and in a slightly odd location so many beer aficianados may not have discovered it yet, but it is well worth a visit.  They have fantastic beers on rotation from Kernel, BrewDog, Dark Star and many more great breweries.  Everything on the daily changing food menu has a suggested beer pairing, including a different recommendation for each type of sausage available in their Sausage and Mash Story - a create your own section with various choices of sausage, mash and gravy. Crown and Anchor is another wonderful pub to add to your list.

We moved off towards Brixton Village to find some food.  If you haven't been to Brixton Village yet then you need to make some time for it as soon as possible.  It's an exciting covered market of restaurants, bars and shops of the highest quality with a buzzing atmosphere that is hard to beat.  We decided to try out the popular Honest Burgers (who have another branch in Soho) and put our names down for a table in 45 mins - with no reservations at most places, expect a wait and grab a drink elsewhere.  There are many good options for drinks around Brixton, notably the Craft Beer Co pub, and we decided to try out the newly opened Gremio de Brixton nearby.

Brixton Village

Gremio de Brixton opened a few weeks ago in the crypt underneath St.Matthew's Church, a site formerly owned by the club Babilou.  It felt a bit wrong walking across a church green and in to a crypt to get a drink but we went for it.  It is a huge space to fill, but once word gets out I shouldn't think that will be a problem.  It's beautifully lit with plenty of cosy tables to choose from.  We just stayed for a quick drink (very affordable glass of Spanish wine and half pint of Mahou lager) but when it is busier we will return for the full Tapas experience.  The food menu is very enticing and reasonably priced for London.  One friendly barmaid came over to chat to us, joking about how busy it was (we were the first in that night), and made us feel very welcome.  They know they are on to a winner.  All there is left to do is spread the word!

Can you see it?

We scampered back to Honest Burgers after getting a call to say our table was ready.  It's a simple menu and you should really go for the Honest Burger if it is your first time there - Ginger Pig dry aged beef with smoked bacon, mature cheddar and more served with delicious rosemary salt chips that Lauren deemed to be the best ever.  Wash it down with wine, homemade lemonade or tasty beers from Redchurch brewery.  It was lovely sitting outside packed in with other hungry punters who we inevitably got chatting to, swapping ideas for other places to go in Brixton.  On one girl's advice, we decided to pop over to the second covered market over the road for a final drink of the evening at Seven at Brixton.

Seven at Brixton (opposite the busy Franco Manca and Wishbone) is a tapas and cocktail bar set over two floors with eye catching design.  The five different rooms are used as an exhibition space for local artists and you get to sit among the art installations whilst you eat your pintxos and sip your Spanish wines/beers.  The books organised by colour on the ground floor bar are particularly striking. The quirky cocktails (listed on an oversized luggage tag) are only £5, all day long - would you see that in a Shoreditch equivalent?  You only have the name to go on for the cocktails with no ingredients listed, but there isn't much risk when they are only a fiver.  We went for a Creme Brulee Martini and a Cinnamon Martini that were both very drinkable.  I would imagine it gets busy at the weekends but you can make reservations before 7.30.  The atmosphere in Brixton Village is only going to get better as summer settles in for good - start working your way through its many wonders as soon as you can!

Thanks to Lauren who I know is keen to pick up many more Brixton points now - she moves in to 4th place ahead of Libby and Shannon with 14 points.  Maybe I should start some kind of loyalty rewards scheme?