KAFF

A Saturday lunch at KAFF bar in Brixton...





 

 

My friend Louise and I went to check out Kaff, a café/bar in the heart of Brixton. Sitting on a corner of Atlantic Road I'm not entirely sure why I've never noticed it before; it's pretty big with full glass fronts on two sides letting in lots of lovely Autumn sunshine. Lou and I were actually the first customers in there so we were able to pick a huge comfy leather sofa on a raised platform next to a huge painted wall with this guy above on. Other than a few sofas, all the rest of the tables and chairs are wooden, and with the menu and music that was played (1950's country and western, lots of Johnny Cash), the wall art and almost graffiti-like walls in the toilets seemed a bit out of place, if I'm honest.

I think I will be back to check out the cocktails as I saw it's £3 all day on certain ones and these ones look pretty interesting..

 

But as it was pretty early and I'm a tea addict we settled on a nice pot

 



While the waitress we got was pretty moody (we put it down to a hangover), the chef, Richard Myers, was an absolute darling, joking with us in his Southern drawl and delivering and collecting our plates himself. Myers, from New Orleans, Louisiana has brought his Cajun cooking style over here and incorporated the Caribbean influences of local cooks, for example with Mrs Taylor's Guyanese roti flats (curried potato roti sandwiches with fried cheese), which I had with stuffed shell crab. The idea is that you choose your filling and then your base from a range of Southern options with a few West Indian ones thrown in too (Jambalaya or Cajun seasoned fish compete with jerk lamb and chicken)

My deep fried crab in a cornmeal batter stuffed with Blue Crab on Mrs Taylors Roti flats

 

Louise's slow cooked Cajun pulled pork on a Louisiana style Po'Boy

 

 

To be honest I think Lou lost this battle lol

 

 

We rounded it all up with a Waffles Bananas Foster, waffles with a special caramel Bananas Foster sauce and chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Delicious!

 

 

 

 

Kaff offer a range of food at affordable prices and are really committed to supporting the community in Brixton, using local food suppliers and cake makers for their cake club. They also host a number of different nights, like stand up comedy nights to raise money for local charities. The bar is open until 2am on weekends and they have DJ's spinning, a monthly supper club and a cake club. Shanika Says what's not to love?

 



 



The Rum Kitchen

Shanika Says: I think I may have found a new regular haunt...
Last week, after attending a particularly testosterone heavy event with the boy we were driving home and thinking of places to go and get some food. Cottons in Camden was brought up but we were in West London and didn't fancy making the trek over there, when I remembered The Rum Kitchen over on All Saints Road in Notting Hill, which I'd seen a bit of fuss about when it opened earlier this year.

We pulled up and there was a bouncer outside who told us we probably wouldn't get a table as there is a 2-3 week wait for tables on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights....damn....but we went in anyway to see what we could do. Luckily the lovely ladies told us to hang tight and they would see what they could do...and they managed to squeeze us in, seating us at a table in the little corner between the bar and the window, which is away from the rest of the diners and a bit more intimate. The Rum Kitchen is a beach shack inspired restaurant and if only there had been some sand I really could've thought I was in the Caribbean! The music was so on point, all the hip hop stuff I'd listen to anyway mixed with some bashment and reggae. There were dancing bar-tenders and sayings on the wood panelled walls (my favourite was 'Walk Good' a Caribbean expression for 'Take Care' that was over the door as you left) and the tables were repurposed wooden benches that I'm convinced came from local schools...mainly due to the fact that the we found the boy and his high school girlfriend's name on our one!

The lights are low and candles are in little red glass holders so its dim and warm in there a bit like this...

The menu looks so good, and there was so much for a no-meat-but-yes-please-to-fish-eater like myself. I have starters and mains planned for my next five visits already but this time round I went for escovitch red mullet with sweet potato mash and spinach and the boy had oxtail and rice. I also HAD to have some rum at The Rum Kitchen...obviously...I like my cocktails sweet so was recommended the Strange Fruit, which is a light Cuban rum with fresh lime, pineapple and Canadian maple syrup. Yum! I had two. Wish I'd got more photos before my battery died.

I'm pretty sure I'll be back.