If there's one thing I love, it's a specialty shop. When I lived in Tokyo one of my favourite things was to walk through a whole neighbourhood packed with literally hundreds of book shops, or musical instrument shops, or snowboard shops. With a few exceptions (Like Hatton Row), specialty shops are more scattered in London. It's fun when they're hidden and I happen upon them. So it was delightful, when on the hunt for some acrylic paint, to find lurking in a completely unexpected corner of Brixton... Kingshield Stationers, Arts and Crafts (387 Brixton Rd). I don't think it has a website. It barely even has a shopfront. But it has persisted for 30 years so far as one of the best art shops in the area. Why do I call it 'hidden', you ask? Because it's on the first floor above a pharmacy that is in itself the very most delightful pharmacy in Brixton, Kingshield Pharmacy, a little oasis of serenity that makes you feel like you have stepped from the chaos of Brixton Road into a little village pharmacy of yore. It's small and lovely and friendly. Trust me. Climb the stairs from the charming little pharmacy and emerge into an quiet little artist's paradise of specialty papers, paints, equipment and interesting things. I mean, there's special sketchpads for everything from watercolours to manga. There's easels. There's acrylics and oils. There's Fimo. There are lovely big sheets of coloured cardboard and paper in different colours. There are even these amazing stencils I loved when I was in high school so you could draw beakers and bunsen burners and other high school science equipment in your exercise book (which they also sell). Thinking of standing in that hellish post office queue for a particular type of envelope? No need! Kingshield Stationers has a great selection. All sensibly priced too. They even have a Western Union in the back if you're looking for that.
This is the sort of shop that just makes you feel happy (if you like art supplies). And what's more, they have been here for THIRTY YEARS. Sure you could buy your Brixton art supplies in WH Smith or the Pound Shop, if you wanted basic equipment in a dull environment. If you buy your art things here, you can't help but feel like an artist.
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7/29/2019 0 Comments BAR SNACKS OF BRIXTON VILLAGEBy Layla Brixton Village is brimming with bars - but as someone who doesn't drink all that much, what interests me more is what I'm snacking on alongside my glass of wine. (And whether my dog is allowed to join us.) Which is why my current drinking spots of choice in Brixton Village are Champagne and Fromage, and the new Wine Parlour bottleshop (as opposed to the Wine Parlour main shop on Atlantic Road which doesn't allow dogs, but does offer wine tastings and WSET courses). So what am I snacking on? Well if I'm in Champagne and Fromage I have an important decision: savoury or sweet? If it's savoury, you can order a cheeseboard of up to seven cheeses (or presumably more if feeling exciting - I still remember a 20-cheese cheeseboard I had in Washington DC...) and it's extra fun as you can you and look at all the cheeses and choose what you want and they come on a lovely board with various accoutrements. But to be honest, I'm swayed by sweet, and Champagne and Fromage unexpectedly has my favourite dessert item in Brixton: a trio of caneles. They come in three flavours (vanilla, salted caramel and rum) and they are decadent, delicious little bites of dessert heaven. Also because there are three, you can share them, or at least pretend to. £6.50 for the three. Borrowed this photo of caneles from here because I keep eating them before I remember to photograph them... But these seem a bit extravagant for a little bar snack, say you of low ambition. No problem: that's where the Wine Parlour comes in. Water lily seed snacks are amazing. I don't even know how to describe them. Maybe like a more substantial, savoury popcorn or Japanese rice cracker with a light spice to them. The taste and texture are subtle and unusual and I am just a little bit obsessed with them... What are your favourite bar snacks around Brixton? Suggestions in the comments please, and maybe I'll set out on a bar snacks safari later in the summer...
The simultaneously brilliant and terrible thing in Brixton is the vast number of restaurant incubators. So we get all this diverse, amazing quality food... but sometimes just as we get to love a restaurant it moves on to a permanent space. When Donostia Social Club left for Tooting, we wailed “What are we going to do?” And the DSC owner replied: “Smoke and Salt.”
He was absolutely right. One of the elevated restaurants in Pop Brixton, the look of Smoke and Salt is sleek and elegant yet casual and welcoming in its little shipping container. And there are three great things: 1. The food. It’s smoked, it’s salted, it's cured, and it’s one of the only places I go where I think ‘there is no way I could have made a version of this at home.’ The flavours and textures are subtle and exciting. The dishes are always called something dull like ‘carrots’, then you order and find it’s something spectacular that you’re still thinking about days later. 2. The drink. They are masters of flavour and it comes out in their cocktails. We had them make a special cocktail for my wife’s birthday and everyone was swooning ‘What IS this?’ They have good wine too. And our favourite non-alcoholic beer of all time, Lucky Saint. 3. The people. They are friendly and cheery and talented and create a really convivial ambience. We just did a private party there and the food was amazing. It almost felt like we were somewhere like Noma. But at Brixton prices. Best meal I’ve had in years. Possibly one of the best contemporary British restaurants out there. Don't tell the rest of London though. I like being able to stroll in for a sneaky sourdough bread and whipped butter... And, icing on the cake, we're even allowed to bring our dog! (not on Thu- Sat evenings though - see Pop Brixton dog rules) |
AuthorI moved to Brixton in 2015 with my wife and dog, from faraway Camberwell, via Washington, Tokyo and Hong Kong... Archives
September 2019
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