Kaosarn - St John's Hill SW11

I have been so frustrated at my inability to fit updating this blog into the rest of my (wage slavery) life - in an ideal world of course I wouldn't need to work and I could spend my days sipping flat whites, eating great food, travelling, reading books, watching movies and being a blogger-extraordinaire.  That day may come (he says hopefully) but right now this l'il ol' blog of mine has been taking a poor second place and I am determined to redress the balance a little.  I have about 20 "almost posts" that may need to be revisited but for now I thought a close to home post about a fab new eatery in Battersea would be a good start.  I am a big fan of Brixton Village Market but have never been to one of its most popular eateries,  Kaosarn - although ever since reading Jay Rayner's glowing review it has been on my "must visit" list.  Luckily for me the Kaosarn crew decided to open a second outpost on St John's Hill - a street which (to the delights of those of us who live nearby) is getting better and better by the day (Kaosarn joins nearby Birdhouse, Ben's Canteen and Powder Keg Diplomacy for great food/coffee/boozing destinations).  The other half and I called in for lunch today and it

was really great.  The space itself is simple, unfussy and welcoming - we were immediately won over by the fact that the back wall has the same wallpaper that we once used in our living room (that sounded way too middle class - sorry).  Anyway, I ended up ordering the most bog standard Thai selections ever and felt a bit embarrassed but my theory was, let's test how these guys do the basics, so chicken satay followed by prawn Pad Thai for me!  I can happily report that both were delicious, fresh and perfectly made.  In fact I am fairly confident in saying it is one of the best Pad Thais I have ever had.  The other half was more adventurous - a sea bream dish with aubergines was spicy and super tasty.  The good news for those up

 for some alcohol with their meal (we'd been constantly boozing for the last 2 days so were going dry today) is that it is BYO - this concept used to be really common in Australia (although not any more I am told) but is a novelty here.  So you could go to Kaosarn, get fantastic freshly made Thai food for under a tenner a dish and get to bring your own wine.  How good is that?  To top it all off - the lovely Giselle is a wonderful, welcoming front of house and makes you feel like you are her favourite customers.  We loved Kaosarn and can't wait to go back and be a bit more adventurous with the menu.

Soif - Battersea Rise SW11

I have been to Soif twice now - the first time I left it too long to write about it and it has been several weeks since my second visit.  I'm not sure why the delay - because both times I have loved it and usually that means I can't wait to write up a blog post.  Anyway, that's kinda irrelevant - the point is, I really want to make sure to blog about Soif because it's ace.  I am a big fan of Terroirs and I am really keen to try Brawn, so when these guys opened their latest outpost in my corner of SW London I was super excited.  The formula is similar - great, meat-heavy, hearty menus and wine that is natural and free of additives (which in theory makes for easier hangovers - hurrah).  The

 decor is stripped back, lots of wood, blackboard menus, the odd wine barrel - all in all, a lovely, lovely environment to have a chilled dinner with good friends.  On my first visit, the other half and I shared the bavette with red wine shallots and duck-fat potatoes (which was beef-tastic) but on this visit I decided to go with the fish and it was a good move - the roast cod (I know, I know, cod - don't judge) with spiced chickpeas, spinach & a big dollop of alioli was delicious.  One of the highlights of both Terroirs and Soif is the wine list and we had an amazing Aussie Pinot to go with our food.  Even if you aren't a SW London resident (and I do realise that that will never be the case for some of you) make the trip to Soif, it's really, really good.

Grind - Battersea SW11

Fans of Grind Coffee Bar in Putney (and I am one) will be pleased to know that Grind has a little sister in Battersea.  Somewhat oddly situated in the Plantation Wharf development on the river, this is nevertheless a lovely little cafe.  We actually used to live just around the corner - so I'm not dissing the area (Battersea love) but Grind is tucked away in a primarily residential development.  Anyway - I hope the many local residents discover and hang out at Grind because these guys do the cafe thing really well.  Top notch flat whites made with London Coffee Roasters beans, yummy food and friendly antipodean service - a winning formula in my book.  I love the fact that the SW coffee scene is expanding and that places like Grind are branching out into new locations.  The only thing that would improve Grind Battersea?  Being open on the weekend - then I could visit more often.

Birdhouse - St John's Hill SW11

I can't tell you how much I am loving the fact that the coffee revolution is spreading through SW London.  Despite being a loyal and long time resident of the leafier boroughs, I have had to admit (reluctantly) that on the coffee front we were lacking.  Then Brew in Northcote Rd upped its game coffee wise, then The Roastery in Wandsworth Road opened, followed by Grind in Putney, recently Ben's Canteen and now, joining Ben on St John's Hill is the wonderful Birdhouse.  I liked this place as soon as I saw the cheery, bright yellow stools sitting outside - one of the many really cool, quirky design features of Birdhouse.  I really liked the look of the interior - I loved the art work on the walls (lots of birds obviously - see the snap below for one wall's display), I loved the old wooden and steel cabinets and lamps (almost surgical - in a good way), the tap water in old fashioned giant brown glass lab bottles (surgical vibe again?) was also really cool, as were the old fashioned paper straws....basically I loved it all.  But most importantly I loved the coffee - brewing Climpson's Estate blend (originating from Brazil and Kenya apparently) the flat whites were top notch and we just had to sample the "chipster brownie" - an inspired creation with brownie on the bottom half and chewy biscuit on the top half.  Bliss.  This place is really great and I plan to come back again and again - so happy that St John's Hill is becoming such a cool strip and loving the addition of another coffee destination in my beloved SW London.

Ben's Canteen - St John's Hill SW11

I was very excited to hear that a new cafe, Ben's Canteen was opening in my 'hood that was about good food and importantly good coffee (the fact that Brewed Boy was involved augured well).  We finally got there today and it was good - to be honest I would say there is great potential with some kinks to iron out (more on that below).  St John's Hill is a funny strip - really well placed and attractive but there has never been any (in my humble opinion) knock out food and drink places.  There's a cute French deli, a posh fish 'n chips place and others - there actually used to be a place called Louvaines that I liked but that went under.  The cafe that was in the Ben's Canteen location before was OK but kinda bland.  Ben's looks good - I like the blue and white and the casual, stripped back wooden vibe inside.  This has all the makings of a great brunch place and this corner of SW London really needs that.  The other half and I had two pretty decent flat whites (important to note that BB was not in situ when we went so they weren't to his usual standard), I had a tasty full English and the other half had a sausage and egg sanga.  The quality of the produce in my fry-up seemed really good - yummy bacon, great mushrooms, nice dark-yellow yolked eggs.  The only short-coming was the bread - I saw some great sourdough going out on a sandwich but my breakfast had nice but generic white sliced - good bread can change a good full English to a great one.  OK - so these guys are only in week two and I know they are finding their feet but I am going to play the know-it-all customer and give them some tips because I really want this place to succeed and thrive and I want to have lots more breakfasts there.  So here we go - London Rob's tips for making your pretty cool cafe truly great:

• when people walk in, particularly when it's super quiet, make sure they have glasses of water delivered to them ASAP
• make sure your waiting staff are on the ball - the waitress who brought us our menus took our coffee order and then promptly forgot it and never came back to apologise.  Having said that the other waitress was super nice and really efficient.
• make sure the vibe is up beat (although not intrusive) - enthusiasm is infectious
• as above, good bread with the fry-up is a must
• make sure you check if people want more coffee when you pick up their cups - on the weekend most people will take you up on it

Anyway enough preaching - if you live in the St John's Hill area, this is a great addition to your neighbourhood.  Make sure you support these guys - we need more places like this in London.

Brew - SW11

I have written about Northcote Road in Battersea before but wanted to mention a really great cafe there called Brew. We were early customers of Brew - in fact we were so delighted that a cool cafe had opened on a street that at the time seemed to only contain "baby friendly" cafes. It was owned by a lovely chap called Mike and served amazing salads, great cakes and half decent coffee. The vibe was cool and Mike made you feel like a valued customer. When he stepped back from the business and then ultimately sold it, we stopped going so regularly - mainly because by that time it had also got so popular that it was difficult to get a table (it's really dinky). A few weekends ago I met some friends (avec baby - very Northcote Rd) for coffee there and was so impressed with what I saw on the menu and then went back the following Saturday for breakfast. Man it was good - they have a sensational breakfast menu. Try some of these out for size - blueberry pancakes with caramelised bananas, creme fraiche and maple syrup, chorizo scrambled eggs on sourdough toast or my choice - spring time eggs, which were scrambled eggs with Persian feta, parsley and lemon. Oh yeah - makes your mouth water right? The eggs were great, the freshly squeezed juice of the day was amazing (watermelon, strawberry and pink grapefruit) and the coffee has really stepped up several notches - it was as good as you would get anywhere and quite a bit stronger than a lot of places, which I liked. This place is a winner - it does get crowded on weekends but tables seem to turn fairly quickly. My suggestion would be to go early or ideally visit during the week.

Battersea Power Station - SW11

Battersea Power Station is officially my favourite building in London - in fact if I had to list my Top 5 overall things in London it would also make it on that list.  I don't know why I have such strong feelings for an abandoned power station - is it the art deco styling, or the imposing "brick cathedral" attitude or even the charm that certain derelict buildings have?  I don't know - all of the above I think.  All I know is I love it so much that every day on the train to and from work I crane my neck to see out the window and catch a glimpse of this behemoth and when I see it come into view I feel happy.  Does that make me weird? I don't want it to be re-developed, I want it to remain just how it is - I am reassured by the fact that re-development has been planned since the 80s (when Alton Towers were going to turn it into a theme park - sheesh!) and yet it remains the same.  It's been in so many TV shows, movies and of course on the cover of Pink Floyd's "Animals" and its image graces walls over south London (including ours).  I just love it.

Northcote Road SW11

Yes the shops on Northcote Road are dominated by maternity/baby shops and estate agents, yes you regularly get your heels clipped by bugaboo pushing banker wives with Barbour-wearing hooray husbands in tow and yes some of the more interesting independent shops have shut down in the last decade (replaced by afore-mentioned baby/property focussed businesses) but despite all of that - I am very fond of this stretch of road in Battersea, or "tween the Commons" in real estate parlance.  The street market is great and is there every day except Sunday and the market vendors bring a nice bit of socio-economic diversity to what can be a relentlessly upper middle class area (apologies if this is beginning to sound like a sociology textbook...).

Northcote Road is also home to (in my humble opinion) London's finest wine shop - Philglas & Swiggot.  Not just a clever pun but a mighty fine selection of wines including some of my favourite Aussie plonk - Vasse Felix, Cape Mentelle, Port Phillip...lovely stuff.  There are still some quirky independent shops - I particularly like The Hive honey shop.  I have to admit the place we frequent the most is a dreaded chain, but one that I would happily support in my non-chain utopia - the Gourmet Burger Kitchen.  So good on a Friday night with a bottle of Cape Mentelle and a DVD.  I could happily ditch all the drinking venues except for the Holy Drinker which is a Northcote Road institution and a mighty fine venue to get nicely squiffy in, in fact it's exactly what a local bar should be.  I think the reason it's remained pretty much the same is that it is far enough away from Battersea Rise and Clapham Junction to keep away the riff raff!  In terms of food - there are some absolute winners on this road - Osteria Antica Bologna for Italian, Lola Rojo for tapas and Indian Moment for a curry to name but three.  When Brew opened it was a breath of fresh air and good coffee (that didn't really make sense I know) - finally somewhere that served great food in a cool atmosphere with no push-chairs.  The antique shops, in particular the market, on the southern end of the street are wonderful and so far have held firm against the tide of posh baby shops - let's hope it stays that way.