I spent five years living in London, and since I left I've witnessed a surge in eating experiences - pop-ups, markets, and a general buzz about new places to eat seemed to have swept the capital. London was always full of choices but I have to admit, I was a little disappointed I wasn't there to take part in this new surge.
Thankfully, my previous job allowed me to travel to London every couple of months so swift visits to new eateries every now and again stemmed my sorrow somewhat.
One place that I kept noticing in articles, blogs and twitter feeds was Brixton Market. So when I was in town for a friend's baby shower, two of my very good mates let me crash on their floor in their Brixton flat...and so a visit to Brixton Market was mandatory.
Tucked away just round the corner from the Brixton tube, you can - and will - find almost anything in this maze of tiny shops. If you like people watching, this is the ultimate spot!! My friends and I wandered around in the late afternoon - when most of the cafes are closed, not opening until 6pm - and perused the various outlets. One wee place was selling everything from dried fish, to steel wool and even a box of giant, live snails (to put the photo below into context, these snails were the size of my hand!).
But by the time we returned in the evening I was literally in foodie heaven - numerous types of cuisines were being served in tiny little shops that made up the winding paths of the market. Benches spilt out of the shop fronts, and the whole place was alive with groups of people eating, drinking and chatting. I couldn't decide which place to choose, but thankfully my trusty friends were on hand to recommend a place.
They had raved about Elephant, a lovely little place that had been too busy the night before to seat us. On this evening we were lucky enough to get a table.
The menu was straight forward - a few simple starters, and a choice of thalis or curries for main course. We chose one of each starter to keep us going which included lamb samosas, vegetable samosas and onion bhajis.
The samosas were very good. I'm not the biggest fan, having had so many really bad versions in the past but these were crispy, spicy and stuffed full of beautiful vegetables and lamb. But the onion bhajis...oh my! These had come highly recommended, but they exceeded all expectations. Golden nuggets of onion and potato, which were light, crispy and beautifully spiced. I genuinely could have eaten a dozen. In fact, they were so good I asked for the recipe.
I had chosen the chicken thali for main, and as before, I was not disappointed.
A plate with a stunning chicken curry, steamed rice, dahl, cucumber raita and naan was presented and I eagerly tucked in. The combination complemented one another perfectly, with the heat from the chicken and the creaminess of the dahl balanced out with the cool raita and the simple steamed rice.
The whole menu was very reasonably priced, as well as being BYOB, so for very little you get an outstanding meal. What is even more impressive is that - from what I could tell - the whole place was run by one guy in the kitchen and one guy looking after the tables.
The only downside is I don't live close enough to go back on a regular basis. But rest assured, I will definitely be back!
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