Gin and Beer, Deptford

Gin and Beer is the new neighbour for Buster Mantis, underneath the arches on Resolution Way. As the name suggests, Gin and Beer is what they sell. Don't embarrass yourself by asking for something else, unless it's a mocktail.

Happily, within that limited palette, they manage to conjure enormous variety, thanks to their ambitious cocktail menu. Of the two ingredients, gin appears to be their real passion. They are as pleased as punch while talking about their Halloween special and the week-long process they went through to create it.

Last night, the atmosphere was warm and relaxed, but there is now a string of bars along the route of the railway track between Buster Mantis and Little Nan's, with the Job Centre a stone's throw away. It will not be long before queues start forming in Deptford.

Follow them on Twitter here.

Winemakers Club, 209 Deptford High Street

The Winemakers Club is a new restaurant on Deptford High Street. Nisha has been and has this to say about it:

"Just wanted to alert everyone to the fact that Winemakers Club Deptford is now open. Having visited a slightly embarrassing five times already I can confirm that it is a delightful, intimate local bar, and a fantastic addition to Greater Brockley.

"Unsurprisingly the wine list is extensive and excellent, with a focus on natural wines from Austria and Hungary. There are plenty of interesting options by the glass at reasonable prices so it is possible to try a few without committing to a bottle. And if wine's not your thing they also serve beer from Deptford's own Villages Brewery. The food is also pretty wonderful. They are only doing a couple of small plates at the moment as the kitchen is not quite finished yet, but there is a great vegan bean dish and an absolutely delicious lamb shoulder, as well as home cured meats and cheeses, etc.

Sorana beans, chilli, mint and garlic toast. @WinemakersDept pic.twitter.com/VxEEbvKaYn

— Bitten & Written (@bittenwritten) March 4, 2017

"Wines are also available to take away, and I would particularly recommend the red and/or white Meinklang which can be yours to enjoy at home for £15.

"All the staff are charming and knowledgeable without labouring the wine talk (unless you want them to, in which case they will wax lyrical about organic vineyards and skin contact).

"I am in no way affiliated with Winemakers, just a very happy customer. If you haven't visited yet, do give it a go - it's an excellent place to while away an evening before wobbling home down Deptford High Street."

Pizzaman, 207 Lewisham Way

Pizzaman is now open. It has a nice big oven and promises gluten free options. Could this be the decent local pizza option we've been waiting for? Reviews please.

Brickfields, 293 Brockley Road

Dark star: Brickfields is deliberately dark, inside and out

Brickfields, the new Brockley Road bar from the team behind The Orchard, launched this week and is open every night from 6pm-midnight (except Christmas Eve, when it shuts at 10.30pm).

Like The Orchard, the owners have come up with an unfussy recipe, focused on atmosphere, rather than gimmicks. Unlike The Orchard - and every other local venue that's opened in the last decade - it seems aimed squarely at 20-somethings, rather than 30-somethings. Music plays a much more central role here than in any other SE4 bar.

Outside and inside, it's dark. Requiem for a Dream-dark. There is nice detailing on the bar, courtesy of local architect Gruff, but you'll need to wait until the clocks go forward to see it properly. Not since former hippy-lounge Moonbow Jakes closed down and got replaced by the Brockley Mess has a local venue so deliberately eschewed natural light.

The elegant detailing you won't see

And it's tight. Formerly a restaurant space, it's more generously proportioned than Masala Wala, but it has had to make similarly-efficient use of space. Like a narrow-boat version of Jam Circus, it has a front bar and a quieter back room.

Brickfields brings something new to the area. An uncompromising cool that is only possible once you decide not to cater for the daytime crowd of baby buggies and home-workers. And it's another hit. Last night, with little fanfare, the place was already busy.

Madras South Indian restaurant, 244 Lewisham High Street

BCer Shirley wants to fill a gap in our local restaurant knowledge. She writes:

This restaurant never seems to appear in BC lists of good places to eat, so I thought I'd give it a well deserved shout-out after discovering it by word of mouth recommendation today.

They do fantastic authentic home-cooked dosas, a myriad of interesting vegetarian side-dishes - the spinach and lentil Dahl was outstanding - nothing oily - all freshly cooked.

The name and decor do the place no favours, but this will now be my go-to place for a good value tasty meal in Lewisham, substantially ahead of some of the BC favourites.

For more details, click here.

Fred's, 358 Brockley Road

Fred's cafe opened today on Brockley Road. Closer in spirit and menu to somewhere like Oscar's in Ladywell than nearby Arlo & Moe or Benedict's, it should nicely complement Crofton Park's increasingly impressive range of cafes, bars and restaurants.

Inside and outside at Fred's

Fred's stress their family-friendliness (picking a side in the local culture war) and have made smart use of their small garden. Those pining Pat-a-cake's, which this replaces, will be heartened to know that cake is front and centre on the menu - along with delicious flatbread sandwiches.

Please post your reviews here.

The Brockley Grill, Brockley Cross

Caribbean cafe The Brockley Grill is now open. A replacement for the Tickle Me takeaway, the new owners have given the place a complete refit, installed seating and devoted one wall to a new mural - creating an inside / outside street art effect.

Hopefully others will share their reviews of the food here, but it's great to see another place with a bit of ambition open in this spot. On a summer's evening, the Brockley Grill and Masala Wala side-by-side are a joyful sight.

The Sail Loft, Greenwich

11 Victoria Parade

London

SE10 9FR

The Sail Loft is a new Fuller's pub on the Deptford-Greenwich border.

A large glass box overlooking the river, it opened in January and is already hugely popular. I visited a couple of weeks ago and booking ahead to get a table at the weekend was essential.

A 21st century interpretation of The Trafalgar, The Sail Loft is spacious, buzzy and gloriously light. The ground floor is dominated by the bar, the first floor is essentially a restaurant. Although a stone's throw from the Cutty Sark, the stretch of river front it occupies is relatively untravelled and the pub feels more like a local than a tourist trap - more Deptford than Greenwich.

The menu was high-quality, albeit Sunday's are roast-only, which is annoying for those of us who don't fetishise Sunday Roasts. The pork belly was fine, but the non-Sunday menu looked more interesting. The service was friendly, if a little chaotic during the opening week.

The Sail Loft adds a new dimension to the area: It's the sort of place to take visitors who are suspicious of London - reassuringly bright, clean, jolly and tasteful. It will come into its own in the summer.

Click here to visit the website.

The Fat Walrus, 44 Lewisham Way

It was supposed to be the impossible pub.

An establishment that had been through various incarnations in recent years, without attracting a sustainable customer base. Too far from New Cross for passing trade and too close to New Cross to enjoy a captive market. The Old Haberdasher - an adequate sort of place - was perennially empty.

Then, with little fanfare, The Fat Walrus opened last week and showed what difference a good team can make.

I tried it out for the first time last night. On a Tuesday night in Dry January it was packed.

The new pub, run by the team that re-energised the New Cross House, is clearly pitching itself to a clientèle that's a decade or two younger than the Old Haberdashers' target customer: The décor's been stripped back, with bare brick walls and naked light bulbs; the space is primarily given over to booths that suit small groups, to create a more urgent atmosphere; the beer is fairly hipster friendly and the menu favours people who want to eat with their hands.

But their crowning achievement is the toilets, which no longer smell nasty. That ought to suit everyone.

Looking out at their back garden, which is not yet finished, I could see the top of Goldsmiths' Richard Hoggart Building. Suddenly, the walk up the hill from New Cross doesn't seem so far after all.

Click here for contact details.

Buster Mantis - Ante Up

Didn't get time for pics once ppl started arriving, but: bar looked like this last night. Thanks for coming, guys pic.twitter.com/ZORcpLbdRy

— BUSTER MANTIS (@BUSTERMANTIS) December 20, 2015

Deptford archway bar / restaurant / gallery Buster Mantis is now open and throwing a New Year's Eve party to celebrate. Specialising in jerk cooking, it's already earned a decent review from Stylist, which says:

"The food is the real excitement though, authentic Jamaican food without a hint of a gimmick – a mix of small plates and signature smokey jerk."

Please post your reviews here.

Paranhodu, 125 Lewisham Way

Friend of BC, Marshall, has written this review of Brockley's new Korean restaurant. He says:

Paranhodu has officially opened its doors on Lewisham Way, after completing a significant improvement of the space that formerly housed Kedar. Picking up on the theme of local favourites like Masala Wala in Brockley Cross, Paranhodu embraces the virtues of homestyle cooking, and offers a focused selection of Korean classics.

If you've never tried Korean, it's worth putting aside the tired cliches -- you know the ones -- and giving it a try. Korean manages to strike a wonderful balance between the subtle flavours of Japanese cooking and the bigger, bolder flavours of China.

On a Friday dinner visit, we tried kimchi, beef bulgogi, and barbecued aubergine. All were excellent, well spiced, and strongly flavoured. The dinner menu offered several other promising options and considerable choice for vegetarians. There were also standby Asian classics like chicken katsu, noodle soup, and pork ribs for anyone feeling a little less adventurous.

Service was friendly, welcoming, and passionate, if also reflecting an inexperience that's understandable given the restaurant's newness.

Paranhodu is putting a big focus on the lunch trade, a welcome development of a strip with too few good midday choices. They are offering quick all-in-one options that include a main dish and rice for about £6-7, as well as bulgogi burgers and a range of noodle soups and Korean stews.

Best of all, Paranhodu has managed to nail down its license for its opening, so beer, including an admirable Korean import, is available.

For the moment, the restaurant is focusing on its in-trade, and it's worth stopping by to see what the team have done to the wretched Kedar space. Fresh paint, new tables, and tasteful Korean art make it a pleasant place to have a bite. Takeaway is slated to launch in about 2 weeks.

All in all, Paranhodu is welcome addition to Lewisham Way, and definitely worth a try.

400 Rabbits, Crystal Palace

Official photo

To know your Enemy, you must become your Enemy, so last week we took a trip to Crystal Palace. Also, we were invited by sourdough pizza joint 400 Rabbits (30-32 Westow Street).

It's the kind of simple, playful, bright and tasty restaurant that Brockley ought to have but doesn't.

We tried the beef and chilli pizza, our dining companion had the courgette and garlic. Sourdough is infallible, so the base was perfect, and the topping ingredients were generous, without being overwhelming. A good pizza restaurant makes it look so easy, it's hard to imagine how anyone could get it wrong, and yet many local places show just how badly it can be done.

Unofficial photo, obvs

The desert and drinks menu are similarly simple and effective. Pudding? They've got ice cream - a few flavours, all gorgeous. Beer? A decent selection, albeit on a menu that features one choice per page, so you're constantly flipping back and forth to choose between Beavertowns and Weird Beards.

And that's it: Nice people, nice food, nice atmosphere, carefully curated drinks menu. Indistinguishable from pizza magic. If you're in the area, you should go. Otherwise, pray that Noak, which seems to be going for a similar effect, delivers the goods.

Pistachio, 319 Brockley Road

Visitors from States 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/dNHP2caW3C

— Pistachio Brockley (@PistachioBrock1) October 26, 2015

Pistachio, the cafe formerly known as Top Chef, and nothing to do with the one in the park, is now open. And if it's good enough for American people, it's good enough for you.

The menu suggests there's enough left over from the Top Chef era to satisfy the purists, but a few new tricks to entice a new generation of customers.

Reviews please.

Essence of India, 171 Brockley Road

For years, The Essence of India was one of those troublesome local restaurants that just wasn't good enough to support. With the consistently outstanding Babur not far too far away and new kid Masala Wala winning fans in Brockley Cross, a sub-par option.

More than that, it occupied an important spot on the local high street - denying another team a shot at running something better and serving as a deterrent to any other restaurateurs who might have looked through its empty windows and concluded that local demand was too weak to sustain restaurants.

Convalescence of India

Now, a new team has taken over and brought with them fresh conviction. New manager Shamim writes:

"We took over with the view of providing something that the local residents actually seemed to want - a classic Indian restaurant. The previous owners sold to us in July, and most of the management team and staff now are immediate family.

"The kitchen is headed by a new Head Chef who has over 30 years experience working in Indian restaurants in the UK and Europe. With what appears to be a shortage of good Indian chef's in the UK, we were lucky to get him!

Iridescence of India

"We've updated the decor and lighting but kept it simple - some customers have said that it feels fresh and homely. The artwork on the walls and candles are all bespoke and made by a new artist, who also happens to be family. The menu is new and we encourage customers to try something different instead of playing safe.

"We've kept some staples on the menu but they may taste a little different (we hope for the better). Our largest section is the vegetarian section - typically these would be side dishes but we've turned it into a proper menu selection and put some thought into it. I think the Essence Biriyani, Essence Mixed Grill and Aubergine Joypur have been our most popular dishes.

"We've also revised the drinks menu and are experimenting with different Indian desserts. I would love to hear feedback from any readers who've been since we've taken over."

Tasty Kebab, Lewisham Way

Tasty Kebab: Is it? Please post your reviews below.

Villa Toscana, 179 Brockley Road

Having previously noted the relative lack of old-school restaurants in the area, it's time BC celebrated one under our noses - a turnaround story led by a team of genuinely passionate foodies - Villa Toscana.

Under its previous owners the restaurant had fallen on hard times but just over a year ago a new team took over, led by Leo, formerly a General Manager for Marco Pierre White and someone with six years of running Conran restaurants under his belt.

Hidden behind a front window which gives little away, Villa Toscana has been steadily building a local fan-base, thanks to its focus on simple, high-quality Italian cooking by chef duo Daniella and Francesco.

In addition to their pastas and pizzas, Leo's most proud of their scaloppine, steaks, veal, sea bass and fresh, hand-made breads. The wine list is all-Italian and they are generous with the limoncello.

Now, with their reputation established, they are doing more to attract new audiences. From this weekend, a pianist will be performing on Friday and Saturday evenings, while that un-alluring frontage will eventually get a makeover.

Like Meze Mangal, this is a restaurant that trades on its food first, but Leo stresses that they pride themselves on their service too.

Please post your reviews here.

Bella Napoli, 173 Brockley Road

Bella Napoli (020 8692 3301) is the new takeaway pizza place that is seeking to succeed at a spot where a succession of other places have failed. They've gone for the safe option: a takeaway and delivery service in an area still relatively short of good pizza.

The pizzas are cooked in a wood-fired oven and eschew the oily dough that most local places use. The menu is more interesting than the lowest-common denominator choices we plumped for in the photo above and the prices are good (£8 a pop at the moment), but the ham and mushrooms they used were both disappointing. The team were very friendly.

Some day, someone will open a more ambitious pizza place in Brockley. Until then, this is a welcome addition, that should do well.

The Rosemary, 178 New Cross Road

Hungarian restaurant The Rosemary is now open. 

Located at 178 New Cross Road and replacing Cafe 178, it looks like a restaurant drawn by a primary school child - the kind of place you might stumble into on a European road trip. And it's all the better for it. 

What it tastes like, we have no idea - we only realised it was open when we cycled past this morning - but the menu looks similarly classic, consisting of simple dishes like Shashlik skewers with a range of meats and vegetables, stuffed cabbage, fried cheese and beef stew. To complete the old-fashioned effect, nothing on the menu is more than a tenner.

Please post your reviews here.

The Honor Oak, 1 St German's Road

The first law of Greater Brockley is that any good new place that opens in the area will instantly fill up. So the fact we've struggled to book a table here for a long time is testament both to BC's slackness and its quality. However, we got in on a Sunday lunchtime and can now report back.

The Honor Oak reopened this summer after an ambitious refurbishment, which rescued this grand old pub first from incompetence, then neglect and finally squatters.

In terms of the space and the atmosphere, the money has been well-spent. They seem to have preserved all its best features and modernised the aspects that needed refreshing. The space is cosy without being too crowded and it all works - whether you want to prop up the bar, lounge around with the papers or have lunch with friends, there are no dead zones. The front garden's effectively sheltered from the busy road too.

Booze-wise, readers who give a toss about ales and wine lists are better qualified than we are to comment, but there seemed to be plenty of choice. The food too was generally good, though not quite as flavoursome as The Talbot or The Royal Albert. Our roast pork was let down by the apple sauce, which was gloopy and insipid, like the filling of an exceedingly bland Mr Kipling apple pie.

The service was also a little slack during our visit. Having served us lunch, the waiter never returned to ask us about desert, so we got bored and asked for the bill. But at this early stage and during a very busy Sunday, a few teething problems are to be expected.

The Honor Oak represents the sort of place this area remains short of - a large traditional pub, operating to a high standard, attracting a cross-section of the local community, with the space and flexibility to fulfil a range of different roles.

The Waverley Arms [UPDATED]

On Brockley's western fringes, round the corner from St Norbert's Road, The Waverley Arms (202 Ivydale Road) has recently reopened after a retro-modern refurbishment.

The result is a perfect local pub, roomy enough to have a party, intimate enough that it feels like a local, a little roomier than The Talbot and a little warmer than the Ladywell Tavern. They stock Brockley Beer, which is the mark of a well-run place.

UPDATE

Writing on the Nunhead forum, the new team at the Waverley Arms discusses their food plans:

"A new kitchen is coming this autumn (the pub has never had a trade kitchen), but in the meantime we're serving great summer grub off our massive outdoor BBQ and have plenty of fancy snacks to keep hunger at bay. Come autumn, we will be serving handmade stonebaked pizzas and hearty salads, and then plan to roll out top-notch burgers, daily specials and a Sunday roast a bit further down the line. The menu will be simple and use high quality ingredients, but The Waverley will be a pub that serves great food, rather than a restaurant pretending to be a pub."

For the full message click here.