Sparrow hawked

Sexy Sparrow eggs

Sparrow is the pretty little restaurant, sitting in an unprepossessing spot on the emergent new traffic system that will one-day define Lewisham's future. When that future arrives, SE13 won't have to endure condescension from restaurant reviewers. Until then, it will have to take the rough with the smooth. BCer Kraig writes:

"Glowing review for the food at Sparrow in The Sunday Times this weekend, even if the reviewer acted as if Zone 2 was an arduous pilgrimage not to be repeated. Unbelievably, he waited 25 minutes for a cab to pick him up rather than walk across to the station."

Here is a link to the review in question. Critic John Walsh likens the ride to Lewisham to a trek to Santiago de Compostela and opens:

"I’ve got nothing against Lewisham. I know it’s home to 95,000 charming and brilliant Londoners, and Sid Vicious was born there, as was Alexander McQueen, the Cream drummer Ginger Baker and Elsa Lanchester, who played the Bride of Frankenstein. But, like Croydon, it’s never featured on my list of places to visit. For years, its claim to fame was that it had the largest supermarket and police station in Europe [Ed: Police station, yes. Supermarket - can that ever have been true?]. We spent half an hour circling what remains of a vast shopping centre and a roundabout. Suddenly I saw “Sparrow” on a battered sign and yelled: “Stop!”

Upon completion of his quest, Walsh finds that the chef is infinitely inventive, that the salmon is to die for, the eggs with pork and anchovy relish is sexy and the flourless chocolate cake is "ten times better than Ottolenghi's."

Click here for Sparrow's website.