new cafe brixton hill

[Giles]

Will the council not allow tables outside then?

They usually will, especially if the area directly in front of the shop is actually part of the shop rather than the public pavement.

Giles..

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

just next to Apollo, at the top of the hill, is a chicken shop. Next to that once stood a small restaurant / bar that was quite cool. It's been closed for a while but is now being refurbed......only to open as a chicken shop!

ah, was that Ah Bar?

 

[kidtripod]

Yeah, what is it with all these fried chicken places? Are they a front for something?

Totally stupid how many there are, especially considering how much they must contribute to the clean up bill on local buses.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Yeah, what is it with all these fried chicken places? Are they a front for something?

I wouldn't know. Have never even entered a KFC in my life. Did go to the Kenfucky Chicken place on Brixton Hill when it opened. Was the first and last time though

 

[tarannau]

Yeah, what is it with all these fried chicken places? Are they a front for something?

Totally stupid how many there are, especially considering how much they must contribute to the clean up bill on local buses.

Or maybe, just maybe, people like fried chicken. Nowt stupid with that - there's clearly a demand for them.

I'm as partial to an ethically-sourced uber-organic diet as most here, but sometimes you can't beat a good bit of greasy, unwholesome chicken. Like nailbars, even if you don't like them, greasy chicken joints are the favoured fast food building blocks of many mixed sarf london communities. ..

 

[innit]

ah, was that Ah Bar?

It was Ah Bar, then it changed to something like 214. I heard good things about Ah Bar, but 214 never floated my boat... I just thought the menu was a bit rubbish.

 

[kidtripod]

Or maybe, just maybe, people like fried chicken. Nowt stupid with that - there's clearly a demand for them.

Yeah, but their proximity to each other is simply incredible, compared with the immediately obvious demand for a semi-decent local pizza place etc. Especially near the top of the hill where they're putting that new chicken place, you'd have to walk all of to near the Telegraph to get some.

One of the food shops up there literally mings so bad I'm surprised they ever sell anything, as there's another non-minging shop within yards, same stuff, same prices. I really must be missing something.

 

[tarannau]

Perhaps you're right, but I'm not half as convinced that there's as much demand for a pizza place as these boards suggest. We're only a small (and perhaps unrepresentative) slice of Brixton's life after all.

All I can say is that many of the fried chicken places have survived in their present locations for many, many years, whilst I've seen many pizza places fade in the same time. Even the joint KFC-Pizza Hut extravanganza on PoW corner failed miserably, whilst Pangaea wasn't exactly packing em in at the end.

Fried chicken may not be fashionable or particularly nutritious, but it's cheap and much in demand from a whole range of people. It's rare I'll ever attend a family function when there's not some form of fry-up chicken on offer.

And if it's a choice between a succession of fried chicken stands selling a portion of wings and fries for £2, or a series of poncey Starbucks style joints selling milky arsefrappucchinos for £2 each, then I'll go for the greasy wings every time. Be careful what you wish for... and whilst the arrival of one stonebaked poncey pizza place wouldn't necessarily signal the end of vibrant Brixton, I also wouldn't knock the kinds of fast food joints that have served plenty of local folks for years either.

 

[twistedAM]

Just had a look inside five minutes ago...they seem to have extended a little at the back and are putting the counter there so there'll me room for tables as well as the row of computers. Guess they're preparing for winter trade.

 

[kidtripod]

and whilst the arrival of one stonebaked poncey pizza place wouldn't necessarily signal the end of vibrant Brixton. . .

Ah, for me good pizza is defined by a dodgy place simply known as "pizzeria" which I used to frequent, and who's number shall forever be etched in my mind. Massive thick base, loads of cheese, two toppings of your choice, for £1.99. Ace. Thin based pizza isn't pizza in my book, and I'd argue that point with the entire Italian nation.

I'd lament a road of poncey food joints as much as anyone (I work and suffer in Kensington) but I think there's definitely a case for diversity in food outlets on the hill. That Portuguese place is brilliant though.

 

[sonik]

It was Ah Bar, then it changed to something like 214. I heard good things about Ah Bar, but 214 never floated my boat... I just thought the menu was a bit rubbish.

Ah Bar was quite good if not a little over priced. I had a good veggie breakfast in there a few times and they had good cocktails.

 

[tarannau]

Thin based pizza isn't pizza in my book, and I'd argue that point with the entire Italian nation.

Leaving aside the (imo) correct disdain most Italians would have for those chicagoesque deep-pan extra greasy pizza-bastardisations you seem to prefer...


...I can't really see there being demand for a 'by the slice' pizza joint on Brixton Hill, simply because those places rely on regular turnover if their cheesy mountains of pizza aren't going to go too limp, unappetising and greasy. I'm pretty sure that the old Pizza Hut/KFC place tried it - much like the lamentable Croydon operation - and failed. I've also got a vague recollection that San Marco or whatever that little sandwich bar on the high street is called, may have sold pizza by the slice, or may even still sell it.

Thinking more postively, most of the pizza joints ( even the aptly titled Pizza Ring) tend to sell mini-pizzas for £2-3, which should give you the instant pizza boost you're after. There may be a quality issue, but I'm hard pressed to remember a decent deep-pan pizza that I've ever had in this country. Even most of the deep-pan pizza in the US tend to be pretty nasty if I'm honest - all that cheap cheese and extra topping business doesn't mask the flavour of the less than desirable ingedients. Soya 'minced beef' anyone?

 

[clandestino]

There may be a quality issue

nicely put!

 

[twistedAM]

let's stop the pizza war and get back on track

here's what's happpening with the cafe

they're putting tyhe computers downstairs and upstairs has been refitted and looks bigger or at least a lot bettter laid-out as far as getting some tables in there

should be open again by the end of the week

i reckon they'll make a mint and good luck to them