The Sneaky Magpie

Jessica from Signature Scent asked me to guest blog for each other. I have written about my favorite perfume on her site and she did a brilliant job with writing up a food guide for Northcote Road.

Delis

Al Gusto

This is a charming corner deli in a great people-watching spot. Perfect for a quick lunch, a sandwich or a cake in the afternoon. The sunny location means that the outdoor seating area is always packed in the summer months.

Northcote Patisserie

Local treasure, Manuel, knows all the locals and greets everybody with a welcoming smile. The fun atmosphere and cute combination of greasy spoon and Italian deli means that this patisserie is packed out day after day. The toasted mozzarella ciabattas alone are worth the visit – you won’t need to eat again for a week.

La Dolce Vita

Dolce Vita opened in December 2009 – so has yet to create a loyal following. There are a couple of tables to eat the promising deli food in house. Lots of treats to choose from and some great Italian pasta and other authentic produce.

Gastro Pubs

The Bolingbroke

Buzzing atmosphere ensures that the Bolingbroke is busy seven nights a week. The sophisticated decor and outstanding service make this a solid place for evening drinking and good food. More of a thirty something crowd than other places along Northcote Road.

The Draft House

One of a small group of local pubs, in a location that was previously occupied by the Pitcher and Piano. The new vibe is much more promising and the menu looks great.

Tea

Gail’s

Originally established in North London, Gail’s is a luscious bakery with loads of great deli bites and sweet treats. The seating space at the back always has proper tunes playing: more of a hip London vibe than anywhere else locally.

Brew

Successful cafe in a very small location means that they have had to make the most of their space. Blankets and outdoor heaters out front so that the outdoor seats are usually fully occupied even on the coldest day. If you want to stay away from the nappy crowd, then Brew is your place. Great menu includes fantastic scrambled eggs and a great selection of salads at the counter.

Crumpet

Directly opposite Brew, Crumpet is catering to the family market. Kids’ menu, kids’ portions and baby friendly facilities are amongst Crumpet’s main features. The staff are generally friendly and accommodating, although they can seem a bit frazzled at the busiest times.

TAMRA

TAMRA has recently taken over from what was a family institution, Boiled Egg and Soldiers. The vivid orange exterior doesn’t exactly welcome you the morning after the night before. But, great for breakfasts or a deli style lunch.

Steak

La Pampa Grill

Argentinian steakhouse. Great local steak place. If this one is busy, there’s a second La Pampa on Battersea Rise.

Cattle Grid

Recent addition to Northcote Road, great for steaks and ribs. Small restaurant, perhaps a bit lacking in atmosphere, not helped by the theme park fibreglass bull parked outside. Local opinion is that the steaks at La Pampa are better.

Italian & Spanish

Buona Sera

Buona Sera is one of those places that you go for birthday parties or big group lunches. It’s a rowdy, raucous pizza place. Lots of fun and the staff are super friendly. Best dish is the paella.

Lola Rojo

A stylish, modern take on tapas in an equally stylish setting. The deli counter sells Spanish specialities to take away on Saturdays. Outside seating area is perfect for summer evenings to bask in the sunshine and watch the passer-by.

Numero Uno

This local institution is a family-run restaurant; great for gourmet Italian food. Pizza doesn’t feature on the menu. If you feel like bresaola, or some lobster, this is the place. Friendly, Italian waiting staff will make you feel like you are the best customer they’ve ever had.

Osteria Antica Bologna

This was reviewed by the Sneaky Magpie herself a week or two ago.

Salumeria Napoli

Authentic Italian deli. Great seasonal produce as well as regular favourites. If you get a craving for Panetone, this is the place to buy it.

Tapas Variadas

The owner, who looks more like she’s from Hawaii than Spain, can be great fun or not. But don’t be put off by the odd scowl, the food is worth it. Lunchtime seafood paella for two is fantastic value for money. And make sure that you have a good look at the taps cabinet inside – some great food.

Vito’s

An Italian in a great corner location.

Thank you Jess, I will be trying a lot of those places soon!

Especially rainy Mondays get me down. Can the weather improve please? I had to take a bus to work for the first time in a very long time and it took me over an hour to get to our office, half an hour Clapham – Oxford Street, half and hour on Oxford Street itself, and the bus didn’t even stop halfway so I couldn’t jump off and walk. Very frustrating. Anyway, Monday is almost over and the rain stopped.

My weekend was pretty chilled, went out for some tasty Japanese food on Friday night to Toro in Soho followed by few drinks at the Market Bar. Toro is an authentic Japanese eatery in Brewer Street serving some of my favorite dishes.

On Saturday I wandered (yet again!) to Northcote Road to meet my friend. We had lunch and then we did some shopping. There are few market stalls with some wonderful looking cupcakes, bread, fruit and veg. I bought some flat peaches aka doughnut peaches tempted by an article in The Guardian. Weirdly, some people have a problem with peach fuzz…..mmmm. They were delicious.

In the meantime hubby started to fix our old cupboard. Sides had to be glued, it needed gentle shaving and is waiting for linseed oil to give it a nice color. I am very happy to be rid of the dark brown color it had before.

On Sunday we went to the Battersea car boot sale, I was actively looking for Sylvac fruit and veg pots, saw an apple sauce pot however it was included in a lot with some stuff I either have or don’t like so had to pass. I managed to snap Lord Jim for 50p and that was it.

I ran out of food and had to improvise open sandwiches: Gail’s bread, Parmezan, courgette and olive oil.

Much of the weekend evenings was spent on watching Mad Men series 2, first disc. I know, I am obsessed with this show but I love it so much. All the characters, the interiors, the storyline, the styling. Absolutely spotless. Can’t wait for the next disc to arrive from Love Film.

Today, as planned, we went down to Northcote Road to have a proper look – the market stalls are not very exciting so I’ll stick to the farmers market.

Instead, we went to Gail’s for coffee and cake. I had cheesecake with blueberries, it looked so good I couldn’t resist but it turned out to be too rich, I should have settled on a pretty blueberry and pistachio cake or like my more sensible other half – bran muffin, much nicer. I also bought some French sourdough bread, they have a great choice of bakery goods.

Afterward we wandered down the street and came across Recipease, Jamie Oliver’s newish venture. It caught my eye because the outside is painted with horrible baby pink color. The shop sells cook books, crockery, kitchen accessories, ready made meals and some condiments. I haven’t bought any but I am tempted to go back as the jams looked delicious.

At the back of the shop there’s a cooking workshop. The recipes are really dead easy so I wouldn’t recommend going unless you wanna know how to make spaghetti with meat balls or fruit crumble. It does what it says on the tin I suppose…

Later in the afternoon I decided to do some baking (yes, I did have a savory snack in between the cheese cake and baking!) I bought some new baking accessories recently and was eager to use them. I wanted something simple and settled on tea cakes. The recipe I used is very simple and versatile – it’s also butter free:

2 eggs

100g sugar

180g natural yogurt

80ml olive oil

zest and juice of 1 lemon

40g poppy seeds

1tsp vanilla extract

205g plain flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

strawberries

Preheat oven to 180 degrees, prepare ramekins or molds.

Cream the eggs and sugar till smooth. Add lemon zest and juice, olive oil, yogurt and vanilla and whip, add sifted flour, baking powder and poppy seeds. You can exchange some of the flour for bit of ground almonds. Stir well.

Fill your containers half way as the cakes will expand in the oven. I put halves of strawberries on the top but seeing the result I would probably cover almost the whole top with them next time, they create lovely moisture that counterbalances the dry cake. You can use any fruit, seeds and nuts you desire, the basic cake recipe will work with everything.

Bake for 30 min or till golden brown. Enjoy!

The weekend has been tainted with some work related stress. All got solved in the end but my Sunday evening was pretty much ruined.

I did manage to get some stuff done though.

I reorganised my closet discovering a lot of summer dresses and skirts that are more than good to wear, ironed it all and now I feel like I have a brand new wardrobe that only needs a good pair of sandals.

Major part of ebay clothing has been photographed, waiting to be uploaded.

Finished watching series 1 of Mad Men and cannot wait to get my sticky fingers on series 2, I have seen few episodes on BBC but didn’t get into it properly. It’s not the same without the first part.

Watched Camera Buff – an excellent movie by Krzysztof Kieslowski, one of his first ones. It’s a story of a plant worker who buys a camera to film his new born daughter and ends up shooting documentaries for the plant subsequently becoming pretty successful. Unfortunately his success is not beneficial for everyone.

Kept reading Crimson Petal and already looking forward to The Apple however I am not allowing myself to buy it before I read the pile of books waiting by my bedside.

Discovered a new high street near my home – Northcote Road. Can’t believe it was there all this time! Planning to explore it properly on Saturday. It’s a little bit of a yummy mummy area and the shops are not very exciting but it’s a useful one. With places like Space NK, Neal’s Yard and Gail’s it’s a very handy place indeed.

Screamed for joy when I discovered sorrel at my farmers market, this place is improving! It was used in a tart and a salad. I love the lemony taste of sorrel. It reminded me of summer days in fields and meadows as a child, sorrel was a rare find and we would pick it up and eat it right there.

I am looking for a good leather satchel bag, big enough for all my bits but not too large so it sits nicely on my back while cycling. At the moment I saw great ones at All Saints and Comptoir des Cotonniers (can’t find a picture).

Sadly, I didn’t get to any exhibitions so I MUST do it this week!

I’ve been living in Clapham for nearly three years now and am still discovering the area. There are always surprises hidden here and there. Wandsworth in general is rather pleasent, tidy and nice. This can mean boring but it depends what you make of it. For me it is slightly too boring, too nice and lacking what I like most about London -  bit of filth, bit of realism, bit of grittiness. It’s all too middle class here which makes the area less interactive, people are not very spontanious. It’s all too organised.

Having said that whenever I come across new things I get excited so here is my lowdown on Clapham and around.

Clapham High Street is generally full of bad bars and pound shops, not very large it managed to squeeze a big Superdrug and even bigger Boots, few charity shops and few useless gift shops. Do not go out there in the evening, it gets filled up with zombie-like drunk teenagers. There are few fantastic places though:

Patisserie Macaron – I wrote about it here. A true French patisserie with artisan breads, pastries, chocolates, cakes and superb ice cream and sorbets. Perfect for an afternoon with a paper and a nice pot of tea.

Gastro – French restaurant in Venn Street, great for dinner or lunch, good wine and moules with frites. Tables outside, on a sunny day you get all the sun.

Esca – great Italian deli and cafe, large table at the back where you can sample their salads, meats, and special 50p per item breakfast. They also have amazing selection of cakes and desserts in the front window, irresistable. Tables outside.

Pizzeria San Marco – good Italian restaurant on the high street, I tried their pizza with house wine and it was delicious, saw some of the other dishes – all looked very good.

Breads Etcetera – another good cafe/bakery in the high street. Tables are hard to get, there is always a queue outside but once you get one, it comes with a toaster and you help yourself to all kind of breads and spreads, all included in your breakfast and limitless. Breakfast itself is fantastic.

M Moen and Sons – an excellent deli on the Pavement, in the summer they grill chorizo outside and serve it on freshly baked bread with rocket.

Abbeville Road – I call it a little village as it could be anywhere in England, it has got a small town feel to it. It’s a pretty small high street, I can’t rave about the restaurants and cafes however it has got a great deli, McFarlane’s, excellent choice of cheese, pates, cold cuts and breads as well as chocolates and cakes. Another good thing about Abbeville Road is the farmers market nearby in a school yard, I must say it went down hill for a while but it’s picking up again, they have some new organic veggie stalls and buffalo dairy stall. Fingers crossed it keeps improving!

Going further to Clapham South, there is one place worth mentioning – Pizza on the Green. It looks pretty bad from the outside and always serves half price pizza – bad sign? I went there when I really craved pizza and Firezza raised their prices to £12.50 per regular sized one. It’s a really well run pizzeria, all Italian staff, food is delicious, wine is decent and service is very fast. All pizza and pasta dishes are always half price making the most expensive one probably around 6 quid, take away pizza is £7.40. A truely authentic Italian place, usually packed to its limits. Needless to say I am a regular.

Today’s discovery is Northcote Road, never been there, went there today to meet a friend, also a local, who discovered this little treasure this very afternoon. It’s just off Battersea Rise which in itself is full of places to eat. Northcote Road is very middle class, very baby orientated but it offers a great choice of restaurants, delis, shops and a Saturday street market. More about it next week as I’m planning to discover it properly. This rainy afternoon I spent in Italian restaurant, Osteria, enjoying prosecco and olives, my friend had a wonderful seafood salad – it was huge and really yummy looking. Stay tuned for more.

I am sure there are more places round here like Clapham Village and other secret high streets I am yet to discover.