Mr Bao, Peckham

Smashed cucumber and golden kimchi

"Would you recommend the peach beer?"

"No."

That was pretty much how our evening at the excellent Mr Bao in Peckham began last Saturday night. (We ordered a Taiwanese beer and some sparkling sake instead.)

Tender stem broccoli with ponzu (we'd already eaten some broccoli
before I took this picture)

The food at Mr Bao is very reasonably priced, with everything under £5 and a lot under £3. The fair pricing meant that we were able to sample a good selection of the menu between the two of us.

We ordered five of the small share plates, including the smacked cucumber, golden kimchi, Taiwanese sausage, tender stem broccoli and sweet potato chips.

The golden kimchi, made with pumpkin, was definitely a highlight, but all of them were really good. The battered and deep fried sweet potato chips was a generous serving for £2.50 and I loved the simplicity of the steamed broccoli with ponzu.

Sweet potato chips and pork dumplings

The quality of the starters got me very excited about the steamed buns which were still to come and the whole reason I'd dragged Becks to Peckham for dinner. The flavour of the fillings was definitely on point. My favourite being the slow cooked lamb with pickled red onion and mint. The lamb was tasty in itself, but the pickled onion and mint just lifted the whole bun.

The bao were also surprisingly easy to share between two, retaining their structure as we ate them. The buns themselves I found a little heavier than expected and stuck a bit to the roof of my mouth.

Mr Bao pork belly and shredded lamb bao

I really enjoyed our dinner at Bao. The food, particularly the share plates and the lamb bao, was fantastic and the service was really friendly too. At £28 for two people (excluding drinks and service) you can't argue with the value either.

I've added Mr Bao as a favourite to my London eats maps.

Bao Didley, chicken

293 Rye Lane

Peckham

London

SE15 4UA

Peckham Bazaar, Peckham

Baked feta parcels, marinated betroot and skordalia

The first thing I noticed as we stepped inside the Peckham Bazaar was the smell of cooking over charcoal. The second thing I noticed was a whole lamb rotating on a spit behind the open kitchen. It had me excited.

The menu describes itself as Greek, Turkish, Albanian and Iranian and there were lots of items that I didn't recognise like tarama, skordalia, adjika and kefalotyri. Our friendly waitress offered to help we any questions we had and was surprised when we only asked about one or two dishes. Our lack of questioning wasn't from any position of knowledge, but more happiness to make some random new discoveries.

Imam bayaldi, kefalotyri and sheep’s yoghurt

We started with the baked feta parcels, marinated betroot and skordalia (£6.50). We were both expecting the feta to be 'parceled' in filo, but it came in wrapped in tin foil. A much more suitable protector from hot coals. The star of the dish for me was the garlicky white skordalia.

We shared two main courses. The first was the imam bayaldi, kefalotyri and sheep’s yoghurt (£13.50). Half a slow cooked aubergine was sitting in a pool of sheep's yoghurt and was topped with some shaved kefalotyri, a hard sheep's cheese that tasted a little like parmesan. I enjoyed the dish and subtle spice of the aubergine, but thought it could have been enhanced by some fresh mint to help cut through the richness. It wasn't very substantial as a main and I thought a little on the pricey side for half an aubergine.

Spit roasted lamb, swiss chard gratin and greek salad

Our final dish was the one that caught my eye as we walked in, the spit roasted lamb, swiss chard gratin and greek salad (£18.50) from specials board. The lamb was my favourite of the food we tried. It wasn't as smokey as I expected, but the skin had a subtly spiced flavour and the swiss chard gratin was good too. However, for the price I was hoping for a much bigger serving of the lamb.

The Peckham Bazaar has been on my wish list for a while so it was good to finally make it. I liked the friendly service and the fact they are trying to do something different in suburban Peckham. Before I could become a regular they need to sort out the smoke which filled the dining room, got in our clothes and on occasion stung our eyes. I also feel they need to sort out their pricing too, better value might tempt me back sooner.


Peckham Bazaar
119 Consort Rd
London
SE15 3RU

Macbeth @ The Last Reguge in Peckham

Given how much I enjoyed my trips to the Belvoir back in Sydney (thanks Dave for all the tickets!), it has taken me a long time to visit the theatre here in London. On Thursday night I finally put that right with a visit to The Last Refuge theatre in Peckham to see a performance of Macbeth by the Company of Shadows.

The theatre is located down a suitably dark and edgy passage between two buildings, in what feels like a converted garage. It was pretty nippy during the performance, but luckily they'd provided the audience with blankets to keep us warm.

The performance was a modern interpretation of Macbeth and they used the theatre space really well. Both acts started in the bar with the audience being led round the outside of the theatre and in via the back of the garage at the start of the show. The simple set was used to good effect. The lighting was excellent, particularly during the fight scenes.

The cast seemed pretty diverse. Marcus Adolphy gave an engaging performance of Macbeth. Full of emotion he was the best actor on the night for me.

The performance wasn't quite Belvoir standard, but did remind me that I enjoy going to the theatre every once in a while. I'm keen to check out New Cross' small theatre next.

Restaurant Review: The Begging Bowl, Peckham

Salad of grilled beef, roasted rice and baby gem lettuce

No sooner had I had a little moan on my friend John's blog that so Westernised and insipid is Thai food outside of Thailand (and notably exceptions like Chat Thai and Sailors Thai) that I wasn't going to bother eating Thai food any more; I read Hollow Leg's review of The Begging Bowl in Peckham and I was sucked straight back in!

With the promise of authentic Thai flavours I hastily arranged to meet my friend Ed in Bar Story for a drink followed by dinner at the Begging Bowl.

The restaurant is located on a bustling cross roads in Peckham. With the front of the restaurant open to the street and tables spilling onto the pavement The Begging Bowl was proving very popular. With a no reservations policy we overheard several tables nearby saying they were pleased to get in after a couple of unsuccessful attempts.

The first thing I noticed was the rather micro tables packed closely together, followed by the heady smell of Thai chilli, herbs and spices. While the prospect of elbow clashing didn't excite me the smells wafting from the kitchen certainly did.

Fish cakes with a sweet chilli sauce

All of the dishes are designed for sharing. We started with the taste sensation that was a salad of grilled beef, roasted rice and baby gem lettuce (£7.50). The tender beef was topped with crunchy roasted rice that has been ground more coarsely that I'm used to. What made the dish special was the dressing of fish sauce, lime, chilli and fresh mint in the salad. It was hot, sour, salty and refreshing all at the same time.

We also ordered the fish cakes with a sweet chilli sauce (£5.50). My experience of Thai fishcakes is that they usually round, flat and springy in texture. These fishcakes are light and had a more open texture.

Stir fried tofu, snake beans, baby sweetcorn, 

cashew nuts and coconut cream

Next up was the stir fried tofu, snake beans, baby sweetcorn, cashew nuts and coconut cream (£9.50). This dish was unlike anything I've had in Thailand before. I couldn't determine the main flavours in this one. Tasted on it's own the sauce was overwhelmingly salty, but didn't taste like it was dominated by fish sauce. As Ed remarked if this was the only dish you'd ordered you would be perfectly happy, but it didn't quite live up to the others.

Green curry of rabbit with appl aubergines, 

pea aubergines and baby corn

Our final dish was the green curry of rabbit with apple aubergines, pea aubergines and baby corn (£9.50). The curry tasted like it was homemade, not dissimilar to the curry pastes I tasted at Sailors Thai. Fragrant kaffir lime was followed by the complex and spicy curry. The flavour of the rabbit was dominated by the curry and didn't come through. The rabbit also tasted cold as if it has been cooked separately and added just before serving.

Overall I was very impressed with the food at The Begging Bowl. The service was friendly although being crammed into a corner of the restaurant meant it was little difficult to get the attention of the waiters / waitresses at points during the evening.

The authentic Thai flavours made both Ed and I reminisce over our holidays to Thailand.

The Begging Bowl
168 Bellenden Road
London
SE15 4BW