Tuesday 8 November 2011

Brixton Village: Tapas Dining at Seven at Brixton, Casa Morita and French and Grace

As I have been saying for a while now, the most happening place for new restaurants in London has to be Brixton Village (and Brixton Market Row, accross the street). It all started two and a bit years ago - with long term residents such as Cornercopia and Etta's Seafood - but in the last few months has gone stellar with places like Kao Sarn and Honest Burger getting rave reviews.

And so with a free Friday night ahead of us the Fashionista and I decided to head round some of the new offerings to see if they match up with some of the more established places.

First to Seven At Brixton in Brixton Market Row (across the road from Brixton Village proper). We got to this place around 7 and it was already jumping. Given that this was the official opening night (it had been open for a soft opening the weekend before) the turn out was incredible. Specialising in pintxos and booze this was my kind of place. We went for the skewers of chorizo and cheese and olives anchovies and padron peppers and a bocadillo of goats cheese and fig. The skewers were okay, the bocadillo nice.  But this place really comes into its own when its booze you're after -  great vibe and awesome mojitos for a fiver!

We then moved next door to Casa Morita. They were fully booked (it was not long ago that the idea of a fully booked restaurant in Brixton Village was a pipe dream -how times have changed!. No matter we propped ourselves up on a couple of chairs. I had modela negra beer and we shared a taco carnitas and a taco de chorizo. The welcome you will get here is second to none and the food is delicious - highly recommended!


The Fashionista hadn't been tempted by the beers at Casa Morita so she decided to get a caipirinha from the Brazilian place across the market (super friendly bar man - such a shame that restaurant didn't seem to be getting any trade). Really good caipirinha and nice that Casa Morita were more than happy for us to drink another place's caiparinha while tucking into their tasty tacos.

We then wandered next door to Brixton Village proper to see what else we could find- it was rammed. Places like Honest Burger had queues of 20 long. But we found French and Grace (of the Salad Club) who do take away and settled on a chorizo wrap and a lamb merguez (a sausage traditionally from north Africa) wrap- we asked for haloumi but unfortunately after a few minutes they realised they didn't have any left- no matter, they refunded the difference. I enjoyed my lamb merguez one but the Fashionista thought her chorizo wrap pretty average - both could have done with being warmer, maybe just down to the constant rush that night -  I will have to give them another shot and report back.

My verdict -  Seven At Brixton, a great bar with reasonable snacks to soak up the booze; Casa Morita, all round brilliance - tasty food, nice drinks, brilliant staff and atmosphere; French and Grace - almost very good but not quite.  If you've never been to Brixton Village and you like your food, you need to get on it, there is something for everyone!

P.S. Sorry for the quality of photos on this one, left my camera at home and my old school i phone 3GS was just not up to scratch!

Casa Morita on Urbanspoon
Seven At Brixton on Urbanspoon

French & Grace on Urbanspoon

3 comments:

  1. I'm loving Brixton at the moment. I like the huevos rancheros at Casa Morita - a great alternative to the full English to lift away the fog of a hangover.

    In terms of Brixton pioneers, the pizza joint, Franco Manca, in Market Row also deserves a mention. It was one of the first places that made Brixton a destination for foodies.

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  2. Franco Manca definitely was a pioneer, incredible that they are still pulling in the crowds after all this time!

    Have you tried the Columbian at the Kao Sarn end of the row which Honest Burgers is on (I forget the name) - unfortunately not open in the evening but definitely worth a shot - the empanadas are awesome!

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  3. There's too many good things at Brixton, and as a consequence, I haven't sampled any of the Colombian joints. That said, I have taken home some chorizo from the Colombian butchers next door to Honest Burgers.

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