With a vibrant contrast of generations, ethnicities and lifestyles, Brixton is constantly thrumming with activity. Threatening to become one of London’s most exciting foodie neighbourhoods, trendy restaurants with creative menus are popping up among the area’s bustling bars, music venues and markets. To help you choose, we’ve rounded up our favourite spots: these are the best restaurants in Brixton.
Agile Rabbit, Brixton Village
The no-frills interior isn’t much to write home about, but this is a popular pitstop for a meal on the move, with office workers and hospitality staff flocking here on lunch breaks. The pizza (sold by the slice or pie) comes piping hot and dripping with cheese, plus if you’re lucky, they’ll offer you a choice between the corner (extra crust) or the middle (extra toppings). You can’t go wrong with their classic margherita, or a salty slice of the AOCA (anchovies, olives, capers, aubergine).
Address: Agile Rabbit, Granville Arcade, Unit 24-25 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, London SW9 8PR
Telephone: +44 20 3940 2700
Website: theagilerabbit.londonRead about the best Italian restaurants in London
The best Italian restaurants in London
Kata Kata, Brixton Hill
Just beyond Brixton Orchard, Negril’s new neighbour Kata Kata brings Cameroon’s cuisine to the area’s first art café, with murals by Nebula Nebula and giant sunflowers on the tables. Buckwheat galettes are filled with ingredients harvested in the herb garden, plus mushrooms, cheese, Jerk aubergine, callaloo and plantain, and most options are veggie if not vegan. At sundown, chef Rocco takes to the grill in the new outdoor shack, neo-soul beats stream and a varied crowd of students, musicians and politicians take it easy on the terrace (London’s mayor Sadiq Khan was spotted here in August).
Address: Kata Kata Brixton, 132A Brixton Hill, Brixton, London SW2 1RS
Telephone: +4420 3490 1160
Website: katakatabrixton.com
The Laundry
A red-brick period beauty, Walton Lodge Laundry still proudly touts the services it provided for 110 years – ‘shirt and collar, dressing and dyeing and cleaning works’ – until 2014. Its trading days are now over but the building still buzzes with activity, suits and sheets replaced by zeitgeisty seasonal small plates from NZ/Aussie duo Melanie Brown and head chef Dylan Cashman. Locally sourced produce turns into pretty plates of food that arrive in a staggered sequence: the smoked fish bacalhau is an eruption of smooth salty goodness to be piled high onto the thinnest homemade potato crisps. With creative cooking and Antipodean flair, The Laundry has attracted a cool crowd of Brixtonites to its candlelit industrial space, where exposed-brick walls have been left untouched, juxtaposed with duck-egg blue booths, marble tables, dark wood and statement lamps. By Emma Russell
Read the full review in our round-up of the best restaurants in south London
Address: The Laundry, 374 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, London SW9 8PL
Telephone: +44 20 8103 9384
Website: thelaundrybrixton.com
Salon
At Salon, expect brilliant, thoughtful food that doesn’t just evolve with the seasons but changes week by week. I could tell you about the fresh, zingy heritage tomatoes grown on the restaurant’s allotment in Dulwich, or the sweet-but-sharp buttermilk sorbet with pickled hibiscus flowers that you’ll wish they sold by the tub. But what I can’t stop thinking about is the butter. Whipped, not churned, with unhomogenised milk and giant salt flakes, and served with slabs of fresh sourdough. The set menu is worth every penny at £36.
Address: Salon, 18 Market Row, Brixton, London SW9 8LD
Telephone: +44 20 7501 9152
Website: salonbrixton.co.uk
Fish Wings & Tings
It’s known for its jerk chicken, but Granville Arcade’s Fish Wings & Tings also has a few things on its Caribbean menu you may not be familiar with. The split-pea fritters and rotis filled with vegetables and kuchela (made from the spiced, sun-dried shredded pulp of unripe mangos) might just convince you to side-step the poultry, and Trini chef Brian Danclair is often on hand to make suggestions. He takes inspiration from family recipes (Nanny Suzy’s chilli sauce will blast the cobwebs away).
Address: Fish Wings & Tings, Brixton, London SW9 8JL
Telephone: +44 7411 642264
Website: fishwingsandtings.comNegril
Owner Latanya Christie takes a no-nonsense approach to the food at Negril: ‘If I don’t like it, it doesn’t go on the menu.’ Her game-changing Caribbean-with-a-conscience food is free-range and organic wherever possible, from the Calypso chicken sandwich to the BBQ ribs. But Negril also has an impressive veggie-and vegan-friendly menu: pumpkin curry, a homemade bean burger, Ital stew. An important part of Rastafarian culture, ‘Ital’ derives from the word ‘vital’, and emphasises natural, unprocessed ingredients such as plantain, avocado and chickpeas. Having created a friendly space for Brixton’s melting pot of people to hang out, the presence of Ital foods on Christie’s menu underscores her inclusive approach and Jamaican background.
Address: Negril, 132 Brixton Hill, London SW2 1RS
Telephone: +44 20 8674 8798
Website: negrilonline.co.uk
Kricket Brixton
Young British chef Will Bowlby’s temporary shipping-container pop-up in Brixton is all grown-up. First came the permanent kitchen in Soho, and now Kricket has returned to its roots and opened a restaurant in the arches on Atlantic Road. Bowlby takes the best of British ingredients, seasoned, spiced and diced with Indian flavours. Original favourite deep-fried samphire pakora is a ridiculously moreish street-food stand-in, while North Indian bharta – aubergine, yogurt and pomegranate powder – has all the kick of a proper curry-house kitchen.
Address: Kricket, 41-43 Atlantic Road, Brixton, London SW9 8JL
Telephone: +44 20 7734 5612
Website: kricket.co.uk
Gremio de Brixton
By day, St Matthew’s Church welcomes its congregations in Holy Communion. By night, the Grade II-listed building lights up from the vaults underground, and people pull up a pew for the best tapas in town. The menu is concise and consistent in its flavour, with creamy blue-cheese croquettes, fluffy Spanish tortillas and salty padrón peppers. I once took a date here who paid more attention to the red-wine chorizo than he did to me. Head there in the early evening for an atmospheric supper – the candlelit crypt is warm and quiet enough to maintain a conversation – or go later for espresso Martinis, when the dancefloor fills up and a saxophonist accompanies the DJ.
Address: Gremio de Brixton, Effra Road, Brixton, London SW2 1JF
Telephone: +44 20 7924 0660
Website: gremiodebrixton.com
Casa Sibilla
Casa Sibilla could compete for some of the slowest service in Brixton Village – drinks can take longer to arrive than your food, and staff can be grumpy. But now that you know this, the rest of the experience can be fun (really). Go early, settle in, take friends. It’s in a prime spot in Brixton Village and is run by Puglia-born Paola Sibilla, whose comfort-food cicchetti consists of crispy arancini, buttery parmigiana and piquant caponata which are worth the wait.
Address: Casa Sibilla, 66/68 Granville Arcade, Cold Harbour Lane, London SW9 8PS
Telephone: +44 7756 574077
Website: casa-sibilla.com
Casa Morita
An unassuming Mexican with thirst-quenching cocktails and soft tacos to soak them up, Casa Morita, in Market Row, is an ideal stop-off for a quick bite. Mop up slow-cooked black beans with corn tacos and scoop queso fresco, fiery chipotle and pulled pork onto totopos, hand-fried nachos from Oaxaca. Celebrate the £7-for-three-tacos price tag with a salt-rimmed mezcal Margarita or a minty Mojito.
Address: Casa Morita, 9 Market Row, Brixton, London SW9 8LB
Telephone: +44 20 8127 5107
Website: casamorita.com
Brixton Outdoor Market
Community spirit is at the heart of Brixton’s outdoor market. The outdoor market sees tarpaulins and trucks selling everything from fresh fruit, home-baked bread and jars of locally produced condiments to Jamaican rum, traditional African beadwork and hand-painted homewares. There’s a constant flow of people shopping, tasting, haggling and simply saying hello, and the market stretches from Electric Avenue, up Pope’s Road and into Brixton Station Road, where the old arches await renovation. These roads meander between Market Row and Brixton Village, the indoor market sections, where you can find the butchers and fishmongers alongside some of the area’s best dining spaces. This is where Franco Manca started out (and is still going strong), Mamalan put dumplings back on London’s menu and Kao Sarn’s BYOB policy made it a Friday-night favourite.
The market is particularly buzzy at weekends, so head here for a genuine masala dosa – the crispy-edged, soft-centred type you find on the streets of South India – and vast expanses of paella. Ask for a scoop of socarrat (the slow-cooked rice crust formed at the bottom of the giant pans) or fill a tub of comforting pad thai to take home.
Address: Brixton Station Road Market, Brixton Station Road, London SW9 8PD
Website: brixtonmarket.net
Pop Brixton
This is where one of London’s best Indian restaurants Kricket, originated, and there are some equally promising places to try amongst the pile of shipping containers at the end of Brixton Station Road. In the evenings, the volume – of noise, and of people – increases as the cocktails flow, so get in line for tender chicken at Mama’s Jerk, Sicilian plates at Franzina Trattoria and guilty pleasures at Love Churros.
Pop also runs initiatives like The People’s Fridge, where local bakeries, supermarkets, restaurants and residents can leave unwanted or leftover edible food – and absolutely anyone can take it, for free. The idea is to reduce food waste and redistribute unwanted items that could also help feed the hungry and homeless. Nearby is the community garden, Pop Farm, which grows herbs and veg for Pop’s foodie community and teaches local students the value of fresh ingredients and mindful eating.
Address: Pop Brixton, 49 Brixton Station Road, Brixton, London SW9 8PQ
Telephone: +44 20 3879 8410
Website: popbrixton.orgLike this? Now read:
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Volcano Coffee Works
The Laundry
The Laundry
The Laundry
Salon Brixton
Salon Brixton
Salon Brixton
Casa Sibilla
Pop Brixton
Pop Brixton
Kricket Brixton
Casa Morita
Fish, Wings & Tings
Casa Sibilla
Gourds at Brixton market
