Over the course of Saturday and Sunday 11am — 7pm there is music, dance, food, displays, a flower show, farm animals, charity stalls, owls and all sorts of other things all in the heart of inner London.

Further information is on the Lambeth website including the programme of events.

Update (by Peter): Also it’s the College of Arts MA Summer Show this week; it’s open to the public from tomorrow (Wednesday) until Saturday; details here. And huge apologies to Hannah at the CCA for forgetting to tell you all about the private showing.

Update 16/7/2010 There is also the fabulous Urban Art Fair on Saturday and Sunday on Josephine Avenue, SW2 near to Brockwell Park.
London’s largest annual open air contemporary arts fair will have around 2,000 pieces of work on display from 150 local and international artists. As well as art displays there will be foodstalls, refreshments and a sound stage featuring a mix of local musicians. This is the kind of art event I would like to see Camberwell in the future
www.urbanart.co.uk

“Cross Kettles Yard in Cambridge with Barbara Hepworth’s studio in St Ives, throw in a quirky café and you’ll have the latest addition to the Camberwell Art Scene: the all-new South London Gallery.“

Friday saw the long awaited opening of the new SLG extension. The Matsudaira Wing now seamlessly extends into the once dilapidated neighbouring terraced house increasing the size and scope of the exhibition space along with the addition of a funky new café and an artist is residence apartment.

On the other side of the original 1891 Victorian gallery is now a large garden courtyard. To the right the huge floor to ceiling doors of the Clore studio swing open while a ceiling lantern runs the length of the building allowing more natural light to flood in. The outside tables and chairs are overlooked by the Marie Curie block of Sceaux Gardens, devastated by fire in 2009 the high rise has found a new lease of life with a bright buoyant mural by Yinka Shonibare.

Through the Clore Studio a beautiful brick path weaves through the newly planted Fox Garden back towards the back of the house where a new Atrium furnished simply with a long wood table stands beneath a sumptuous golden work by Paul Morrison. Beyond waft the smells of the ‘No. 67’ café. The ‘front room’ is taken up with tables and chairs and the neutral sludge colours sit well with the bulb lights and rough wood floor. Out front are more tables and chairs with a fine vista across the Peckham Road!

Upstairs are three more small exhibition rooms while the top floor has been transformed into an apartment with roof terrace. 6a Architects have striped and hacked illuminating the fabric of the building removing the ceilings to reveal the roof joists and do away with plasterwork to expose brick walls. From October the outset flat will be used for artists in residence.

The current exhibition ‘Nothing is Forever’ aims to seamlessly marry art and architecture; works have been made directly onto the walls to become part of the fabric of the building forever.

The SLG hosts five contemporary art exhibitions each year. Exhibitions and many of the SLG’s events are free. There is also a shop selling books and magazines relating to the works on view as well as those covering art theory and philosophy, artist monographs, live art, film and music.

I think the gallery is a great addition to our area and would recommend everyone visit.

Opening: Tuesday – Sunday, 10am-6.30pm, Wednesdays, 10am-9pm

www.southlondongallery.org

more photos at: flickr.com/photos/nickwoodford/sets/72157624357938986/

This morning I enjoyed a lovely breakfast in the new Love Walk Cafe on Denmark Hill.  I have walked passed this place during its refurb and have been anticipating the opening.  I have popped in once previously (it’s rude not to!) and sampled their take-away coffee which is more than drinkable and very reasonably priced.

The breakfast I had was pretty simple, just a coffee and a muffin, both were delicious and served to me a very polite member of staff who did everything he could to attend to me requirements.  I really did enjoy my morning treat.

What really stood out for me was the décor, the place it covered (but not the extent its off-putting) in interesting trinkets from (forgive me if I’m wrong) Turkey and the surrounding area.  The tables, chairs and walls are pretty standard but the stuff sitting on shelves or hanging on the walls are fascinating, some thought must have gone into it.

I recommend that you try out the place!

Today is Chinese New Year as well as Saint Valentine’s Day. We don’t celebrate this Hallmark holiday in the Cookson household so I’ll be spending an unromantic evening in one of Camberwell’s fine establishments nursing a few pints of old man ale.

In the Chinese calendar 2010 is the year of the tiger, which perhaps bodes well for the opening of The Tiger (nee The Oberon), formally The Silver Buckle. After revealing the original façade during reconstruction, Antic have decided to retain the original name. I’ll be eager to see what it’s like when it opens on 25 Feb, but if their other pubs (EDT at Goose Green, Dogstar in Brixton, Royal Albert at Deptford) are anything to go by this should be a good addition to Camberwell. Sadly it’s tied to Scottish and Newcastle (boo hiss) which means inflated beer prices, but I hear that’s true of many of the pubs around here.

According to my sources the pub will aim to be as close to a “traditional pub” as possible with a focus on affordable, decent pub grub. I’m never quite sure what is meant by traditional but I wish them all the best. I hope to get some photos of the renovations up shortly. Perhaps Antic would like to offer some opening night freebies to the readers of this blog?

I also received an invitation to the release of the next stage of flats at “Camberwell Grove” (couldn’t they think of a better name?). From the marketing materials the prices seem to have fallen from almost £500,000 when the first properties were released to £400,000. Having looked around the original show flat I think they’re gorgeous, but I also think my £500,000 would be better spent on a house a few streets over.

I was very excited to try Angels and Gypsies recently. The food was as good as the hype suggested but the bill was enormous. Admittedly we tried plenty of the more expensive things. My better half’s family are staying at the Church Street Hotel above in a few weeks, so I’ll hopefully get a chance to poke around the rooms and to also try their breakfast. I wish they’d open it up to non-residents as their breakfast sounds great. Which brings me on to a pet peeve: why does Johannson’s open at 10:30 for breakfast on a Saturday?

And finally, a quick question: can anybody recommend a good local bike shop for servicing? I usually do my own but I’m fed up of leaving everything squeakier than when I started. Wilson Cycles in Peckham? Edwardes in Camberwell?

So have a great night whether you’re celebrating Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day or England’s close victory over the Italians.

At first I couldn’t see any big changes to how it was before; the big U-shaped bar is still there, and the table layout is the same. But the more I looked, the more changes I saw: the Spanish tiles around the bar, the new wooden floor, the wider front windows.

We got a table easily (next to the Gay Camberwell ladies, if I’m not mistaken); there were two or three other tables already taken, and it got steadily busier throughout the night. There were still probably too many staff, though.

So, the food: we ordered some bread, serrano ham, calamari, chorizo in cider, croquettes, chicken in apricot sauce, and chips with a bravas sauce. It was uniformly very good; ingredients were obviously great quality, and it was all cooked to perfection.

My one quibble: portion sizes. The dishes were priced around £5, and while most of the portions were fine, I thought a few were too small — especially the serrano ham, which gave five small pieces. With all the nice cured legs of ham hanging around the restaurant, it seemed pretty stingey to not give us more.

After dinner I had an almond and pistachio tart with vanilla & cardamom ice cream, while the wife had a chocolate… thing. Both were excellent.

Without wine, the whole meal came to about £33, which was pretty good, I think. We had a nice rioja from the excellent wine list to complement.

Over all, a really nice experience. It’s probably a little bit of a luxury to eat there too frequently, but for a special occasion or a treat it would be great. I could justify it because it’s my birthday.

In summary: a very welcome addition to the Camberwell culinary scene. Recommended.

The Grand Union opened last week to generally favourable reviews. I went along on Friday and the place was the busiest I’ve seen it for years; here’s hoping that continues. The refit has been positive; it’s a little fussy for my tastes, but it feels cosy.

Small quibble: food is pretty much burgers or nothing, and while there’s lots of variety of burger, you’d think for somewhere gambling on a single food item that it’d have to be perfect; unfortunately, while the meat itself was tasty and well-cooked, my blue-cheese sauce tasted more like mayonnaise.

Still; teething problems, I hope. I’ll certainly be going back to try them again. I still wish they’d kept the Grove name, though.

Names brings me on to George Canning; did you know he was the last British Prime Minister to take part in a duel? And with the Secretary of State (for War and The Colonies!) no less. His namesake pub has been refitted and reopens this weekend; the bar on Friday 13th, the kitchen on Saturday 14th.

No major changes inside (although I hope they’ve replaced the toilets, which were among the worst around); the bar and kitchen are in the same locations. The George Canning used to be a fine little bistro a couple of years back, so I hope they aim to get back to that.

The Silver Buckle has been taken over by Antic, owners of the East Dulwich Tavern (and others), and is to reopen as The Oberon. To remain a traditional pub, from what I hear.

And finally: the Angels & Gypsies Tapas y Cervecceria, long believed to be a myth, is advertising for staff and so likely to open soon. It’s been, what — three years since the hotel opened? They’re going to have to live up to high expectations, at least from me. But I really can’t wait; Camberwell needs something like this.

Fingers crossed that all the new arrivals thrive here.

How would you visually represent SE5? One of the students at the College of Arts has had a go.

As reported in comments on the previous post, part of Lucas Gardens has been saved from being sold off to developers, as the College is said to have bought South House. I went to a Halloween party in East House on Saturday night; apologies to the neighbours.

Here’s something topical: Camberwell post office (“grungey and dispiriting”) used as an illustration of why bonuses are not always deserved.

Also topical: the murderer of a man who was stabbed to death near his home, on Coldharbour Lane, was sentenced to a minimum 30 years in prison last week. He sounds like a proper nasty bastard, so: good.

Has everyone taken a look at NickW’s proposal to split traffic around Camberwell Green and pedestrianise the end of Church Street? There doesn’t seem to be much there to argue about, IMHO, and it’s good enough to at least serve as the start of a conversation.

Finally, I have a special offer for everyone; my first ever, I believe. The Grand Union are set to open in the former Grove this week, and are having a launch party on Thursday 5th (there will be some free drinks, I believe).

They’re keen to get the hyper-critical readers of this blog on their side, so have offered me the following deal: anyone who presents a print-out of this blog post to the manager gets 2-for-1 on main meals — and this deal is valid for the whole of November. That’s pretty good, right? I’m sure there should be some terms and conditions to this deal, but there don’t seem to be, so knock yourselves out.

I wish they’d kept the Grove name, though; a pub’s name is its heritage.

I started writing about my everyday experiences after a stay at the hospitality of Kings College Hospital. After a while, it became clear that most of my posts involved food (I eat out far too much) so I decided to go down this path and dedicated my blog to food and restaurants. I now write “a rather unusual chinaman”, a record of my food adventures.

Being a proud resident of Camberwell and the surrounding area for the last 6 years, one thing I have come to appreciate is the great diversity that contributes to the area’s character. We have strong African, Caribbean and South American communities here (amongst many others), without forgetting the influence from the locals of course. With these communities come their cuisines, shaping the gastronomic landscape of Camberwell.

Slowly but surely, I have been tasting my way around our glorious neighbourhood. Long gone are the days when Mozzarella and Pomodoro were selling their wares on the corner of Camberwell Green (only to be replaced by the spelling challenged “Noodel City”) and Spice of Life (which has seen more identities than Frank Abagnale Jr) on Camberwell Church Street. However, with sad losses come great gains. Recent times have seen the addition of new curry houses (Ambrosia and Camberwell Tandoori), a Turkish ocakbasi in FM Mangal and a face-lifted Tadim.

My personal favourites are:

The Bear — A traditional English pub with a beautiful interior. A great place for a Sunday lunch, its popularity endorsed by inclusion in the Observer Food Monthly shortlist for best Sunday lunch.
FM Mangal — An excellent Turkish ocakbasi cooking its meat over smoky coals. Great food complemented by welcoming staff. My favourite local takeaway, I dare you to turn down their tea and Turkish delight as you wait for your food!
Caravaggio — Budget Italian eatery. Serving superb value mountains of pastas and excellent lunchtime jacket potatoes.
Johanssons — I wouldn’t go anywhere else for my full English. The dining room feels like you are dining at home, without the fuss. Delicious smoothies. Roaring fires when its cold and a lovely little garden for when its warm.
Silk Road — A very different Chinese restaurant selling food from Xinjiang, an autonomous region in the north west of China. Amazing lamb skewers complemented by hand spun noodles and delightful dumplings.

These are just a few of my favourites but I am sure we all know that there are a whole lot more hidden delights in our local neighbourhood. Where do you like to eat, and where are the secrets that you would rather keep to yourself?

Okay, let’s move on to lighter topics.

My personal campaign to get a zoo opened in Burgess Park received a boost when I found out that there used to be a zoo in nearby Walworth. With this kind of historical connection, it can only be a matter of time until we have bears back in South East London.

Speaking of bears, I went to The Bear (ha!) a couple of weeks ago and had a fantastic Scottish beer called Trade Winds. The wife said it was the best beer she’d ever tasted, so we went back again this weekend for more. Unfortunately, they don’t sell it any more. A shame; you would have liked it.

Speaking of return visits, we tried out FM Mangal, the new Turkish restaurant on C. Church Street, after hearing so many people speak highly of it. They weren’t wrong; nice big portions of tasty meats cooked on their charcoal grill, and fairly priced. I had grilled lamb kebabs with yoghurt, which was great. They have their own bread in there as well, which comes free with the food and good enough to eat on its own; we almost ruined our appetites on it.

It was so good that we went back for a takeaway two nights later, on the way back from the pub.

Speaking of food (I know this sounds like we eat out all the time, but it’s just because I haven’t written about it for a while), we went for dinner at Pasha, the Kazakhstani hotel/restaurant on Walworth Road. It was crazy. First of all, you walk down a really, really long corridor through the hotel until you arrive in the restaurant at the back. This has a river in it, with fish and a turtle, and a little footbridge which you cross to get to the tables (you can sit on cushions on the floor, if you prefer).

Throughout the meal there was a guy on keyboads playing (what sounded like) Russian soft rock ballads; he was later joined by a lady who sang, then a woman who sang and played bazouki, and finally a belly dancer. When we asked for the bill at the end of the meal, the waitress asked that we wait a little longer as they wanted everyone to get up and dance. They weren’t joking; the belly dancer started a conga chain around the restaurant and literally dragged me from my table. I had to dance (not alone) to Hava Nagila (YouTube link) before they’d let me sit down again.

It was an awful lot of fun, and the staff were super-friendly. The food was ok. I recommend you go there on a Friday night to get the full experience.

Get out there and enjoy the long evenings.

For example, I went to FM Mangal last week and it’s as good as everyone says. So good, I went back for a takeaway two nights later.

More to follow.

Update: Back to the fire for a second; Southwark Council are accepting cash donations to help victims.