OFFICIALLY A LONDONER!

Dear readers,

as of tomorrow morning I sign a tenancy agreement, pack my bags and move into a fantabulously lovely house in brilliant Brixton with one half of awesome food-blogging duo Salad Club. And so begins a whole new life and a whole new chapter and a whole new food adventure as I am now free of the constraints of living at home and not eating or cooking whatever the hell I please!

I have Brixton market on my doorstep, the buzzing haven of activity that is Brixville in the Granville Arcade, some ace pubs and bars and a wonderful variety of cultures and gastronomies just waiting to be discovered. I've realised this blog - which started as a place to share recipes, instead became a restaurant review site - which is fine as I am always game for eating out, but it's not what I had really wanted it to be. So as of tomorrow, when I am once again master of my own eating and have the joy of a great kitchen to cook in, the recipes shall return.

I am imposing a set of rules on myself, that I hope to maintain as much as possible, even if it may become harder once I get a job. They are as follows:

1. As much food as possible to be sourced from Brixton market.

2. As much in season produce as possible

3. Meat no more than twice a week

4. Meat must be organic and form a sustainable source

5. Fish must be from a sustainable source or MSC certified

6. Increase intake of pulses and grains

7. Waste as little as possible - I am very conscious of being wasteful with my food... not recession-friendly, or very green!

The above (except for number 1) also apply to eating out. It is also my serious aim to start learning more about wine. Properly. Hence I am packing my guide to the wines of Italy for a bout of study.

So voilà! New house. New mentality. New approach. New adventures. Bon voyage I say!

Brixton Cornercopia "local open-sauced foods"

I promised more on Brixton Village!

Brixton Cornercopia is run by husband and wife Ian and Anne Fairbrother, a small cornershop, deli and cafe serving delicious simple food made from tasty seasonal ingredients at reasonable, recession-worthy prices.

Located in unit 65 of "Brixvill", you'll notice it from the pretty red and white tablecloth bedecked tables garnished with fresh flowers and fashioned out of upturned crates. Oh, and the constant buzz of people wanting to eat there...

The point of Cornercopia is not just about using the resources of a market within the market space, but sharing the food experience with locals, interacting with the local community around the table and encouraging the people of Brixton (and beyond!) to invest in their markets and be part of a community in an active, invested way.

I ate here on a gloriously sunny Saturday, although I was really looking for a place to park myself for a quick coffee and a read of the paper, the menu caught my eye, as did a couple of very content looking customers enjoying a brilliantly green looking bowl of soup.

Despite having tucked into pasta only half an hour earlier, I decided to make some space in my bottomless gullet for more food and sat down.

A charming, very attentive waiter came whizzing out with a menu. Two courses for £9 or three for £12, generous sized portions, but not exaggerated and everything in season and bought locally. I had a cox's apple juice and ordered poached egg with leek vinaigrette and bacon. A yummy combination of unctuous yolk, crispy salty bacon and the tangy leeks and mustard seed went down a treat.

This was followed by a sweet cured salmon fillet, served just warm on a bed of English asparagus (cooked to perfection), green beans, rocket and a saffron and orange sauce with orange segments. It was perfect for the weather, with spring colours, good flavours, not too heavy and enjoying my nosh whilst watching both the chef and the waiter chatting away to the locals and catching up on the Brixvill gossip was very enjoyable. In fact, I pretty much ignored my paper and just sat back to enjoy everything going on around me. Which I suppose is the point of a relaxing lunch in your local market.

I'll definitely be back, and would encourage local business people to take advantage of their cheap lunch deals, which include Meze platters for £4.50. Oh and they serve yummy jars of preserved lemons and jams and chutneys and all sorts too...

Catch up with all their activities and read the latest menu online at their Ning network site:

http://brixtoncornercopia.ning.com/

Other Brixton restaurants include: Bellantoni's pasta shop.

Brixton Follies: Bellantoni's Pasta Shop

This is the first of what I hope will be an exciting little series of reviews of eateries in the newly revamped, renovated and rejuvenated Granville Arcade in Brixton, AKA Brixton Village. Left abandoned and dilapidated for the last ten years or so, a creative arts agency by the name of Space Makers took it over just before Christmas and invited artists, thinkers, entrepreneurs, chefs, writers, cineasts and more to take over the empty stalls and transform them into usable spaces, thus reviving the back of the market with a series of pop-up shops, cafès, even a tiny cinema and street theatre, DJ booths and children's reading clubs.

The Space-Makers end of the market has only been opened a couple of weeks and yet already a few places are making waves in the national British press. Time Out, who recently made it its mission to track down London's best coffee, riled a few readers by failing to include Federation Coffee, by the Coldharbour Lane entrance to the market. More on that later...

The first eatery to catch my eye, not surprisingly, was an Italian one. Bellantoni's is a tiny shop, with dark wood panelled front and large windows which seats about 5 (at a squeeze) people inside and has two tables outside. Behind his small counter, Dario Bellantoni a young chef from Genova, whips up fresh hand-made pasta daily, along with a small selection of tasty bites and, of course, coffee. On the Monday I popped in, there were two baked pasta dishes with spinach and rocket, or shiitake mushrooms, as well as cannelloni stuffed with meat.

Good wholesome warming food, full of flavour and perfectly comforting given the sub-zero temperatures outside. My meal came to £5.50 with coffee, which is less than you'd spend on a dubious Big Mac meal from hell up the road. A few locals from the market strolled in for a chat and a bite as Dario busied himself twisting tagliatelle into nests and dishing out relationship advice to anyone who'd listen. Once he plonked down a small dish of homemade twisted bread beside me and a large jug of olive oil to drizzle I felt teleported back to the Bel Paese all over again. "Tomorrow, he said as I shovelled creamy spinachy deliciousness into my mouth, I will make stuffed tomatoes". There was also noise about a possible baked apple cake.

At the deli counter, a small selection of well chosen cheeses, including the sinful and divine Burratina - a sort of softer mozzarella oozing buttery cream - and smoked Scamorza which is perfect grilled until soft and served on a bed of rocket with thin slivers of parma ham. Neither of these cheeses are easy to find in the UK, so jot Dario's address down now!

The warm red walls of Bellantoni's are strung with chilli peppers and small framed anecdotes and quotes from the Chef, doling out such nuggets of wisdom as "If you know, you know, if you don't know, you don't know". Failing the messages on the wall, Dario's entertaining stories will pepper up your lunch as will the excellent coffee.

Bellantoni's is opposite the art gallery and the Enter the Field pop-up shop