BYOF!
This review need only be 4 words long: BRING YOUR OWN FOOD.
...but I will elaborate, a little.
This cosy, narrow ex-chip shop off Brixton Road is Oval's "disgustingly trendy new local - cant believe its bringing people south of river"*. No more furtive eating whilst you try to hide that home-constructed sandwich under the table you forgot to eat at lunch time when the waiter walks past, or pretending you only want a starter to save your pennies on the cost of dining out, or leaving those three servings of lasagne sitting in the fridge at home... Come hither, get a bottle of wine or bucket of beers from the bar, snag a table beneath heavy velvet curtains and an intentionally unplastered brick wall behind the bar, bring all your friends and your leftovers/ freshly fashioned dishes/ home baked brownies/ cheese and chocolate treats from your recent Swiss adventure, or lets face it, bags of snacks from the convenience store next door and enjoy an intimate night in,... I mean out.
The bar staff are so chilled, I was a bit nervous at our contribution of no less than 800 split pistachio shells strewn over our tables and floor, which by the end of the night were swimming in our beer fatalities with gruyere rinds and shards of baguette debris... but they were, well yes, very chilled. What a fantastic little hangout, enjoy. And I hope the concept catches on elsewhere, dare I say, North of the river too...
_
*quote stolen from Chris K; Oval resident and bemoaner of the general north-London partisan bias extant in our generally all-but-one residing-above-the-river cohort. read more