Is There Anywhere Good to Eat in Bromley?
Where to eat in Penge, Welling, Sidcup and Beckenham by Jonathan Nunn, MiMi Aye, Gary Doherty, Apoorva Sripathi, Toyo Odetunde and Tom Jenkins.
Hello and welcome back to Vittles Restaurants. Recently we announced Issue 2 of our print magazine on the theme of Bad Food. The issue features more than 150 pages of all-new features, interviews, essays and restaurant content, including a round table with critics Helen Rosner, Pete Wells, Chitra Ramaswamy and Jonathan Nunn on bad restaurants and bad reviews, and an interview with Andy Hayler on whether Michelin makes restaurants worse. You can read more about the contributors and content here. If you pre-order the magazine before 1 December, you will receive it for a discounted price, with an extra discount for paid subscribers. Pre-order now!
Six of One: South South East London Special
If you look at the Six of One map, you may spot a big gap in the south eastern boroughs of Bromley and Bexley. This has vexed us for a while. We believe that there is good food in every pocket of this city if you look hard enough, even if feedback from Bromley residents suggests that this isn’t the case.
So in this special issue, we have decided to focus solely on the far south east reaches of London, with recommendations for Korean, Turkish, Vietnamese, Nigerian, Indian cuisine, plus a smattering of Great British cakes from a collection of writers who in one way or another call this region of London home.
1. Caffé Nuovo
The Southside Allstars- Southside Riddim ‘from the early Noughties was one of those secondary school grime tracks that became an anthem for anyone living in south at the time. Particularly Nyke’s famous verse where he basically reels off every relevant place in south London – Streatham Common, Roehampton, Tooting Bec Common / Lyrics like this blud ain’t too common. As one YouTube comment puts it, ‘1st bars are a geography lesson’.
One glaring omission, however, is Sidcup. It’s one of those ridiculous-sounding names that people from outside of the London/Kent borders use to illustrate how bumpkin you are. I was excited then, when a friend and fellow bumpkin texted me, ‘just had good kimchi and coffee… in Sidcup’. They were referring to an Italian/Korean medley called Caffé Nuovo out by the station.
Korean cuisine has become so ubiquitous in the UK that it’s not necessarily a surprise to see proper Korean food this deep into subtopia. However, Caffé Nuovo hasn’t been set up to cash in on this boom. It initially started life as an Italian deli in 1994, opened by Korean/Italian couple Margaret and Ivan, and they’ve been steadily changing the palettes of their customers ever since. The offerings have grown to reflect these changes with a combination of posh fry-ups and finely tuned meat sandwiches alongside comforting jjajangmyeon and pork jeyuk. It’s not unusual to see someone dip focaccia into their bowl of ramyun, and why not?
Margaret tells me that at the beginning locals were reluctant to try her cooking, but now their monthly Korean street food stall has gained so much popularity that the Mayor of Bexley has been showing up. At one such event, I saw elderly couples sharing gimbap and paninis and football lads picking up Korean fried chicken and iced lattes. As I leave, one couple tells me they tried to move out of Sidcup ten years ago but found themselves unable to detach themselves from the gravitational pull of Caffé Nuovo. I’m beginning to think Nyke might need to add a couple more bars to his verse. Gary Doherty
123 Station Rd, Sidcup DA15 7AJ
Behind the paywall: Jonathan Nunn seeks out a rare Turkish restaurant south of the river, Apoorva Sripathi with intel on a family-run spot serving kothu roti and much more, MiMi Aye asks you to use or lose one of her favourite Vietnamese locals, Toyo Odetunde delights in the asun, edikaikong, soups and swallows from a ‘Nigerian resto-lounge’, while Tom Jenkins finds all the local cakes.
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