The Three Stags is one of one of my favourite local pubs in good ol' Kennington. I have a few. This is my review for South London Press.
Kennington isn’t an area short of pubs, and certainly not pubs of the modern, gastro variety. The Tommyfield and The Old Red Lion are a couple of them which have been reviewed and very positively rated in this paper over the last year. The sense of community at The Three Stags blows the competition out of the water, though. It’s tangible from the moment of stepping inside; this is no dining room with a bit of space for people to drink, rather this is a proper pub that just happens to serve food.
Take that countryside, London is literally buzzing with bees! Here's a piece I wrote for Scout London on the rise of London honey. Sweet.
As bees throughout the countryside face growing problems from disease, infection and something called Colony Collapse Disorder, their street-wise inner-city cousins are faring up rather better. London’s bee population has shown the biggest increase of anywhere in the UK, with our city said to be the perfect place for them due to the enormous variety of flowers and trees, the large park spaces and the temperate climate. Now London’s entrepreneurial foodie types are turning to honey making as a way to capitalise on the phenomenon. And before you ask, NO – pollution does not affect the honey one iota.
Here's a restaurant review originally written for my South London Press column. Zeitgeist is pretty much my local pub and I'm definitely a regular, though for me it's usually more about the beers than the food.
You can count London’s German restaurants on one hand. There’s The Hop Exchange German bar on Southwark Street, Stein’s in Richmond (which claims to be the very first), The Fest in Fulham (which keeps Octoberfest running all year round) and the only one of the lot that’s particularly well-known, The Bavarian Beerhouse on City Road. As the names of all of these places suggest, food isn’t really the main focus – it’s all about the beers. The almost unheard of Zeitgeist is one to add to the list, and it may be the place to break the mould.
Hidden inside The Jolly Gardener’s pub on Black Prince Road, Zeitgeist is mere minutes from the Albert Embankment and Vauxhall station, but could take a long time to find. You most likely would come across it having given up and gone in for a drink instead.
