Brew Cafe, Northcote Road
This week has been mad and, even with the best intentions, I’ve found it impossible to sit down and write this review. We tried Brew last Sunday, completely at random. I’m looking for somewhere to go for a birthday meal, somewhere fun, tasty but also close to home, so a wander down Battersea Rise eventually led us to the Northcote Road, where I’d never strayed before. It’s bourgeois as fuck, but that usually means decent gnosh.
First we dropped in to the Draft House, an airy pub serving I don’t know how many beers, but a lot of beers. I had a Harviestoun, a blonde beer matured in whiskey casks. Starts off with hops and floral notes and eases toward a deft bitter finish. Dances on your tongue, really tasty. When it’s fresh out the tap and really cold, the finish would probably go well with one of their burgers – the spice and sweetness of gherkins and mustard is present.
After leaving the Draft House, we cruised back towards Battersea Rise, ogling at menus and striding past the wine bars. We were on the lookout for fresh, fun food with an atmosphere to match. Brew’s at number 45, a tiny place spewing out seats through the front door onto a little terrace. They’ve crammed in seating for about 25 people on the front – clearly against fire regs – and inside is similarly as spacious as a sardine tin. But I don’t know, something about that appealed to us – and despite the close quarters, the place was packed full of punters. Brew does breakfast mostly, and the eggs we saw people order were devoured in minutes, and looked stupidly fresh. Will be returning for some of that, for sure. But we settled into the lunch menu, ordering sweetcorn fritters, a courgette pide, balsamic mushrooms and some grilled chorizo.
Wow. Sweet and soft, the fritters came with a tomato jam, avocado and some rocket. I’m not big on avocado, as it’s so hard to find a decent supply, but if there’s one thing Brew’s got down it’s their ingredients. Everything was incredibly fresh and tasty, the flavours matched to one another off, and we were silent for about twenty minutes as we shoved heapfuls of the delectable morsels down our gob. The pide was home-made, the courgettes and other veg grilled to perfection, and again just as tasty. I don’t know where they buy their produce but I hope it’s nearby. The field mushrooms cooked in balsamic were as life-changing: one earthy sliver dripping oily balsam was enough to turn you into a mycophile, and not too tangy either. And the chorizo? Another wow. Soft, succulent, spicy and warm, with no trace of gristle. And all that for £38 (inc. a beer and wine) is good value, especially in such a pricey spot.
A week’s space has rendered my powers of recall a little weak, but there’s nothing stopping us returning to try again. And we will. Cannot reccommend this place enough.
