Amici Takeover

I have it from a good source that:

1. Amici restaurant (currently at 305-307, Kennington Road) but will move across to the old Franklins site (205 - 209, Kennington Lane).

2. 305-307 Kennington Road will stay in the same hands, but will become a steak and burger bar.

3. R Due Amici (310-312 Kennington Road) is unaffected and run by the same party!

There's still no news on the cafe formerly known as The Dippy Egg, formerly known as Jado, but they're painting it a lovely green colour inside and giving it a very thorough refit.

Local area Tip Offs

I've received a number of comments on this journal recently which seem to give some local tip offs about various developments in the area:

a. Apparently Amici, which owns two restaurants in Kennington (confusingly known as "Amici" and "R Due Amici", has apparently leased/bought the now shutdown Franklins and will open a third restaurant. This tip-off is from an anonymous commentator who advised that the lady next door at Thai Ming (previously Thai Silk) mentioned it.

b. Commentator "John" asks whether anybody has tried Grand Union (burger pub/club) on Kennington Road (near the Imperial War Museum)? It has changed 2 or 3 times in the past few years. I haven't, but am contemplating visiting it at the weekend.

c. A number of people have commented favourably on Toulouse Lautrec restaurant (both on this blog, on London SE1 and in real life), but also noted that it's expensive. It probably isn't that expensive compared with its sister restaurant, The Lobster Pot, and also compared with central London restaurant prices. It is expensive compared with some of the other offerings in the SE11 area. However, to combat the expense (in these credit crunch times), we opted for a large Sunday morning brunch (croissants, french bread, scrambled eggs and salmon) as well as the very good French hot chocolate and excellent coffee (£14.00 total). I recommend it.

Does anybody else have any news on the cafe that was formerly Dippy Egg, formerly Jado?

The cafe formerly known as Dippy Egg, formerly known as Jado, Kennington

The cafe formerly known as The Dippy Egg, formerly known as Jado in Kennington Road near Kennington Cross appears to have been leased. It is, at least, being refurbished and the counter/internal furnishings have all been removed. I saw workmen in there on Saturday as I peered through the gaps in the whitewashed window. I don't know what it's going to be!

Also, the launderette at 220 Kennington Park Road next to the funeral director on the corner has been gutted (all the washing machines have gone). I'm not sure whether it will come back, but it must be something of a blow for people without washing machines. There were quite often people in there.

Finally, I've had a spate of Googlings looking for an SE11 sex shop. I couldn't think what they might be referring to, until it occurred to me that they might be referring to the new place(Master U) on Kennington Lane. It technically sells leather bondage gear rather than being a sex shop (I'm sure you all wanted to know that), and I'm kind of assuming that it caters for local clientele :)

RIP Franklins

I'm somewhat saddened by the response made to my post on the closure of the Dippy Egg Cafe yesterday. A reader has noted that Franklins in Kennington has been closed. Sure enough, I checked their website, which reports:

"Due to unforseen circumstances Franklins Food Emporium is closed. Franklins Restaurant and Franklins Farm Shop in Dulwich are trading as normal."

My guess is that the unforseen circumstances are the credit crunch, but I suppose there's a possibility that it might reopen.

Kennington has been rather badly affected by the credit crunch, but I'm not convinced that the worst has yet happened... At this rate, we're going to lose a lot of businesses in the SE11 area.

Dippy Egg Cafe?

Sorry about my failure to post recently. Life is hectic, and I'm trying to study part-time for a degree! I have quite a lot of local news that I keep intending to post about, but never quite get around to.

You'll recall that I was very excited about the former Jado cafe being replaced by the Dippy Egg Cafe, and the potential for fun socialising opportunities which might come to the SE11 area as a result of the changed venue... Unfortunately, I passed the cafe in late October to see a sign from bailiffs on the door. I'm a bit sad about that, as it represented a good business opportunity in the area. I've not found out any more information on the matter.

Also on Kennington Road, there's a shop front that has been empty for ages (it was some sort of photocopying type shop) that has recently been taken over by a new barber. Good luck to them. I would go and give it a try, but I'm a massive fan of Gino the barber. Gino's is located on Kennington Park Road, in the row of shops just north of Oval tube station, and he has been cutting hair for years. Also, he has the most old fashioned barber shop to exist anywhere (old black and white photos of camp hair cuts that are about 50 years old) and red/white bars outside, and an ancient till. He's so good, and requires no marketing that I can't even post a picture of the shop front as there isn't one on the internet that I can see anywhere!

In another good piece of cafe news, Peluqueria (remember the hairdresser / Spanish video shop / internet cafe), also on Kennington Park Road, has finally opened as a cafe. It has 3 internet terminals, a sofa and a few chairs, and a giant coffee bar. I'm really not too sure how it will work as a business, as I'd have thought it would be better to allocate more customer seating than take up a lot of room with a bar. However, there might be more seating at the back, which I can't see. I'll post more, if I have time to visit.

More Dippy Egg Cafe goodness

You'll recall about a month ago I made a post with some photos about the opening of the new Dippy Egg Cafe on Kennington Road. Oddly, since that day, I've found that one person (or I'm presuming one person) searches this blog (often several times a week) using the Google search term "dippy egg cafe" "opening times". I don't know who they are or whether it's a web-crawler thing, or quite what, but here is the answer...

I have been informed today, through a reliable source, that the promoter of the Dippy Egg Cafe is now extending its opening hours. In addition, there is currently a summer offer running, as follows:

Mon- Fri: 7am - 10pm (Except Monday evenings)
Saturday: 8am - 10pm
Sunday : 9am - 3pm

Apparently, the cafe also offers free wifi, and there is currently a special summer offer which means a free glass of wine with evening meals is available. Also, it's now possible to bring your own bottle.

How exciting!

Dippy Egg Cafe

The third new event of interest (I hoped to blog about this a week ago) was the opening of the Dippy Egg cafe. Dippy Egg has taken over where Jado left off. Jado was a fairly standard workers cafe on Kennington Road that closed at about 3pm every day, and sold a combination of fried breakfasts and sandwiches. Within the last month, we went there on June 1st, it has been painted bright green, named Dippy Egg and gained new management.

The new manager, named Gill, has lots of very exciting plans for the venue, and it is due to be re-painted and have some groovy lighting put in. There are other plans, but I'll wait to see what happens before blogging further. Originally, we had intended to try Franklins, but we gave up due to the length of wait, and went and had a roast dinner at the Dippy Egg. The roast potatoes are as good as any home made potatoes I've tasted, and the rest of the meal was excellent - nothing tasted over or under cooked, which is always a risk with roast dinners. It was all very reasonably priced. Service was superb, and we felt happily greeted. The downstairs (which I've never visited before) is now covered with campy bright patterned table cloths, and various event posters adorn the walls. The manager has various links with the Vauxhall Tavern, so that is a repeating theme. I'm hoping it's going to become a quieter, more homely VT, with food. Right now, it has a feel that I've termed Retro-camp.

We'll definitely be going back. In the meantime, I managed to grab a few photos of the "before" deco. just as a number of customers left, and the next lot hadn't arrived. I'll also try to post "after" pictures when all the decorating has been done. Take a look at the fabulous window sill:











Edit: They also have a website: http://thedippyeggcafe.com/