This week I am not going to talk you through one single place. Instead I am taking this opportunity to discuss why the food and drink inclined amongst us should consider visiting Deptford.
Deptford is an area of London with an interesting history and important cultural heritage. It is the home of the London Jazz scene, and you will still find jazz nights and other performances in the area. It has the famous Deptford market a number of days a week which is frequented by the local community. It is also home to Goldsmiths University, an arts and creative institute which means that Deptford is full of students who are far more artsy and edgy than me.
Deptford has not escaped gentrification, as is the case with a lot of London. And I will confess that a number of the places that we discuss in our podcast and this blog are the result of precisely that gentrification. However, there are also a number of places that existed long before the yuppies arrived and are fantastic cultural landmarks. I like Deptford because it has elements of both worlds, with new restaurants and wine bars popping up and a nicely revamped Market Yard, as well as proper old school boozers, pie and mash shops, and Caribbean counter serve operations.
This area is particularly close to my heart as it is where I first lived when I moved to London. Although I have now moved to the North of London, I always like going back to Deptford and seeing how it has evolved and changed, what places have popped up, and also how it has stayed consistent and retained its real and rugged London feeling.
Are you looking for an area in London that is less frequented by the masses, that has loads of tasty food options and great places to drink? Are you visiting London, looking to avoid too many tourist hotspots and craving for authentic London experiences? Do you want to build your own food crawl in London? If you answered any of these in the affirmative, then read on (and listen to the podcast!)
Deptford has a range of great food places, from smaller more casual food outlets to more fancy sit down meal joints. It has traditional pubs, fun bars, breweries and wine bars. You could visit Deptford for dinner and a drink, for a beer crawl, for a food crawl, or for a combination of all of these. I love how you can easily make whatever you want of your time there. Everything is really close together and it’s a little quieter than the more well known bits of London so booking isn’t required as much.
Let’s explore what is has to offer in a little more detail
Deptford Market Yard
This place just off the highstreet is probably the biggest example of gentrification in the area. Renovation started in 2008 and has delivered a really nice space with a multitude of bars, restaurants, coffee shops and even a hair salon. This area has tables, both covered and open, where you can sit and order food and drink to from a number of the places in the yard.
We love the tacos served at Taca Tacos. The Birria beef platter is wonderful. Rich perfectly cooked shredded beef, lots of cheese, lovely tortillas served alongside the birria broth for dipping everything in. They often have specials on and all the tacos we have had there have been great. Visit for a full meal, or as part of a food crawl, but just make sure you go.
In the railway arch next door you will find Jerk Yard, a Caribbean restaurant serving tasty and traditional fare. I have only tried the jerk chicken wings and the patties, but they were all great. They were less spicy than other Caribbean food I have had (thankfully for me), but certainly still very flavoursome. Caribbean communities are prevalent in this area of London and this food is an important part of the cultural fabric of the area. This is evidenced by the large number of Caribbean joints that can be found in the area on the main High Street, with Likkle ‘d’ being a particularly popular spot. If you are visiting the area I thoroughly recommend you try either of these places, particularly if you are visiting London and wanting to fully take in all important cultural culinary landmarks.
Kekaki Izakaya is a Japanese spot in another of the arches in the yard and the food we have had there has always been tasty. We tried the grilled prawn yakitori, the ‘popcorn shrimp’ and the octopus balls and enjoyed them all. I was slightly surprised by the inclusion of lemon and lime zest on some of the dishes because it felt less Japanese to me, but I could be being a little ignorant to Japanese cooking. Regardless, everything was really tasty and I would be sure to include this on any food crawl you do.
Sharkbait & Swim also has an arch. This serves a predominantly seafood based menu that gets great reviews, including one from the one and only Jay Rayner. Unfortunately we haven’t managed to go here yet (it was closed last time we went down), but it is high up on our list of must dos. If you do please let us know what you think on Instagram!
Salt is a brewery serving their own brews as well as others from across London. The beer is great and so are the wood fired pizzas they serve. They have outside space as well as bigger inside space so this is a particularly popular spot in the winter. They are also the only place on the yard to have their own toilet. If you need the loo whilst at any of the other places, you need to ask for the key to the shared toilets set up for customers of the places in the yard.
I could not write about Deptford without talking about Little Nan’s, a bar serving cocktails by the glass or by the teapot, as well as plenty of other drinks. It’s eclectically furnished with all sorts of nick nacks everywhere you look, bright neon lights, loud music and a great lively atmosphere, particularly on weekends. If you are having drinks in Deptford you should really make sure you stop off at this spot right outside the station.
Also a notable mention to Hop Burns & Black, a great shop serving all sorts of great craft beers, cocktails in cans, wine, and the biggest selection of hot sauce I have ever seen.
The rest of Deptford
There are loads of places to try in Deptford once you step out of the yard and I am sure I will have missed a few in this post, but let this serve as a demonstration of the wonderful offerings available food and drink wise.
For those of you looking for tasty vegan food look no further than The Waiting Room. Great for brunch they also serve tasty burgers and other bits.
Marcella is a great Italian place with a small, but very enjoyable, changing menu. They serve a few fresh pastas in both smaller or larger portions depending whether you want them as a starter or main, as well as a few larger dishes (generally one meat, one fish and one vegetarian). This is a place more suited to going for a nice sit down meal rather than hitting up as part for a crawl, but is well worth a visit. It’s probably worth booking here if you want to guarantee a table.
Pie, mash, liquor and jellied eels are a huge part of London’s culinary history. Once pie shops serving up these traditional dishes could be found everywhere in the capital, but they are a dying species. Manze’s is a Deptford icon and has been serving up these classic dishes for decades. It will be closing its doors next year when the owner retires, so if you want to try food from an iconic venue then head over soon.
Watergate is a cocktail bar and restaurant in a nice setting. With a decent amount of seating space and reasonably priced small plates. The owners of this place also own Stockton, another nice cocktail bar with a similar menu format. Both places also do brunch. Another cocktail bar and restaurant is Buster Mantis which is also owned by the same people. They all are nicely done up, serve nice drinks and great food*.
*I haven’t actually eaten at any of them yet but I have it on good authority they are serving up decent grub
Deptford has a great beer scene too with a few decent breweries. Villages is a particular favourite of mine, my favourite beer being the Rodeo Pale Ale. Little Faith is a little further from the station (around 10 mins) but is also great. They also normally have a food truck or similar there and sometimes have comedy events on.
There are also a number of good Vietnamese restaurants in the area. I have always loved Eat Vietnam, it is one of my favourite Vietnamese places in London. The last time we visited Deptford we ate at Viet Rest which we also thought was pretty good. The prawn, papaya and lotus root salad was a particular standout!
Now this last place I am going to talk about is very close to my heart. The Dog and Bell has got to be one of my favourite pubs in the city. This is a proper British boozer in the purest sense. Wooden benches, carpeted floors, a good selection of real ales and, the standout feature, a bar billiards table. I love a good traditional pub and this is a fine example of one. The people are welcoming, they have live music and weekends, and they even host a pickle festival in the autumn, I bloody love it. If you are looking for a real London pub experience look no further.
There are plenty of other places I could have talked about, but I am sure you have already had enough of my blabbering. Go to Deptford and see for yourself, there are plenty more places to discover.
