The owners of Rochelle Canteen and St John recommend their favourite local pub, a spectacular restaurant in an antiques shop and Fergus’s regular haunt for bacon sandwiches
EATING OUT
Canton Arms
177 S Lambeth Rd, London SW8 1XP; www.cantonarms.com
A pub down the road, run by the owners of Anchor & Hope, that serves good, hearty food. “In terms of places to eat out around here, the Canton Arms wins. We like it a lot.” – Fergus
Brunswick House (pictured above)
30 Wandsworth Rd, London SW8 2LG; www.brunswickhouse.co
A restaurant amid an antiques shop in a dramatic Georgian mansion in Vauxhall. “Jackson [Boxer, the chef-owner] has done a great job. He’s doing really well, the space looks great, it’s got great views. We go there quite a bit.” Margot mentions they also like Frank’s Café, a bar-restaurant on top of a multistory car park in Peckham run by Jackson’s brother Frank Boxer and open during the summer.
Hong Kong City
43 New Cross Rd, London SE14 5DS; www.hongkong-city.co.uk
“We went to this Chinese restaurant on the Old Kent Road. There’s a lot of posh cars outside in the car park, the restaurant is the size of a football pitch. Because we know a bit about Chinese food, we ordered jellyfish, and they were like, okay. Then things started to happen. It was really good.” Speaking of good Chinese restaurants, Margot and Fergus also recommend Silk Road [49 Camberwell Church St, London SE5 8TR], which specialises in food from Xinjiang in northern China.
Hot Stuff
17-19 Wilcox Rd, London SW8 2XA; www.welovehotstuff.com
Fergus and Margot’s son Hector recommends this thriving, inexpensive Kenyan-Indian restaurant in Vauxhall. “It’s just round the corner,” says Margot. “The guy who runs it is really nice and the food’s really good, definitely mention that.”
BUYING IN
Oval farmers’ market
St Marks Church, Kennington Park Rd, London SE11 4PW; https://weareccfm.com/locations/oval/ (Open Saturdays 10am-3pm)
“We go to the farmers’ market at Oval, it’s really nice, not too big. The dairy stall there is excellent. He has raw milk and cream and amazing yoghurts. There’s a young farmer who kills one sheep a week. I asked ‘Have you got any more kidneys’ and he said ‘No, a sheep’s only got two kidneys’. That’s quite something isn’t it? But he’s got really nice meat. The vegetables are o-kay. And there’s a good fisherman, and they have really good herb plants there.” – Margot
Italo
13 Bonnington Square, London SW8 1TE; www.italodeli.co.uk
“It’s such a different world in Bonnington Square, compared to the rest of Vauxhall which is such a dour, harsh place. It was all squats that got organised and now it’s like going into hippy-ville. We go to Italo a lot for lunch or breakfast. We also buy a lot of stuff from the deli, including these nice Portuguese crisps [see Things].” – Margot
New Covent Garden Flower Market
London SW8 5BH; www.newcoventgardenmarket.com/flowers
“I go to the flower market a lot, to buy flowers for jobs. Fergus comes with me and has a bacon sandwich while I’m buying the flowers – at the place [Coffee Break] where Ed Miliband was filmed eating a bacon sandwich.” – Margot