Food & Drink

COSY HOUSE IN CAMBERWELL

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11 August 2011

By John Prendergast
johnp@southwarknews.co.uk

Lunch is something of an abstract concept for your modern day hack. Gone are the days of long boozy lunches taking in your favourite tipple and grabbing a pork pie or scratching’s for sustenance to eek away an afternoon.
It’s a shame as I think I would have been particularly good at those, instead of the sandwich on the run, or a Lebanese kebab that we now have on the legendary ‘Lebo Fridays’ in the office.

It’s been a manic week in Southwark so I decided to try to sneak an hour away from the mayhem at a café in Camberwell I have heard good whispers about.
From the outside House doesn’t look like an eatery mostly because it doubles as a gallery, which it more closely resembles.

But one step inside the door you have a cosy, if rather cramped, clean white café oozing with cool music and miles away from the mayhem that was going on in the rest of the borough this week.
So it was just what the doctor ordered. I could get away from the phone for an hour, stick my head in a book (young readers will know this as a kindle in paper form) and have a civilised lunch to recharge the batteries before the final push before deadline.

I selected a fancy dan sandwich for lunch to treat myself and even had granary bread to help with a recent health push. The bread is up against it I admit as I have been feasting on anything with an e-number or high fat content like a gouging beast recently; and the trousers are beginning to creak because of it.

In the relaxing atmosphere I put away any electronic device, dug out the paper e-book, kicked back and relaxed.
This is the House’s greatest strength. It’s truly a pleasant place to be, cool music and pleasant staff trying to make your lunchtime something to savour and enjoy rather than scoff down and go.

Reading the background to the café it turns out it is linked to the Wells Community Church, a registered charity.
All the profits from the café go to a trust that supports local community projects, including youth project XLP, as well as causes further afield in Bangkok, India and Africa.

So not only am I eating to fill my belly I am giving to charity, although of course I don’t really want to talk about it.
The tea and sandwich arrived and as expected it was delicious and filling, the melted cheese and onion are a real banker taste combination, but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Surprisingly the rocket came on the side with some tomatoes which was ok by me, but it would have been nice to have some in the sandwich as well. They came with a Brucie bonus of kettle chips, salt and vinegar if my junk food hammered taste buds are not mistaken, and as a result it was a fine filler at lunch to set me up for a busy afternoon.
Everyone has an addiction. Winehouse had her drugs, the cookie monster has cookies, the less said about Gary Glitter the better I think. But my addiction is cake.

So put me in front of an array of homemade cakes and I’m going to say yes please quicker than wannabe wag on the hunt in China Whites.
I went for an unusual lime, coconut and ginger combination mostly as I wanted to see how the flavours came together as a sweet.

Now don’t get me wrong the cake was delicious, nice and succulent with a moist sponge that was pleasant to chomp away on but I think the lime and ginger had done a runner in my slice.
Coconut ruled the day. As far as this bad boy is concerned, I could not get the slightly bitter zing of lime or any ginger kick at all. So it was a tad disappointing although as I said it was still pretty scrumptious.
With the office blaring on the phone to get back on the streets my relaxing lunch hour was up, but I could get used to it you know.

So if you lunch in style, or want to try it, and want to do your bit for the community while you eat then House is for you.
I will be back to try some of the other varieties of cake on offer in particular, and to hell with my non-existent health drive.

HOUSE CAFE AND GALLERY
70 CAMBERWELL CHURCH STREET, SE5 8QZ
020 7358 4475
 www.house-gallery.co.uk

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