Gay Camberwell

by Layla

Le Petit Parisien continues to get mixed reactions on the Camberwell online blog - we'd be interested to hear your reaction? As for Su Thai, we were out too late to take up their special offer last night, but as we strolled past en route to Queer Complex at the Sun and Doves, we could see that some Gay Camberwellians seemed to be taking up the free wine and enjoying meals. This is currently the best Thai restaurant in the Camberwell vicinity, in our opinion.

For some time now, Roz and I have been muttering about a film festival. As we launched Gay Camberwell in November last year, we were keen to do some kind of event every November to celebrate. Then we booked our wedding and thus ruled out the first half of the month for honeymoon purposes. But, hoorah, we've figured it out. Since our weekly Pink Screen Sundays are so popular, as well as the other film nights in Camberwell such as the Sun and Doves (this month is Stanley Kubrick season), we thought we'd celebrate Gay Camberwell's first birthday through the medium of film. This November, Camberwell is going to play host to the Gay Cam Fim Festival. Read about it here, and if you're a film maker or know someone who is, please pass the info to them!

by Layla

My parents came to visit Camberwell for the first time today. I cursed the weather: SE5 isn’t at its best in the rain. Thankfully by noon the sun had come out and we were sitting at an outside table at Le Petit Parisien, Camberwell’s new French gastropub (on the site of the previous Dark Horse pub). All credit to them, the first time we visited Le Petit Parisien a couple of weeks ago, to write a review just after it opened, we were disappointed: poor service and unremarkable food, and a tad pricey too. We weren’t alone in being unimpressed: there was a flurry of commenting on the Camberwell online blog. However the owner of the pub came online and addressed all the criticisms, and today I was very impressed to see it seems to have turned itself around: excellent lunch, impeccable service, and my mother wishing there was such a nice lunch venue near her in Scotland.

We’ve been having a good time in Camberwell’s restaurants in the last couple of weeks. Our first visit to the Red Sea since our trip to Eritrea allowed us to now say the food really is authentically Eritrean, and really very good. Venturing into Tadim post-refurbishment left us impressed with the new sleek, modern décor and delicious, great value Turkish food. And after last week’s Pink Screen Sunday regular free gay film screening (every Sunday at 5pm at The Castle), a group of us went across to Su Thai for some excellent Thai food. In fact, today we are feeling particularly fond of Su Thai: not only do they do the best Thai food in the area, but entirely independently and without encouragement they found the Gay Camberwell website, and e-mailed us with a special offer: on Saturday 30th May, for every couple who buy two courses each, they’ll give you a free bottle of either Vini d’Autore Pino Grigio or Valpolicella to go with your meal. Just quote ‘Gay Camberwell’!

And rather a long time after Pasha Hotel has been hiding London’s only Kazakh Kyrgyz restaurant, Time Out has finally noticed (perhaps it was our letter, after our review) and has given it a rather good review. Camberwell’s gastronomic scene is clearly about to go mainstream. By the time Time Out notices Le Petit Parisien, at the rate they’re improving, they’ll get a rave review!