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by Roz


Finding myself unexpectedly off work (and in London) for a few weeks, I have been exploring the environs of Camberwell.  After all, I hear that there's more to south London than SE5...

The lure of cake took me to Rosie's Deli and Cafe in Market Row and very satisfying it proved too (though I was disappointed that the "mystery chocolate cake" proved to be lacking in suspense).  More revelatory, however, was the array of other lovely shops and cafes in Market Row.  

East Dulwich proved more disappointing.  But then my visit there was in hopes of finding accoutrement for the newest member of the Gay Camberwell team, an effeminate-looking, one-eyed cat called Nelson who we adopted last week.  I had hoped that the middle-class of East Dulwich would have a high-class pet shop, with the prettiest scratching-post imaginable.  Alas, I returned home empty-handed.  Mind you, the cake in in the Blue Mountain Cafe (which was on a par with that in Brixton) and the glass of rose in Green and Blue were very pleasing consolations...

Yesterday I meandered over to Bermondsey's antique market and to have a look at Shockwaves (the new cinema in Bermondsey Square).  My timing was bad: too late to pick up the best bargains at the former and too early to feel I could justify coffee and cake in the cinema's cafe.  But the vibe was very pleasant - and it's clearly a place to return to.  

However, when my friend called to suggest lunch and wedding talk, I was in no doubt about where to propose: Chumleigh Gardens cafe comes into its own in the summer (even this year's variety of summer).  I was able to be pleasingly smug about both the venue and the food.  My smugness continued when we popped into Edwardes bike shop to pick up Layla's bike and received a warm reception and interested enquiries after my "friend" and why she wasn't picking up her bike herself.  Our talk turned to weddings, and I felt the need to mention my own.  At this moment nemesis decided it was appropriate to reprimand me for my previous smugness, and I found myself blurting out "that friend of mine, the one whose bike I'm picking up, well she and I are getting married in October".  

Even a visit to La Luna for lovely pizza and to Frank's Cafe and Campari Bar (the pop-up Peckham bar in the car park) last night haven't quite reconciled me to such an inelegant coming out.  Perhaps cake in Crystal Palace today will help. And I hear they have dinosaurs too...taking south London's multiculturalism to new levels...



 

 

 


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