Streatham Review of the Month pt1 The Hamlet
Another local blogger that has volunteered her services to Streatham Pulse recently is Kyra Kellawan She writes the blog, Bitter Sweet City. Its tagline is “London & Other Places. Food & Other Things, For Your Delectation” and she can also be found on Twitter @bittersweetcity.
As Streatham Pulse’s new in house food & drink reviewer she intends to deliver a new series of monthly bar, cafe & restaurant reviews. In the first of the series Kyra has visited Streatham Hill’s newest bar, The Hamlet.
It’s been a little over 6 months since I moved to Streatham, and I am fast appreciating all it has to offer. It’s such a friendly place, with a real sense of community, not to mention diversity and a refreshing lack of snobbery or postcode envy. There’s also plenty to delight the tastebuds: Middle Eastern patisseries, Portuguese cafés, Asian fusion restaurants galore and plenty of West Indian vegetables and spices to be had, all a stone’s throw from the flat I share with the Mister, who has lived here for the last four years.
The one thing I had noted that Streatham Hill was really lacking, however – at least within stumbling distance – was a great local pub. The Mister had tried his best, bless ‘im, showing me to his most local haunts – The Crown and Septic, as we fondly call it, or to Taylor’s, (hmm – we’ll save it for another review) or even to Bar 61, which although charming and with great tapas on offer, can’t really call itself a pub.
The Hamlet goes at least some way towards addressing that, with a style all of its own. It’s less of a typical local and more of a cocktail bar with DJs and food. Décor is stylish and dark; the ground floor has something of a 20’s speakeasy vibe to it, with mis-matched chairs, dark wood floors and old-fashioned lampshades. It’s dusky and rather sexy, with large leather sofas for some low-key lounging. There’s a mix of jazz, big band and modern beats being played by an enthusiastic DJ. A small but well-stocked bar offers a multitude of cocktails, a selection of continental beers on tap (Birra Moretti, Heineken – both £3.60 a pint) and a small open kitchen at the back allows some inviting foody smells to waft towards the customers.
Down a rather small and rickety staircase there’s a basement bar, which has an intriguing ceiling created by layering lots of old records on top of each other. The effect is modernising; if upstairs is circa 1928, downstairs could be 1970. More tables for eating are laid out down here, and it’s the kind of space that would do very nicely for private hire purposes, with its own corner bar and large flat-screen TV. It’s less cosy than upstairs, and the décor theme doesn’t really carry on down here, but it’s certainly a better option if you’re looking to sit down and try any of the delicious-smelling food, which I certainly was.
The staff here are very friendly and when the Mister and I ordered drinks upstairs and intimated that we’d like to eat as well, we were given menus and allowed to choose our own table. The menu is not huge, but has been thought out really well. I chose the bacon and stilton salad which came on a bed of fresh spinach, with a lovely creamy dressing. The Mister chose the crab cakes – these came with a fresh and zesty little side salad, and some chips. The chips were pretty ace; just the right side of chubby, with light and fluffy insides. Although not cheap at around £9 for the salad and £11 for the crab cakes, we felt the food was good value considering the quality of ingredients and the portion sizes.
Happily fed and watered, we looked around at the other punters. The place was busy, the ambience was good, and the cocktails everyone seemed to be sipping (as they were 2-for-1 all evening on Thursdays) looked great and would definitely get sampled on our next return visit. As we waved goodbye to the cheery staff, I noticed that the information board outside was advertising quiz nights and burlesque nights in the offing. The Hamlet looks to be a pretty sweet multi-functional venue that will keep a lot of different kinds of Streatham-dwellers happy. If it keeps doing what it’s doing, I can only see success for this welcome addition to the neighbourhood.
Kyra will be back with another review next month. In the mean time you can read more of her writing here at Bitter Sweet City.
There is a fantastic pub for those who live a bit further South – the Earl Ferrers http://www.earlferrers.co.uk/ is everything you could want from a local. Great reasonably priced food, good music, film nights, friendly bar staff, comfy seats and a beautiful polished wooden mirrored bar.
I agree the Earl Ferrers is a great, more old-fashioned pub. When I’ve been there the food’s been great (roasts) and even some laid-back live music on a Sunday afternoon.
Going to the Hamlet tonight
Honestly, the hamlet you speak of, and the one I have had the misfortune to visit, are clearly not the same… I was unbelievably shocked at the waitress/manager (or so she believes she is), her attitude to my guests from France and I have never seen such rude, impatient and unbelivably disrespectful people in all my life. From the moment we entered the restaurant, this blonde haired bimbo had her disgusting impatient attitude rearing for us, with not a moment to spare she hurried us downstairs, showed us to a table and forcefully placed one menu for us all to try and decide on what we should order. Unfortunately, before we could even look at the menu, this horrid waitress/manager (again still feel she was just giving herself this title for the night) demanded, yes demanded we order drinks at that moment. Slightly annoyed we started to order drinks, however, because we had friends from France, we had to translate some of the menu that the young children could not understand, and apparently for this so called waitress/manager (of which she made clear that she has a whole 5 years experience in the catering business !well done!) interrupted our conversation about what the children would like to drink and constantly asked over and over what the kids want ! eventually we had to settle for water as we could not even get to look decently at the drinks menu. I would like to rant o. But this blog comes to an end. To finish: the next time I visit, will be the day it closes while a laugh !