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TheOrator.Press Restaurant News & Review: The Garrison, Bermondsey, London. December 2023
Deep In The Back Streets of Dickens Territory, off Borough High Street, Is A Dining Establishment & Refreshment House Any Noble Person, Lady or Gent Would Be Proud To Patronize.
Serving Traditional English Fayre Bravely & Beautifully Blended With A Fusion of Herbs, Spices, And Seasonings Locally Procured, Yet Also Delivering Flavours From Around The World, The Garrison Is A Gem In Gentrified Southwark. Notwithstanding That It Appears In The Michelin Good Restaurant Guide According To Them It Is Still Nonetheless Officially A Pub. But The Fact That That The Michelin Food Maestros Have Mentioned This Gastro Pub At All Is Testimony To The Fact That Its Restaurant Is Operating On Another Level. And That Level, Despite The Laid Back Casual Setting, Is Practically Fine-Dining. With Fine Service. Within A Relaxed Yet Refined Atmosphere. With Fine Decor, Fine Food Creations, Presentations And Suitably Fine Wine.
TheOrator.Press (TO.P) Is Frankly Very Particular When It Comes To Pubs, But This One Is Exceptional. And After This First Visit We Are Already Thinking of Reasons To ReturnAgain. The Fact That It Is Rated By Both The Harden As Well As The Michelin Food And Drink Guide (Neither Garrison Listing We Knew of Prior To Our Post Visit Research), The Fact That We Received Attentive, Friendly & High Quality Service, And The Fact That We Had A Good Time, Good Food & Good Wine, Might Just Be A Few of Them.
We Also Love The Location. It’s Pretty Special. Although It’s Really Rather Central, Technically It’s Still South East London. Notwithstanding SE1 Is The Highest Ranking Postcode South of The River, As We Hail From South Ourselves We Feel A Certain Connection. The Dichotomy of Being Central Yet Still Urban Is Something of A Special Geographical Magic Trick Worth Treasuring. Plus Historically The Area Is Fascinating. Infamously A Notorious Undesirable Dickensian Slum,Twenty Years Ago, At The Start of The New Millenium, The Garrison Was Part of A New Movement of Redevelopment And Now It’s A Gentrification Giant. Politically It’s Unfair. Practically It’s Brought New Opportunities To The Area. And Gastronomically It’s Open To Everyone. For Those With A Discerning Palate Its Prices Are Within The Reasonably Expected Range And Its Food Is Top Notch. But Happily There Is No Snobbery. We Felt Comfortable Black, White, Prince or Pauper Were Welcome And That Both Bermondsey Street In General And The Garrison In Particular Have Embraced Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. So Much So That We Might Just Have To Engage Again At Some Stage As Each September The Street Has An Annual Food & Activities Festival, And We Like To Be Thorough, So We Feel Duty Calls, For 2024. So Watch This Space.
We Found The Garrison Great As A Group Destination Because They Are Very Accomodating When It Comes To Moving Tables Around And Fitting Folk In According To Their Needs or Sudden Change In Numbers. And The Dishes Are So Interesting As Recognisable English Classics, But With A Substantial Fusion Flourish, It Makes Them Perfect For Ordering Different Dishes And Trying A Little of Everything From Each Other’s Plates. Simultaneously, With Breakfast, Lunch And Dinner Menus Featuring A Range of Various British Classics Such As A Black Pudding Full English Breakfast, Sausages & Sauces, Bacon Sarnis, And Eggs Benedict, To Fish Friday Fish n’ Chips To Sunday Roasts of Lamb, Chicken, Pork or Beef, With Giant Yorkshire Puddings, To Spotted Dick And Custard, Sticky Toffee Pudding With Cream, Cheesecakes With Peaches or Poppy Seeds Or Eton Mess For The Posh Set, You Can Simply Stick To What You Know And Get Stuck In. And Everybody’s Welcome To Have As Little or As Much As They Like. For Us Gastronomic Democracy, Alongside Good Quality Generally & Good Service Particularly, Is Always Very Important. And We Liked That About This Place. It Made Us Feel Relaxed, Comfortable And Genuinely Welcome. And If That’s Not Happening We’re Not Staying. And Definitely Not Returning. So We Stayed. Loved It. Looking Forward To Returning. And Going The Whole Hog’, Yes, We’d Definitely Recommend It.
Their Versatility Is Further Highlighted By The Fact That The Michelin Guide Has Included Them As ‘A Selected Restaurant’ For One of The Best Places To Go For A First Date. (There Are Clean, Cool, Cosy Booths At The Back of The Pub.)
A Word of Warning Though. Do Make A Reservation In Advance As They Can Get Very Busy Very Quickly. Owned By The Mosaic Pub & Dining Group It’s One of Their Typically Stylish New Approach Venues.
There’s A Function Room Downstairs For Special Occasions Throughout The Year.
And Ho! Ho! Ho! For Those Who Fancy It, They’re Open On Christmas Day! It’s Dog Friendly. And We’d Venture Reindeer Friendly Too.
What A Fine Christmas That Would Be Indeed (We Might Just Try It One Year)!
Photo: By TheOrator.Press (TO.P) Photography. Our Waiter Felipe (White T-Shirt) And Our Three Dinner Guests. Centre, Kezhia A Britsh Based Kenyan Artist, Art Dealer & Art Projects Director At www.okellooregeart.comHer English-Scottish Partner Ian, A Property Developer (Wearing Check Shirt, Left). And Jean-Paul A Maronite Christian Lebonese Artist(Wearing Check Shirt, Right, With Handkerchief) @Paulier9 He Said: “A Delicious Gastronomic Experience. Even Such Simple Side Dishes Like The House Chips With Salsa Vert And The Confit Hispi Cabbage, Romesco And Chimichurri Were Finger-Licking Deliciousness. Full With Diners & The Atmosphere Was Buzzing With Very Contented Customers. Special Mention Goes To Our Waiter Felipe Who Patiently Went Out of His Way To Explain The Menu And Dishes And Left Us Not Wanting For Anything.” Ian Said: The Beef Croquettes Were Delicious. Crunchy With A Very Tasty Beef Filling. My Steak Onglet Was Also Excellent. Cripsy & Well Done On The Outside And Very Succulent. Our Sides Were Wonderful. Particularly The Cabbage, Chips And Crushed Potatoes. Enjoyed The House Wine (Red), Ameretto & Limoncello. The Puddings Were Excellent Especially The Sticky Toffeed Pudding & Lemon Posset. The Staff Were Very Accomodating. Felipe Looked After Us Extremely Well Throughout. The Garrison Is Clearly A Very Popular Venue Attracting A Large Number of Young Professionals Which Created A Very Buzzy Ambience For Us.” Kezhia Added: “The Duck Was Absolutely Mouth Watering, Tender & Full of Flavour. The Traditonal Sticky Toffee Pudding Was Nothing Short of Heavenly And The Generous Serving of Toffee Sauce Further Enchanced The Enjoyment. We Ended The Evening On A High Note With Some Excellent Digestives. I Would Highly Recommend This Experience.“
Dickens, A Dicey History & A Devilish Dodger Indeed
The Aforementioned Gentrification Has Seen An Explosion of Eateries & Galleries On Bermondsey Street, Including The Arrival of The Garrison In 2003. The Street And Its Surrounding Areas Have Gone Through Peaks And Troughs In Terms of Its Geographical Fortunes. From Marshlands, To Dickensian Slums, To Warehouses & Wharfs, To Antique Dealers, Luxury Apartments, Contemporary Commerical Units, Hotels And Heartwarming Community Projects. So As News & Review Magazine Keen To Encourage Edu-Tainment & Inspiration For All Generations We Got Stuck Into The History Too.
Bermondsey, The Street’s Namesake, Was A Rural Marshland Parish For The Centuries. This Was Until The Great Fire of London Which Began In Nearby Pudding Lane, Just Across London Bridge, In 1666 on September 6th. It Was Followed By Unavoidable 17th Century Redevelopment of The Area And The Well-To-Do Moving In And Commanding Things At A Time When Britain Operated An Immoveable Class System. The Industrial Revolution Sytematically Cemented The Class Divide In The Most Brutal & Unforgiving of Ways. It Was The Workhouse or The Clink Such As Southwark’s Marshalsea Prison For Those Who Could Not Pay Their Way As Have Nots When The Haves Were The Ruling Class & Slave Merchant Aristocrats. After The Industrial Revolution Peaked The Area Saw A Downturn Again. Something Which The Area’s Most Famous Son, Charles Dickens, Would Highlight In His Proflic Writing. Most Famously In This Tale of Fagin, Dodger, Sikes, Nancy & Oliver From His Beloved Novel Oliver Twist (1839).
As Well As Being A Prolific Writer On London He Was A Prolific Walker of London’s Streets. From Blackfriars To Borough High Street And The Docklands of London Bridge And The River Thames (Including George Row), The Tanneries of Bermondsey, Up To The Writing Classes of Fleet Street, Westminister Law Makers, And Inns of Court Lawyers, Landmarks Noting The Authorpreneur’s Presence Are Everywhere. But Especially In The Southwark Area, The London Borough Within Which The Garrison & Bermondsey Street Sit. There’s A Dickens Square, A Dickens Estate, A Dickens Field, A Dickens Primary School, And A Dickens Pub (The George Inn Yard, Southwark, With A Longstanding Photo Gallery Featuring Dickens Himself, Now Owned By The Greene King Pubs Group). And There’s Even An Official 1855 Southwark Council Archive Mapping The Exact Location of The Home of The Fictional Bill Sykes. And There’s The Real Life Stairwell Off London Bridge Featured In The (1968) Film Adaptation of Oliver Twist Where Sikes Notoriously Sealed His Own Fate After Murderously Sealing Nancy’s.
Virtually Two Centuries After The Great Fire of London, In 1861 Another Fire Saw Sikes’ Old Slum Dwelling of Jacob’s Island Burnt Down. The Remainder Was Subsequently Demolished And Redeveloped As Wharfs & Warehouses (For The Plantation Merchant Classes aka Slaver Traders). Decades Later In 1934 A New Social Housing Development Created The Dickens Estate. The Second World War Saw Yet More Damage To The Area Once Again And It Eventually Fell Into Ruination. But In Thatcher’s Docklands of The 1980s & 90s The Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) Saw The Area Totally Transformed By A New Kind of Private Property Development Project Which Turned The Area Into Luxury Riverside Apartments. The Likes of The Late Architectural Designers Sir Terance Conran & Michael Squire Were Pioneers of Property Development At This Time. Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands of OXO Fame Have Historically Been Big Players Too. All Signs of The Destitution of Dickens Day Were Virtually Totally Disappeared. Although The Dickens Museum At 48 Doughty Street, London, W1 (Camden) Documents It In Great Illustrative Detail Nonetheless For History’s Sake.
But History Also Notes That Dickens Is Not Without Controversy. There Have Been Many Protestations That His Portrayal of Fagin In Oliver Twist Was And Remains Anti-Semetic. And He Was Also A Member of The Colonial 1866 Edward Eyre Defence Committee, Which Alongside Charles Kingsley, And Artist John Ruskin (Friend of Artist JMW Turner), Tennyson And Others Supported The Jamaican Governor Edward Eyre’s Brutal, Savage & Inhumanely Cruel Suppression of The Morant Bay Rebellion, In St.Thomas, Jamaica, Led By Reverand Paul Bogel, Who Demanded Better Living & Working Conditions For Freed People In The British Colony. The Jamaica Committee, Set Up By Royal Commission, To Conduct An Investigation, Included Abolitionists Who Believed Governor Eyre Should Be Tried For Murder In Accordance With The British Rule of Law.
Yet Ultimately He Was Simply Dismissed From His Post & Recalled Back To Britain By The Colonial Office. This, Notwithstanding 400 People Were Executed, Including Dual Heritage, Freedman, Turned Jamaican Politian, George William Gordon, Who Was Accused of Being Responsible For The Rebellion. He Was Denied Justice And His Rights As A ‘Fellow-Citizen’ And Indeed As A ‘Fellow Politician’ Under The British Empire And Dickens Helped So Deny Him. Eyre Dodged A Bullet After Condeming Others To Take One. Those On The Abolitionist Jamaica Committee Fighting Against Dickens & His Fellow Colonialists Included A.V Dicey (A Legal Scholar), John Bright, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Henry Huxley, Thomas Hill Green, Thomas Hughes & Herbert Spencer.
Reasons For Discovering This Little Gem In The First Place
Although Dickens Was An Advocate For Improved Working & Living Conditions For The Disadvantaged, The Downtrodden, The Disempowered, The Devastatingly Poor, And The Destitute Indigenous Working Classes of Ninteenth Century Britain, They Did Not Like The Way He Nor Other Observers And Social Researchers Like Henry Mayhew, Studied And Wrote Them (As They Feared & Did Not Trust The Ruling Aristocracy & Middle-Classes). As An Act of Self-Protection And Protestation In 1851 The More Articulate, Enterprising, Able, Bold And Courageous Amongst Them Formed The Street Trader’s Protection Association In Objection To Mayhew’s ‘Mis-Representation’ of Them In A Publication Called ‘London Labour & The London Poor‘. Their Objections Were Made In A Meeting With Mayhew At Westminister. But As Per Standard Procedure With The Ruling Classes of The Day, They Were Ultimately Dismissed.
However, Happily And Commendably Much Evolution Has Taken Place Over The Years & Decades Since Then, Resulting In A Greater Sense of Consultation, Cooperation And Community Involvement.
Under The High Quantity Cheese Load Added By @HomeGirl LondonWe Imagine One Would Find The Delicious Beef Arancini Which We Also Had (Without Cheese). And The Second Dish Looks Absolutely Delicious (And Somewhat Veggie Come Vegan). But We Cannot Confirm Directly As @HomeGirl London Went On A Different Day To Us. We Reached Out And Await A Response. Meantime Whilst We Did Not Have The Fish When We Went, We Did Have The Large Fries With Pea Puree. Super Tasty. As Was The Sticky Toffee And The Plum Fruit Compote. @HomeGirl London Went In November 2023And We Went A Little While Later In December 2023, Totally Independently. Came Across @HomeGirl London’s Post (Music By Nessim Molder) While Doing Our Review & Thought How Uncanny That We Selected A Number of The Same Dishes From The Menu On Different Days. But What Great Gastronomic Corroboration!
A Century & A Decade After The Mayhew Mayhem, During The Swinging 60s & The Age of The Beatles Change Was Very Much In The Air! In The West End Carnaby Street And The Kings Road Were Cool. In SE1 The Antiques Market Was Cool. As Was Nearby Petticoat Lane. The Bermondsey Street Association Was Now In Operation And During The Next Decade The Street Was Designated An Official Conservation Area In 1973 And Has Had Protected Status The For The Last Fifty Years. 30 Years After The Bermondsey Street Association Formed In The 60s. The Bermondsey Street Area Partnership Began Circa 1992 Chaired By Michael Davis (An Architect & Local Community Leader). It 2018 It Rebranded As The Online Community Group BermondseyStreet.London And They And Each Iteration Have Achieved Amazing Things. Now The Ruling Order of The Day In A More Flexible Society Is Teamwork Between The Property Developers, Local Businesses, Local Council, Local Residents, Local Tenants (Especially From The White Grounds Estate JMB – Joint Management Board) And The Local Community.
Post WWII Previously Busy Tanneries & Leatherworks Born During The Industrial Revolution, When The Country’s Growing Population Demanded More Textiles And Leathers, Were Blitzed, Redundant And Eventually Replaced By Antique Stalls Relocated From The Kings Cross, St Pancreas And Caledonian Road Area In 1947 (Two Years After The Armistice). The Antiques Trade Grew Significantly Up To The Mid-1950s (Following The End of Rationing In 1954) And Boomed In The 80s & Start of The 90s (Especially With TV Characters Like Del Boy, Lovejoy, And Arthur Daly And of Course Shows Like The Antiques Road Show Adding To Their Popularity). For Over Forty Years It Steadily Grew Until A Legal Outrage Came Home To Roost And The Council Announced Plans To Close It Down In 2000 As Part of A Redevelopment Programme. Art Stolen From Lincoln’s Inn Fields Inns of Court In The Early Ninties Was Traded At The Market Under A Legal Anomoly Known As Le Marche Ouvert ( The Open Market) Which Meant Stolen Goods Were Traded Without Legal Intervention Between Sun-up & Sun-down.
But Now The Livid Lincolns Inn Lawyers Drafted The Supply & Sale of Goods Act 1994 In Response And The Market No Longer Flourished In The Way It Used To Due To The Legal Re-Set With The Legal Concept: Buyer Beware! Despite This Intitial Downturn Bermondsey Square Still Holds An Antiques Market Every Friday 6.00am-2.00pm As The Bermondsey Antique Traders Association Literally Stood Their Ground Throughout Various Consultantions And Insisted That The Market Remain Open Despite Redevelopment Plans. They Succeeded And It Remains One of The Square’s Main Attractions (Domestically & Internationally) Even Though New Rules Are In Place And A New Property Company Now Manages It For Southwark Council.
The New ‘Bermondsey Square Hotel’ Opened Its Doors In 2008 And Now Stands On The Site That Was Once Bermondsey Abbey (Before It Was Demolished During The Reformation Under Tudor King Henry VIII). And Today It’s Not Lots of Priests But Lots Of Advertising, Marketing & PR Executives Who Frequent The Area. And There Has Been No Better PR For The Square Than The Annual December Vogue Supplement ‘Vogue: The Secret Address Book’ (2011) Declaring “Bermondsey Square Is The Coolest Quarter In London.” This Was After It Was Voted Best Public Space At The City’s Annual Planning Awards Earlier That Same Year In February (2011). And That Was Even Before The (2015) Launch of The New ‘Bermondsey Works’ Apartment Complex By Property Developers Telford Homes And Architects ‘Stockwool’, Over In Rotherhithe New Road (SE16). As Part of The One Billion Pound ‘New Bermondsey’ Regeneration Project, It Included Improved Transport Links, Which Have Had An Inevitable Knock On Beneficial Effect For Bermondsey SE1. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!
(Photo Gallery: Inside The Garrison, Recognition By Harden’s, (What We’d Call Advocado Green) Lush Yet Comfortable Heels From Kat Maconie, The Dame Zhandra Rhodes Textile & Fashion Museum @FashionTextileMuseum, The Bermondsey Project Space @bprojectspace (Where TO.P Checked Out The Inaugural Contemporary Kenyan Art Exhibition Curated By Kanazia @KanaziaGallery+ Studio), Inside The Garrison, Michelin Recognition For The Garrison, (What We’re Calling On This Ocassion… Advocado Art) From The Inaugural Contemporary Kenyan Art Exhibition At 185 Bermondsey Road Dec 2023 By Artisit @_brianlein (Who Calls It ‘Radiant Flux’, It’s Official Name)
Talking of Dinner, When She Was A Mere Cool Quinquagenarian, The Now Immortalized Octogenarian, Textile Titan, Fashion Designer Dame Zandra Rhodes Moved Onto The Street In 1995 (Nearly 30 Years Ago) When There Was No Cool Restaurant Scene, Cafe Society or Culture Club Such As There Is Now. In Fact She Helped Build The New Cool Vibe. Virtually Eight Years After Selling Her House In Notting Hill And Buying A Former Warehouse That Had Become Available She Launched The Fashion & Textile Museum In 2003. Twenty Years On It Has Become A Landmark Teaching Establishment, An Esteemed Exciting Exhibition Centre, A Stylish Little Shop And A Fashion School With Students, Pros, Muses & Models @ZandraRhodes Working In Association With Newham College. And Also of Course, It Remains A Private Living Quarters.
In 2013 @EamesFineArt Opened Their New Gallery Ten Years Later. Two Years After Them Came The Art Bermondsey Project Space @BProjectSpace Which Opened In 2015 To Support Different Artists At Different Levels of Development Through Educational Programmes And InnovativeArtistic Expression. Then White Cube @WhiteCube The Famous International Exhibition Centre Chose The Street For Their British Headquarters Four Years Hence In 2019. So There’s Now A Firmly Established Art Hub Here And That’s Why We Were There. We Went To See The Inaugural Exhibition of Contemporary Kenyan Art In London, ‘Vision & Possibilities’ On Saturday December 2nd 2023 (Invited By Kezhia The Kenyan Artist & Art Director @Okello_Orege_Art Pictured Above With The Rest of Our Table Including Our Waiter Felipe).
We Researched Possible Places To Have Drinks & A Bite To Eat Having Decided To Make A Night of It After The Exhibition. TheGarrison Appealed To Us Most of All The Ones We Looked At So We Made A Reservation And Decided To Check It Out. Incidentally, One Place With An Automated Message That Demanded We Download An App To Get In Touch As They Don’t Take Phone Reservations Caused Us To Immediately Lose Interest. If They Can’t Be Bothered Then Neither Can We. We Cannot Let Technology Totally Replace Humanity. The Garrison Proved To Be A Great Discovery As Was The Bermondsey History And Indeed Art Gallery Which We Attended. Consequently We’ve Now Developed What Will No Doubt Be A Life Long Interest In The Area. And Amen To That. Like Arnie, We’ll Be Back!
International Shoe Designer Kat Maconie Also Moved In In 2019. We Love That She Has Wholeheartedly Embraced Diversity In Her Advertising Campaigns (Especially As Super Model Naomi Campbell Who Is A Champion of Diversity In Modelling Is To Have Her Own Exhibition At The V & A Next Year Celebrating Her Work As A Model For Over Four Decades…And Still Walking Runways!). Maconie’s Neighbour’s Include A Number of Tasty Italians Including Celebrity Chef Angela Hartnett’s Cafe Murano Bermondsey, Pasta & Wine Establishment Flour & Grape, Pizza People Franca Manca (Also In Brixton Village) And A Couple French Friends Too Including Casse-Croute.
For The Festival Next Year We Definitely Know A Number of High QualityAfro-Caribbean Chefs, Caterers And Event Services Who Could Spice Things Up A Bit By Bringing Some Caribbean Flavour To The Festivities.
Roll On New Year & 2024!
Yes Indeed, “Please Sir, May We Have Some More!”
Photo Gallery: Previous Tasty Hors d’oeuvre Bites @thegarrison.co.uk Include Crispy Coated Cod Croquettes, Crispy Coated Lamb Croquettes, And Crispy Coated Brown Crab ‘Bon Bons’. On Saturday Night December 2nd 2023 Four Amuse-Bouche Beef Croquettes With A Sumptuous Thick Beef Sauce Presented In A Similar Style Were Delivered To Our Table. And They Were So Delicious That Frankly They Just All Disappeared Quick Style! Photos By TheOrator.Press (TO.P): Side Dishes: Hispi Cabbage With ChimichurriAnd Almonds, Chips (Large & Long, Like Giant Fish Fingers), Crushed Potatoes, And Sprout Tops. Mains Dishes: Pork Loin (Cut In Half And The Crackling Trimmed Off By TheOrator.PressTO.P With Extra Gravy On The Side, In Anticipation of Some Seriously Sumptuous Slow Eating. We Always Have Our Meat Well Done As We Hail From Jamaican Heritage And That’s The Way We Like It! Cusine Should Be Democratic. Each To Their Own. As Demonstrated By Our Three Guest’s Choices Around The Table. Steak Onglet With Beans (Medium Rare), Duck With Shared Side Orders (Medium Rare). Steak Onglet With Beans And Some Crushed Potatoes on The Plate (Medium Rare) With House Red Wine. Authentic Amalfi Lemons (Used In So Many Dishes & Creations Be They Sweet or Savoury). Large Bottle Belu Still Mineral Water. Desserts: Fruit Compote With Plums, Sticky Toffee Pudding, Limoncello, Lemon Posset (A Simple But Tasty & Refreshing, Lemon Sugar & Cream Dessert), Sticky Toffee Pudding, Brandy. (And JP Had A Coffee Which Came With Some Delicious Digestives!)
TheOrator.Press (TO.P) Is A New, Online, Independent Magazine. A Positive Magazine. For Positive People. By Positive People. We Seek To Build, Maintain & Grow A More Inclusive, Independent, Diverse, Equitable, And Allyship Focused Press Platform, Representing Members of The Afro-Caribbean And African-American Community & Our Friends & Allies. In Our Own More Authentic, Balanced & Positive Voice & Style. We Are Currently A Work In Progress & Would Appreciate Your Support To Keep Going For The Next Generation Who Will Build Continued Improvements & Maybe One Day A Media Empire!
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