KEN TOWL reviews a South Norwood restaurant with a difference, and launches iC’s final competition of 2023, with two lunches for two on offer as the prizes
Pay what you can: South Norwood Community Kitchen regular Yaba lays out the payment terms
In the well-lit open-plan kitchen, Anne and Yaba were dancing. Their smiles and laughter were infectious. Briefly, a customer joined in, before being handed a plate of Thai pumpkin curry and crispy tofu with rice. Open-plan kitchens, and the “theatre of food” that they bring, are fashionable additions to the restaurant experience these days. The added spice of urgency and drama make the output from the kitchen all the more appealing.
The South Norwood Community Kitchen is no orthodox restaurant, however, though the standard of the food is remarkable and the ambience beyond the dreams of any corporate food outlet experience manager.
The people who work at SNCK clearly enjoy being there. And why wouldn’t they? They are providing a vital service to their community and doing it very well. While politicians content themselves with being photographed pointing at pot-holes or even standing outside the food banks made necessary by their policies, the people at SNCK get on with the business of making South Norwood a better place to be.
Every Saturday, they provide a free hot lunch for around 100 people, either sitting round a communal table or as take-aways, and they will even deliver when people are unable to come to them. Tuesdays to Fridays, they run a “pay-what-you-can caff” from 10am to 3pm at Socco Cheta, on Portland Road, and it was there I found myself last Friday, having taken advantage of an early finish at work.
Soul food: fragrant pumpkin and tofu curry
The pumpkin and tofu curry was fragrant in the way that Thai curries are, its complex mix of aromas subtly balanced, the long grain rice perfectly cooked.
Anne, who usually cooks on Fridays and had prepared the curry, explained to me the rationale behind it. It was important, she said, to ensure that the meals were high in nutrition and vitamins and Asian cooking was brilliant for that, good for health and the immune system, and good to make in bulk and easily varied. If you go to SNCK on Fridays you may well find Thai, Vietnamese or Indian cuisine.
Yaba pointed out the pricing policy. You can pay nothing, you can pay what you like, or you can pay a guide price. Yaba usually cooks on Thursdays. I was encouraged to go back and try her food when I can. I will.
It is not only high-class catering that SNCK provides, however.
I had a chat with one volunteer who told me that she had started coming along to help out because she had felt the need to have more people to talk to. She could do that here, and help out, too.
Another volunteer, Cecilia, was waiting on a delivery from Fareshare, the organisation that distributes more than 50,000 tonnes of donated food to charities every year. She explained how SNCK fills other gaps beyond hunger. As organisations such as Citizens’ Advice face funding crises, people are coming to the kitchen to be helped to find the help that they need.
Behind Cecilia, as she spoke, I noticed that an English class was about to take place in a back room.
Mission statement: open Tuesdays to Saturdays, SNCK offers a different menu daily
Where local government increases Council Tax by 15% and provides ever less in the way of amenities, even withdrawing finance from the most basic services, community-based solutions like the community kitchen are becoming ever more essential for ever more people. Local politicians could learn a lot from a visit to the Socco Cheta.
You should give the kitchen a try, too, not only because you will enjoy eating there, but also because you will be joining the lovely people who go there to help out. It will be good for your soul as well as your stomach.
- In order to give you a bit of nudge, and because it is nearly Christmas, I am offering to treat you and a guest to lunch at the SNCK. The Editor of Inside Croydon has agreed to match my offer, so that’s two lunches for two.
We have already donated the cost of the winners’ lunches to the SNCK. All you have to do is guess how much I paid for my lunch. The first two readers closest to the correct amount emailed to inside.croydon@btinternet.com under the subject line “Soul food competition” will be given a password that will enable them each to claim their meal for two.
If no one guesses correctly by noon on Friday, December 22, the nearest guess(es) will win (usual iC Ts&Cs apply; no cash alternative to the prize. Prizes must be claimed before February 29, 2024).
- South Norwood Community Kitchen is at 44b Portland Road, SE 25 4PQ. To find out more, to volunteer or make a donation, visit the website by clicking here
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