Restaurant: Kaieteur Kitchen
Address: Castle Square, Elephant Rd, London SE17 1EU
Date of visit: Saturday 5 October 2024
Time of visit: 5:15pm
This restaurant visit was quite an easy one to pin down. From the little research I found myself doing it looked fairly certain that there was only one Guyanese restaurant in London, and one which was fairly well established. Judging by the social media presence, website and online reviews, this place is well loved.
Kaieteur Kitchen is based in a small unit on the 1st floor of the North Block of Castle Square, a collection of retail and leisure businesses directly across from Elephant & Castle National Rail station.
It is also the temporary home of the Elephant and Castle statue which stands majestically on top of the wooden units, in exile while the massive redevelopment of the old Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre continues. Apparently he'll return home eventually.
We walked up the wooden stairs to the restaurant and my heart instantly sank. The restaurant, in fact clearly little more than a cafe, was absolutely packed to the rafters. The venue comprised of three tables - two large, one small - and a worktop with two chairs. All seats were taken, and there was still a five-deep queue of people filling the little remaining floor space inside. And then Elle and I outside. I was ready to give up straight away, but Elle insisted we still give it a try. So in we squeezed, trying not to hit the diners on the first table with the door on the way in.
We managed to get the attention of a lady we quickly learned was the (rather legendary) owner of the cafe, Faye Gomes, and asked if she thought we'd have a chance of getting a seat. Surprisingly she seemed quite confident that we'd only have to wait a few minutes. It transpired that those standing in front us were ordering or collecting to take away. She then gestured to a table where a man and (I assume) his grandson looked to be close to leaving.
Right enough, we didn't have to wait too long for the table to be vacated, cleaned and re-set. And down we sat. My initial disappointment disappeared. Immediately I could sense the vibe and the buzz of the place, Guyanese music was playing, people were chatting, and the place smelled amazing! Not too long after we sat down another group came in hoping for a table. Not a chance. They were asked to come back later.
The menus had already been placed on the table when it was set for us. There was also a menu board close to the kitchen which partially agreed with the printed menu, with some variations.
One of the other two waitresses brought some water and a pot of chilli sauce to the table. Obviously I dipped my finger in. It was LIQUID FIRE. Almost certainly some kind of ghost chilli. Right up my street!
Our order was taken quite quickly. I really wanted to go for a national delicacy, which is highly rated here, known as pepper pot. A spiced meat stew usually served at special occasions. At Kaieteur Kitchen that special occasion is the last weekend of every month. Alas, this was the first weekend of the month.
Therefore I went for the closest thing - Guyanese stewed beef. With vegetables, spinach rice and stewed pumpkin. Elle chose the curry mutton, with rice and peas and fried okra. A few minutes later we were told they were out of curry mutton (one of several things they no longer had in stock, including rotis). Elle opted for the same stewed beef as me, and took the opportunity to change her fried okra to spinach in coconut sauce.
Kaieteur Kitchen doesn't have an alcohol licence. But they do have a variety of great looking homemade drinks on display in a fridge. We ordered one bottle of fruit punch between us, and its fair to say it was bursting with flavour. I'm not used to not having a beer or wine with my dinner when dining out, but this felt quite wholesome.
Shortly after the punch arrived Ms. Gomes appoached us to ask if we were able to move to a different table to accommodate the group that earlier tried to find a space. This was absolutely fine with us. Unfortunately the time to move was about 60 seconds after our meals had arrived and we started eating. Faye and her team were very hands-on with helping us move everything from our original table to a new table. Within a minute or so we were settled and eating again.
So to the food.
The meals came on a rectangular plate with the rice, meat and side arranged side by side. The portions looked particularly generous, which was a very welcome development. Clear value for money. The beef was very tender, in a very rich and flavoursome gravy. The rice was perfectly cooked, with just the right amount of spinach and peas across both dishes. The pumpkin side was very filling, making the whole dish a seriously good meal. Elle mentioned that the coconut flavour with the spinach side was more delicate than she expected, but she was still happy with the choice.
All in all this venue offers some seriously good cooking, and a very friendly and attentive service. I'm trying my best to avoid using the word "chaos" or "chaotic", because that's too strong. It was a lively, active environment. But when you try to accomodate a dozen people in such a tight space that's going to happen. It created a really nice buzz though. And one I'd definitely like to experience again. Next time for pepper pot.
