Reunion

Back in 1996, No.38 Westow Street was derelict, and had a tree growing out of it. Apparently not that unusual at the time. Across the road, at what is now Mediterranea, another tree was growing out of the empty building, and much of Westow Street was boarded up. So it was a somewhat brave decision by Alison Mcnaught and Dominic Holmes, two friends who'd met while working in a ski resort, to buy the empty building and more or less rebuild it from scratch. Putting their names together, the restaurant would become Domali.
Since their ski resort days, they had both worked for a while at the trend-setting Fire Station restaurant, which had just opened in Waterloo. As Alison recalls, pesto and bruschetta were the latest things. They wanted to bring a bit of that taste and style, along with the buzz of music festivals to Crystal Palace. Added to that, vegetarian restaurants were just beginning to appear, although ironically, the one that started it all, Cranks, was on the verge of collapse. The veggie breakfast became their signature, and endured as long as Domali itself, to become a local institution. The decade following the crash of 2008, saw trading conditions slowly get tougher, so the restaurant had a revamp, and even put meat on the menu. Then 'buggy-gate' happened. Despite the adverse publicity over Alison's new policy regarding prams, takings shot up, although it was a horrible experience she would rather not relive. By 2018, with austerity, rising costs, the Beast from the East, all taking their toll, the decision was taken to close Domali, but the eponymous partnership was not ready to give up doing what they loved, so Reunion was born. Things were run on a new model, bringing in regular pop-ups, cooking a variety of cuisines, from Trinidadian to Nigerian, bringing new flavours to the Triangle, plus hiring out the space for events and private parties.
However, after 24 years, Alison has decided to hang up the apron, and let out the space to new operators. She still has lots of faith in Crystal Palace, and is certain there's still lots of potential for someone younger to make a success of a business on the site. Meanwhile, she fully intends to continue supporting the Triangle in various capacities, with her involvement with the local traders association, with SE19 Lates, and as a trustee of the festival. In her view, alongside the green spaces, and the Triangle's perfect distance from central London (not too close, but not too far), it's the local people that make the area what it is, and she is proud to have had over 400 of them working at no.38 over the years, helping make it the cosy and welcoming bar and restaurant that it is. It will be missed, but at nearly a quarter of a century, it's tenure has clearly been a resounding success.

Alison McNaught

PS. Don't forget Reunion will be open all weekend, and the bar open on Sunday, as it's hosting an exhibition of superb photography as part of the Crystal Palace Artists Open House. And thereby hangs a rather amusing little anecdote. Many years ago, the now successful photographer in question, got a job in Domali. His name.... Dom Marley. You couldn't make it up!

PPS. It's been too darned wet to get a decent shot of the exterior!

Joanna's - 40th Anniversary - 1978-2018

Success in the restaurant industry is notoriously difficult to achieve. New restaurants are constantly opening, but they close down with alarming regularity too. What's flavour of the month one minute, can bite the dust the next. The recent demise of Salt & Pickle, locally, is but one sad example. So when a restaurant manages to survive for 40 years, it is a rare achievement, and one to be celebrated. And that's exactly what Joanna's is doing for the next month, bringing back lots of retro foodie favourites, including prawn cocktail, chilli con carne, and banoffee pancakes.
Congratulations to Will Ellner and his wonderful team on the continuing success of this local institution. Here's to the next 40 years!

I've been photographing the food and interiors at Joanna's for several years now, and here is a selection of the most recent shots which will shortly be appearing on their new look website.

Salt & Pickle

I first met Interior Designer, Ian Haigh, four or five years ago. He'd recently moved to Crystal Palace, and had stumbled across this blog. It so happened he was looking for an Interior Photographer to shoot his latest projects, and happily he's been a great client and firm friend ever since. Quite possibly he spotted my very first post on the opening of Good Taste back in 2011, but anyhow, he quickly became a big fan of Manish and his wonderful cheese shop. One day Ian said to him that what the shop needed was a few tables and chairs, and so an idea was formed. Meanwhile, owing to the success of Manish's shop, he commissioned Ian to design an upgrade with new counter and shelving. A glance at the old blog post shows how different it used to look.
Salt & Pickle came about as a natural progression from the shop. It was to be somewhere that showcased the best cheeses, charcuterie, wine and beer, in simple surroundings, but with the addition of a chef to create exciting dishes around a theme of cured and pickled foods. Naturally all did not go smoothly in the long process of finding a site. Several sites were looked at, and a previous attempt to secure the lease on what had been Betty's Bakery, fell through. It finally all came together earlier this year, with Ian on board as a partner in the business. The budget was tiny, so Ian's concept, was one of minimal intervention, which would echo the ethos of the food. The suspended ceiling grid was dismantled, walls for kitchen and toilet were erected, and bar constructed. These main building elements were carried out by local firm, Living Funky, but thereafter it was down to the partners to roll up their sleeves and wield the hammers and paint brushes. Simple painted panels created a backdrop to the space, while through his industry contacts, Ian was able to procure lighting and furniture at cost. The one big ticket item which swallowed up a chunk of the budget, is the lovely copper counter top.
On the food front, talented young chef, and bass player, Henry Freestone was appointed. Having previously worked at the Westow among other places, he's creative and energetic, and works pickling wonders in the kitchen. And in addition to enjoying a meal inside No.67 Westow Hill, you can also take-away, including some pretty amazing sandwiches at lunch time. With regard to suppliers, many of the beers are familiar local names, but  according to Manish, the most important criterion for selecting suppliers, apart from taste of course, is that they are pleasant people to deal with.
With Manish at the helm, it was always going to be an entertaining, and memorable venue, and assisting him , he has a great friendly team, some of whom previously gained experience in the shop. But finally, he would like to introduce you to his newest member of staff, Coravin!  Coravin is actually a clever device which allows you to extract wine from a bottle without taking the cork out, thereby allowing expensive wines to be sold by the glass without spoiling the remainder of the bottle. Santé!

Chef, Henry Freestone, Manish Utton-Mishra, Designer, Ian Haigh

Coravin

Salt & Pickle

67 Westow Hill

020 8761 9739

Instagram/Twitter @saltandpickle