Brixton Village Market (formerly Granville Arcade) has become a prime dining destination thanks to the many cafés and restaurants that have opened among the fruit and veg, household goods and bric-a-brac stalls.
Decor at Etta's is simple: white walls, plain wooden tables and more tables ‘outside’ in the covered market. The short but appealing menu of fish and shellfish dishes runs from cod and chips to lobster, and includes succulent, fresh-grilled shell-on prawns, and crispy, deep-fried whitebait. There’s a couple of vegetarian dishes too.
The flavours of steamed sea bass harmonised beautifully with the just-right piquancy of scotch bonnet peppers, while seafood curry featured assorted fish and a quarter-crab in a spicy stock. A nutcracker and metal skewer were provided for the crab: a hands-on affair that’s not for the faint-hearted, but staff were brisk and efficient with their delivery of napkins and water bowls. So welcoming were they that it was tempting to linger over the outstanding own-made sorrel juice and gutsy ginger beer – but by then, a long queue was forming outside.
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