By Majella Taylor, New Openings Editor, H&C News: Little Baobab and Well Kneaded opening at Peckham Levels.
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This February, SE15’s multi-layered cultural destination Peckham Levels will be welcoming two new street food traders to the food hall on Level 6: Senegalese soul food brand, Little Baobab, and sustainable sourdough pizzeria, Well Kneaded.
Little Baobab will be launching on 10th February with a free night of Senegalese live music, tasters and bespoke cocktails.
Well Kneaded will be launching on 11th February, with half price pizzas all weekend, and during Half Term (until 19th February) when you purchase a pizza, you’ll be able to get a kids pizza at half price,
Little Baobab
For the past 5 years, Chef Khadim Mane of Little Baobab has been making waves in London’s African dining scene, from his popular East London pop-ups and catering stints across the city, to trading at UK festivals WOMAD and We Out Here. Little Baobab’s new spot on Level 6 will be Khadim’s first permanent venture in South London, where he’ll be cooking-up a succinct selection of daily dishes that champion the fresh, flavourful and colourful style of Senegalese cooking.
Mane commented on the news saying: “Since I launched Little Baobab, I’ve always wanted to bring Senegalese cooking to different parts of London, as there are very few places to get Senegalese food. People often travel from South London to our monthly pop-ups in Hackney, so we’re really excited to be part of Peckham’s food scene and build the profile of Senegalese food here.”
The menu will feature Senegalese favourites, including popular street food snack, Fataya, the sweet-spicy-tangy comfort dish, Chicken Yassa and the ultimate heart-warming soul food, Thiebou Dienne, a dish of jollof rice and sea bass, with cassava, carrot and aubergine. Plus, each week there’ll be rotating specials championing the flavours of Senegalese cuisine.
To celebrate, Little Baobab will be throwing a free-to-attend launch party on Level 6 on the evening of Friday 10th February. To amplify the tastes of Senegalese food culture through music, the night will be filled with the sounds of Senegal, with live performances by bands Abdoulaye Samb & Minnjiaraby and Kasai Masai, plus Little Baobab will be serving-up free tasters of their menu, offering discounted snack plates all night, and the bar will have Senegalese-inspired cocktails using Little Baobab’s signature blends on offer exclusively for the night.
Well Kneaded
Headed up by husband and wife team, Laurence and Bridget, Well Kneaded crafts seasonally changing wood-fired sourdough pizzas, salads and side dishes.
Launching back in 2011 private catering with KERB events, this will be Well Kneaded’s second permanent venture south of the river, following the 2018 opening of their neighbourhood pizzeria Earlsfield. All ingredients are sourced from hyper-local low-intervention producers and suppliers, majority within Greater London, such as Sutton Community Farm and Paradise Cooperative. The 48-hour fermented pizza dough is even made out of freshly milled 100% British grains from Well Kneaded’s own mill in at their Earlsfield pizzeria.
Well Kneaded is on a mission to nurture the growth of inner-city communities, through offering an internship for young adults who’ve faced social barriers to employment to learn about sustainable agriculture practices and the art of pizza making.
As well as popular mainstays on the menu, such as the Marg and Meaty Marg, Well Kneaded’s offering changes regularly depending on the seasonal produce available from their suppliers. The current winter spial is topped with Tempus pancetta, roasted squash, sage, Colston Bassett stilton and red onion, with the vegetarian option loaded with squash, cavolo nero, garlic oil and peanuts, plus kimchi and pickled chillies, fermented in-house by the Well Kneaded team.
Well Kneaded will be opening at Peckham Levels on 11th February, with 50% off all pizzas for the weekend (11th and 12th February) and for Half Term (until 19th February) for every adult pizza purchased, you’ll be able to get a kids pizza at half price.
Founders Laurence and Bridget commented: “We’re absolutely buzzing to join the street food line-up at Peckham Levels. As well as being added to their rich portfolio of innovative change-makers, Peckham Levels matches our commitment to supporting the community, through their rich programme of free events for all and offering free space to organisations that support multi-generational South Londoners.”
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