Kudu's latest opening offers small plates in a small space with touches of South African flavour
The flavours of Capetown have been taking over Peckham in recent years thanks to one growing company – Kudu Collective. Founded by Amy Corbin and Patrick Williams in 2018, the group runs three restaurants and one private dining room, each with its own slant or spin.
Little Kudu is the newest of the bunch, in a diminutive space serving small plates in a tapas-style affair under the railway arches of Queens Road Peckham station. Each Kudu is centred around South African cuisine, and head chef of Little Kudu, Chace Wagenhauser, was born there.
"It's nice to have that little bit of connection and to learn more about it all because I didn't grow up around food," she says. She started working at the original Kudu in October 2020 as a demi chef de partie and was entrusted with the new baby when it opened in June 2023.
If you're struggling to think of what South African food entails, a glance at the menu will be enough, the word ‘braai', the equivalent to a barbecue or grill, making multiple appearances. Then there's the Kalahari-spiced biltong, made at one of the Kudu sites and distributed across the lot.
"Every South African-inspired restaurant has to have biltong on their menu," says Wagenhauser. "And we've got little nods to [the cuisine] all over – definitely anything over fire."
The Little Kudu loaf is based on South African mosbolletjie with a texture similar to brioche, flavoured with cumin-spiced onions. It's served with a spiced melted butter in a wide black dish. "Cape Malay butter has a very South African flavour profile," says Wagenhauser.
Then there's the classic braaibroodjie – South Africa's take on the cheese toastie. The chef makes hers with a sourdough base, which she spreads with smoked butter to get that braaied flavour, then a smoked tomato ketchup. Baron Bigod is paired with pickled red onions to cut through its richness. Finally she tops the open-faced sandwich with Parmesan and Kudu's biltong rub.
Dishes aren't labelled with specific section headings, but rather get larger as you make your way down the menu. Smoked peri peri mussels are among the bigger plates of food, providing a hearty treat that shows off the Portuguese influence on South Africa.
Wagenhauser keeps a playfulness to the menu, such as the Fine de Claire oyster with its colours and intense flavours thanks to tomato dashi and wakame oil, or the plate of beef tartare rendered unrecognisable until the first bite thanks to its topping of a crunchy sourdough crumb and blob of fluffy onion treacle mayo. The chicken parfait tart is the prettiest dish – a simple dough is mixed with onion powder then rolled thinly to create a crisp base and then filled with fig chutney flavoured with port, red wine, star anise and cinnamon, finally with chicken parfait piped on top. The parfait itself is blended with a reduction of shallots and port, eggs, butter and salt, then steamed at 68ºC before being chilled and whipped again into a light cream. The showstopping colour comes from a sprinkling of beetroot powder, accompanied by pickled mustard seeds.
As for desserts, there's only two on the menu at any given time – one chocolate and one fruit. "I think that's always a good balance to have," explains Wagenhauser. At the moment, there's an apricot tarte tatin, which the chef says is her favourite, paired with an elderflower ice-cream to cut through the tartness of the fruit.
She has ideas to recreate South African sweets and home comforts for the dessert menu, but is in the process of developing ideas. "We've always got something on the back burner – almost too many ideas – and we want to put them all on at once."
Though the restaurant has only been open three months, Wagenhauser is looking to optimise the space and processes. The kitchen is so small there's only room for a standard fridge-freezer, rather than a walk in.
"We're definitely squeezed for space, but I think this makes us a little bit more creative with what we do," she says. Additionally, they're making do with a hand-me-down grill from Kudu, but will soon have a bigger one with more shelves to smoke food. "We can start hot smoking some things as well, which will be really fun."
From the menu
Little Kudu loaf, Cape Malay butter £7.50
Tempura sweetcorn, miso mayonnaise £7
Cantaloupe, coppa, honey, Aleppo chilli £10
Light smoked mackerel, pineapple, tomato, rock samphire £9.50
Braaibroodjie, Baron Bigod, smoked tomato chutney £10
Beef tartare, onion treacle mayo, pickled girolles £11.50
Flat iron steak, chips and red pepper relish £23
Smoked peri peri mussels £15
Braaied courgettes, ricotta, spiced honey, cashew dukkha £13
Dark chocolate torte, kalamansi ganache £9
Apricot tart tatin, elderflower, crème fraîche ice cream £9
133 Queen's Road, London SE15 2ND
