The Bolingbroke, Battersea

I was really looking forward to date night with R in the Bolingbroke. We were a bit early for our reservation, so we started with a drink in the Draft House just down the road. It was a bit busy in there, and until we managed to nab a barstool was rather uncomfortable, Another minus point as they didn’t have any ginger beer, but I still like what they are doing, so will give them another chance. It was primetime on a Friday night.

So then on to the Bolingbroke. This is the far end of Northcote Road from Clapham Junction, and is a decent sized space, although with quite a short bar. We went straight through to our table, which was at the back. Once we had negotiated ourselves away from the table with the howling draft we settled back to peruse the menu. I had also managed to get a voucher for a free glass of wine with each main course, so that set us off well.

The menu read really well, and I could have chosen pretty much anything. Having had a quick look at the menu online I decided to forgo a starter so that I would have room for pudding. R, being a sucker for anything that involves warm cheese, had a blue cheese and onion tart. This was an individual tart served with a salad, and certainly looked the part. Good reports came from the other side of the table, in particular the pastry was beautifully short and buttery.

Onto the mains. I had gone for the sea bass wrapped in pancetta, with risotto. The sea bass was well cooked, and not too dry, and the pancetta was crispy. However I found it odd that the fish had not been skinned, and so there was some rather flabby and unappetizing skin. The risotto was OK, but didn’t have much flavour to it, and really was just a pile of rice. Nothing seemed to have been seasoned much, and I had no vegetables at all.

R had gone for the guinea fowl. I only tried a little bit, but again it was massively underseasoned. Both dishes looked good, but the taste just did not match up. There wasn’t anything wrong per se, they just were not that good.

The final straw was when the pudding menu arrived and there was nothing on it that didn’t have gluten in it. We decided to cut our losses and get the bill, which luckily was pretty good value given the free wine.

In all this was really disappointing, since the menu looked really good, and it felt like with more care the food could have lived up to its billing. The service was great, and just the right level of attentiveness with out being too intrusive.

The Harwood Arms, Fulham (Again)

I know I have already posted about the Harwood Arms, but we had such a good meal at the weekend that I thought I ought to write about it. I think we were lucky that we wanted to go on Sunday evening, and they therefore had space for the six of us, as they won Time Out new gastropub of the year last week.

There was a lot of negotiation going on as we chose what to eat, due to the rib of beef for two that was available. We all also seemed to go for the same starters, which really caught the eye.

I shared poached salmon with broken egg with my brother. There had been a lot of discussion as to what broken egg, in the context, would be. I think it was a soft boiled egg chopped up, so the yolk made a bit of a sauce. It went very well with the soft smokey salmon, and the shared portion was perfect to whet the appetite for the amount of meat to follow. The other starter we tried was a soft-boiled duck egg with English truffle soldiers. Again, this was a perfectly executed dish, with the egg still runny and the truffle providing a different, earthy, aspect to the dish.

Four of the group then shared the rib of beef, with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and vegetables. This arrived on two big wooden boards, and there was a serious amount of food. We could have just ordered these between the six of us, and still all been full! The beef was beautifully pink and tender, and the horseradish the perfect hit of spicy creaminess. The roast potatoes looked amazingly crispy too, although I never tried them since I was distracted by the arrival of my pork belly.

This was meltingly tender, with a hint of five-spice (we think). My only slight complaint would be that my preference would be for crisper crackling, as this was a little chewy. However, it seems churlish to complain when the dish was so delicious. It came with some stewed prunes for a sweet hit, and to-die-for mashed potatoes. I am ignoring the likely butter content!

By this point we were all stuffed, and yet couldn’t resist the lure of the puddings. My eton mess was spot on, with a large ration of meringue to cream, which is definitely my preference, and the blackcurrants providing a tart contrast. There was also a delicious jelly at the bottom, but my tastebuds had been blown by the blackcurrant (in a good way) and I couldn’t identify the subtle flavours.

My brother’s apple doughnuts had people moaning around the table, and his girlfriend’s burnt Trinty cream (like crème brulee, but slightly runnier cream) was also a hit. R had truffled Tunworth cheese with homemade oatcakes, which he seemed reluctant to share.

This was my parents’ treat, as it was their wedding anniversary, so I don’t know what the damage was. However, last time we went it was pretty good value, and for this quality of food the prices did not seem high.

The service was good too, and they dealt well with my request for gluten-free, coming back to change my order once someone noticed that the mutton I wanted originally had unadvertised breadcrumbs on it. They were also more than happy to bag up our leftover beef so that we could take it home with us.

We have eaten at one of the runner-up pubs in the Time Out competition, the Cadogan Arms, and I have to say that the Harwood is in a completely different class. This is a place that knows what it wants to achieve, and does so using seasonal, well-sourced produce, without being too expensive. I really can't recommend it highly enough.

On our way out we also noticed that they are offering a special grouse menu, if you order in advance. We might be back pretty soon!

The Potting Shed, Crudwell, Wiltshire

The Potting Shed is owned by the same people as the hotel we were staying in, and we could see it from our bedroom window, so the walk to dinner was not too onerous. We sat at the bar for a drink first, and the staff we nicely chatty, which I always appreciate. They were also very helpful at finding out if there was any hidden gluten in any of the dishes, and marked up a menu for me especially. I love the beer pumps, which were made of old spade handles - so cute!

I started with sardines with a lemon and caper butter, which were beautifully cooked with the sauce offsetting the oiliness of the fish perfectly. It lacked a little texture, but that is my fault since I couldn't have the toast that they were supposed to come on. R had red mullet fillets with new potato salad and watercress pesto, which was also well cooked and worked well together.

I followed with sea bass with asparagus and hollandaise. I am definitely taking advantage of the asparagus season at the moment, and these were perfectly tender while retaining some bite, and I could have eaten then forever if I hadn't got full! R had chicken leg with pea and spinach risotto, which again he enjoyed.

You may have spotted the similarity to what I ate the night before, and you could see that the same people had input into both of the menus. It was no worse for that though. We were too full for pudding, and I was heartbroken by this point as I got word that Chelsea had been knocked out of the Champions League in the dying seconds.

The Harwood Arms, Fulham

The jungle drums had started beating that this pub had been taken over by new management. We used to go there fairly regularly when R lived in Fulham, and it has been owned by Geronimo Inns for a few years. We needed somewhere to go before a Chelsea game, so I booked a table.

The menus were brought over with a jug of tap water and some bread in a little hessian sack. My father started with a well-kept pint of London Pride, and there were a couple of other bitters too, so that kept him happy. I had a Fentimans ginger beer, which is one of my favourites, so I was happy too.

We decided that for lunch, and knowing we were having a large meal that evening, we would have two starters each. There was plenty of choice, but the fish platter for two caught both of our eyes, so we started with that. It arrived with toasted sour dough and potato scones, and consisted of some very nice smoked salmon, two croquettes filled with a sort of fish pie mixture, some potted shrimps and some marinated mackerel. It was all very good, with the croquettes and the mackerel particularly standing out.

I followed this with rabbit schnitzel, with leaves and wholegrain mustard mayonnaise, which was on the specials board. It was beautifully cooked, crunchy on the outside with the rabbit taste still coming through. My father had crispy pigs ears with trotter on toast, which he raved about

Unfortunately we didn’t have time to sample some yummy-sounding puddings, so we will just have to go back.

This was a perfect pub lunch. Yes it is definitely a gastro-pub, and some people won’t like the fact that it has very little space for drinking. But the food was perfectly executed, and the service efficient and friendly, even though they were full and on a deadline as virtually everyone in there had to be round the corner at Stanford Bridge in time for kick-off.

The Sporting Page, SW10

I love living where we do in Battersea. There is great food shopping and eating out, and I can run it all off in either Battersea Park or on Clapham Common. But there isn't anywhere great to watch sport, which is why we found ourselves in the Sporting Page last week for the Liverpool v Chelsea Champions League game. This is an old haunt from when R lived around the corner, although it has had a facelift since then.

I was glad I had booked a table, as it was heaving. We squeezed into our allotted space, and settled down to watch the match. I'm sure my view of the food is vastly improved by the result of the match though! We both had burger, R a chicken burger and mine a medium rare hamburger with cheese. It was cooked spot on, the chips were a perfect size and crispy-ness, and it all arrived piping hot - no mean feat with the pub that rammed. This was perfect sport watching food, not trying to do too much, but getting what it did spot on.