This week's Restaurant of the Week is the 2009 Catey Menu of the Year winner, the Harwood Arms in London's Fulham.
Good beer, a simple countryside-in-London atmosphere, and unfussy yet inventive British cuisine. This pretty much sums up the Harwood Arms, which launched last October as a joint venture between rural celebrity chef Mike Robinson, publican Edwin Vaux and Brett Graham, head chef at the Michelin-starred the Ledbury.
The menu at the 60-cover gastropub is the brainchild of Graham and head chef Stephen Williams and it's a menu of exclusively English produce. Its creativity is what stands the Harwood Arms apart from competitors and marks its appeal amidst a sea of so-called London gastropubs.
And of course there's the price point: à la carte starters rarely exceed £6, mains rarely £15. The key: everything is fastidiously seasonal and, beyond the protein, the luxuriousness of the dish is in the cooking alone.
Starters include white onion and thyme soup with devilled chicken livers and crispy wings on toast; salad of Warwickshire asparagus with roasted hazelnuts, radishes and salad cream; and soft boiled pheasant eggs with field mushrooms and coarse celery salt.
Mains feature whole Berkshire wood pigeon with Staffordshire oatcakes, smoked bacon, broad beans and soft lettuce; or Cornish cod with brown shrimps, grilled spring onions and sea purslane.
Meat dishes include braised shoulder of English lamb with lovage, peas and grain mustard crumbs; and boiled salt beef brisket with new season carrots, spring greens, cauliflower croquettes and green sauce. And note the cuts - no fillet, loin, leg or any other exclusive cut that might crank of the dish's price.
Desserts move seasonally with the rest of the menu. There's Earl Grey tea ice cream with Harwood Arms Garibaldi biscuits; English strawberries with elderflower jelly and sour cream sorbet; and rhubarb meringue pie with Jersey cream.
It's still early days for the Harwood Arms, but its promise and simplicity of its menu already sees it stand apart in a sea of average pub offerings. And that's what made it the worthy winner of this year's Menu of the Year, beating stiff competition from Clog and Billycock and Glynn Purnell's eponymous Michelin-starred restaurant.
Average spend: £40 for three courses including drinks and service
27 Walham Grove, Fulham, London, SW6 1QR; Tel: 020 7386 1847
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