Bars & Pubs

By Ben McFarland

In a comically posh quarter of Fulham-cum-Chelsea opposite an Alfa Romeo car dealership and within guffawing distance of Amuse Bouche, a wine bar peddling champers to hooray Hugos and Henriettas, is this rather grand pub with high ceilings and a touch of the Raj about it. Its combination of Chesterfields and long chunky tables is equally welcome to both drinker and diner - a rare feat for a food-led pub. Hush-seeking eaters head for the plush restaurant at the back, there's an upstairs area available for hire and a terrific outside patio where deluxe burgers can be had.

Despite a change of landlord, the beer list remains arguably the finest in London, with in excess of 80 bottled beauties and more than a dozen perfectly kept draught beers pulled through lines cleaner than a nun's conscience. Not just beervana for Belgian beer buffs, it features wonderful wheat beers, fancy fruit beers, pukka pilsners and the best of British with eight rotating cask ales that strive to showcase a mild, a porter or stout and beers seldom seen elsewhere in the capital: 'Sloaney Pony' is to great beer what Shergar is - or was - to mysterious equine disappearances.

Appropriately, every dish on the menu comes recommended with a suitable tipple. Toulouse sausage & mash with kale and beer gravy is paired with Adnams Broadside, Hoegaarden-battered haddock with Harvey's Sussex and custard tart with Anchor Porter from San Francisco. If only more pubs would do this…

In July there's going to be a festival showcasing the thriving, yet relatively unexplored American microbrewing scene.

Time Out Issue 1966: April 24-30 2008