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Lamberts

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2 Station Parade, Balham High Road, SW12 9AZ Full details & map

Restaurant: Modern European

Time Out says 3 Users say 5/5 Rate it

By Time Out Editors Posted: Oct 17 2011

For many years, Lamberts has been the best restaurant in Balham, but our most recent visit suggests it is rivalling - or surpassing - Chez Bruce as the smartest choice in south-west London. Service was solicitous and attentive as ever, purring along with the easy confidence of a restaurant at the top of its game. But prices barely rise above the level of 'smart neighbourhood place': about £7 for starters, £17 for mains, £6 for dessert.

For this, you get very sophisticated cooking. The sous-vide wood pigeon breast wasn't the pallid meat this slow-cooking technique sometimes imparts; instead, the rich flesh was tender and moist, nicely cut with the sharpness of accompanying apple chunks and hazelnuts. In contrast, line-caught Dorset char was pleasingly blackened on the skin, with the firm flesh resting on crushed Jersey royals with a slick of sauce vierge.

We've always found the meat and fish dishes imaginative, but this time it was the desserts that stood out, such as the tiny mattress-like wafers of own-made lemon marshmallow, sandwiching a scoop of strawberry sorbet, the plate peppered with fresh strawberry chunks. The drinks list is well chosen and reasonably priced, offering great wines by the glass or carafe.

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Tags: European, Modern European, Business, Creative cooking, Families & kids, Fine dining, Wines, South, Balham, Mid-range, Restaurant

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Lamberts details

Address

Lamberts

2 Station Parade, Balham High Road SW12 9AZ

Transport Balham tube/rail

Telephone

020 8675 2233

Lamberts website

Lunch served noon-3pm Sat. Dinner served 7-10.30pm Mon-Sat. Meals served noon-5pm Sun

Main courses £14-£18. Set meal (Tue-Thur) £17 2 courses, £20 3 courses

Credit cards MC, V

Facilities

Babies and children welcome ( children's menu weekends; high chairs ), Booking advisable ( essential weekends ), Available for hire

Lamberts map

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Comments & ratings 5/5 (Average of 3 ratings)

By Morris Zwi - Apr 9 2011

5/5

This is our favorite restaurant around here in Balham. The food is exquisite, the staff are informative and attentive (though not intrusive) and the wine list covers a wide price range and is helpfully arranged according to wine style. Joe Lambert has created a real gem!

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By ReviewedByMike - Jan 30 2011

A group of 7 of us went to Lamberts for the Saturday lunch set menu. From the menu you could select 2 courses for £17 or 3 for £20. There were 4 starters, 5 mains and 4 desserts. Generally the menu read well although there was a distinct lack of red meat (anywhere) and not really any lighter options apart from a salad that had a heavy dressing and stilton cheese. For this type of money the food was acceptable, if not good value. Unfortunately the wait staff in the restaurant were a real let down. Even know we were in a busy thoroughfare of the restaurant it seemed they did there best to ignore us resulting in the restaurant losing more of our money as were interested in at least another couple of bottles of wine. After our 3 course our table wasn't cleared at all and we decided to start moving out to get someone's attention so we could pay out bill. Overall good value with regular to poor London service.