The Harwood Arms – the
Fulham Local
Hidden away in the side streets
of Fulham, and with a name like
The Harwood Arms, I was expecting
nothing more than a classic English
pub. However, since three friends
have taken over management; publican
Edwin Vaux, Brett Graham from the
Michelin starred Ledbury restaurant
and Mike Robinson of the Pot Kiln,
this little hideaway definitely
has more promise than the local
pub.
More than just simply being concerned
with good ale, these foodies have
made food a priority – and
the punters seem to be pleased.
The Harwood Arms is buzzing with
cheery diners seated at classically
set tables, more representative
of fine dining rather than the
paper napkins and sticky coasters
customary at the pub. In fact,
I don’t think I would classify
The Harwood Arms as a pub at all;
it is more of a restaurant with
a rustic, welcoming, pub-like atmosphere.
The menu is classic with simple
starters like a warm onion tart
with Montgomery cheese that is
uncomplicated, soft, and thankfully
not very eggy (£5). Also
worth a mention is the sweet corn
soup with crab and basil (£5.50),
it is buttery and rich – warmly
indulgent. Keeping prices at a
reasonable pub benchmark, mains
start at £13.50, with dishes
like slow braised faggot (£14)
and braised shoulder of English
lamb (£13.50) all on the
menu. The Cornish cod with seaweed,
boiled potatoes, broccoli and English
mash samphire (£14.50) was
marvellous. The cod was magic,
so tender, whilst the cream sauce
was surprisingly light. My dish
of roast T-bone of Henley Fallow
deer with crisp potatoes and black
cabbage, served alongside mushroom
ketchup (£16.50) was also
quite tasty. I liked the crispy
saltiness of the potatoes, teamed
with delicious cabbage. Although
I found my piece of meat too big
for me to manoeuvre, and the mushroom
ketchup was not very mushroomy
which was disappointing as this
sounded like a great concept in
theory. Nevertheless, it was quite
a filling dish, although I must
say I preferred my companion’s
cod.
To help with digestion, the wine
list at The Harwood Arms is brilliant.
I quite enjoyed the Rosé,
Weighbridge, Peter Lehmann 2007,
(£5.60) which was smooth
with a tangy aftertaste. Also on
offer, Henriot Cuvee des Enchanteleurs,
deemed as a better drop than Krug
or Cristal, is an eye watering £150
a bottle. Cheaper, but impressive
drops from £14 are also available
from corners of the globe like
Australia, France and Chile.
Classic English deserts like Eton
mess (£5.50) and black treacle
and stem ginger tart (£6)
all sounded tempting. However,
I could not resist trying a bowl
of warm Bramley apple doughnuts
with spiced sugar (£5). Omigosh – heaven! These were like little balls of
apple pie, without the expected
oily gloopiness of doughnuts. I
ate the whole bowl myself!
The Harwood Arms seems to have
taken the best bits of pub culture – traditional
grub, reasonable prices and thirst-quenching
beverages, and teamed this with
a sophisticated layout, fresh produce,
and a more approachable crowd of
grown-up public school kids, who
seem like a hell of a lot more
fun than their Chelsea counterparts.
The Harwood Arms
27 Walham Grove
Fulham
SW6 1QP
02073861847
Approx £25 pp without drinks.
Jacklyn Swiecicki
