Full Marks in Fulham: The Brook & Badger – Following the sale of his highly successful pub group, Eamonn Manson opened Brook House on the new King’s Road. He’s now joined forces with his pal Adrian Palengat, the pop art dealer, to create The Brook and Badger in Munster Road, Fulham. Heading up the kitchen is chef James Scott who in tandem with Eamonn, created a menu that is not confined to any particular nationality, It offers a simple selection of dishes which combine exciting flavours with seasonal ingredients. Nibbles to enjoy with your pre-dinner drinks include anchovies on toast or pumpkin hummus all at under £10 a portion. Having heard rave reviews, I was keen to check it out.
It’s on a corner of Munster Road and Orbain Road, with adjacent on street parking. There’s seating on a terrace outside, and it’s obviously very popular with the locals. The first part of the pub is more of a ‘pub’ that you walk through to the gastropub. It was a Tuesday evening and pretty busy with a real community pub atmosphere. The friendly pub dog – a Cavalier spaniel – walks around checking out all the new arrivals and (judging by its slightly bulky figure) is fed quite a few titbits by customers. The tables are well spaced, and I was pleased to note that even though the tables had bare wooden tops, we had proper, freshly starched, napkins. This attention to detail continued as I noticed that a nearby table had their napkins neatly refolded when they all popped outside for a fag break.
There was a noticeboard detailing current summer special cocktails including a range of spritzes. I enjoyed a Negroni and my husband had an alcohol-free elderflower Collins while we studied the menu…and what a menu! It’s very rare for me to want to order almost everything on a menu, but this one really did appeal. I started with watermelon salad, feta, olive, basil, oregano, balsamic and honey dressing. It was the perfect starter for a warm summer evening and the addition of olives to the salad was an inspired one and one that I will be doing at home from now on. It was a perfect balance of sweet and sour, and while the basil was obvious and played its part well, I wasn’t aware of any oregano. My husband chose seabream ceviche, tomato concasse, red onion, avocado, citrus dressing, and chilli and I managed to persuade him to let me have a tiny taste. It was delicate, refreshing with a burst of lime and a hint of chilli, and beautifully presented.
As it was a hot evening, I opted to have another starter instead of a main course. Steak tartare, tarragon mustard, truffle emulsion, beef fat crostini sounded like a culinary marriage made in heaven – and it was.
I paired it with a salad of mixed leaves, that included deliciously sweet, pickled breakfast radishes. The steak tartare was almost an art form; it was so beautifully presented. It was topped with crispy onions, and the tarragon mustard was an inspired addition. I would have perhaps liked it to be a tad spicier, but it was seriously good and absolutely delicious.
My better half had chosen a 200g bavette steak (28 day dry-aged) and served with beef fat fries and a choice of sauces. He opted for bearnaise. It was served ready sliced and beautifully pink as requested. It was declared tasty and fabulous and the meat was very tender.
The serving staff were, not surprisingly, incredibly busy, but highly efficient and professional on such a busy evening. We were comfortably replete, but the pub’s lovely deputy manager Cecilia persuaded us to choose a dessert. Buttermilk panacotta with strawberry coulis was quickly selected by my husband (slightly to my annoyance, as I adore panacotta, but to be honest I didn’t really need or have room for anything else). I managed to swipe a quick spoonful, though, which made me even more jealous as it really was very good. A vanilla affogato for me filled the gap between a small pud and a coffee refreshingly well.
A glass of house rosé for me and a large bottle of sparkling water accompanied our delicious meal. Wines start at £8 a glass or £32 a bottle.
If only this fabulous pub were closer to Twickenham…
The Seasoned Gastronome