Annapurna

101 Chiswick High Road
W4 2ED

020 8994 0338


Hard to believe now, but when we first came to Chiswick in 1992, we just didn't have the range or choice of restaurants that we do now. There was Foubert's, of course, Southey's, Pizza Express, Texas Lone Star on the Terrace and the posh French place in Devonshire Road (not La Trompette, but La Dordogne). And Annapurna, which dates back to the 1970s. A typical Friday night in the early 90s started with a workout at the Hogarth Club, followed by a beer in the bar and a curry at Annapurna. Heady days.

We hadn't been to Annapurna for ages, and it caught our eye when making the local news recently due to GuideDogGate. (Don't worry, this turned out not to be doubts about the contents of the Tandoori Mixed Grill, but the restaurant's refusal to let a blind customer bring a guide-dog in, which a spokesman subsequently claimed was a misunderstanding and apologised for).

Helpfully, the restaurant's website tells you it is located in "London's Chiswick", which saves you making a wasted journey to the Chiswick in the western suburbs of Sydney that was known as Bigi Bigi until the 1850s.  More precisely, it describes itself as "an authentic Indian restaurant located on Chiswick High Road" which it is, so long as 'authentic' means looking like pretty much every other Indian restaurant in the UK, but not much like any restaurant in India. It draws in "spice seeking diners from all over the area" and is apparently the favourite curry house of local celebrities Jeremy Vine and Kevin McNally (yes, I had to look him up too, but you will recognise him).

Stereotypically we started with some draft Kingfisher, accompanied by "palin papadum" (a tribute to everyone's favourite Python) with "pickels" (a tribute to everyone's favourite LA Raiders defensive tackle) and chutneys, including the unnaturally orange coconut one.

We skipped starters and dived straight in to the main course. We shared a saag gosht (lamb cooked with fresh spinach and dry fenugreek leaves) and - from their impressive selection of Murgh Dishes - a murgh dhansak (chicken breast cooked with lentils in a sweet, sour and spicy sauce). Both fitted the restaurant's own description of "mouth-watering", spicy but not too saucy (move over Giles Coren, this is top quality restaurant criticism). We accompanied that with some chana masala, a roti and basmati rice - probably more carbs than Mrs WEST4URANTS had eaten all week. And to round off the perfect evening, they brought us After Eights with the bill, presumably a tradition dating back to their 1970s launch.

By a quirk of fate, younger Miss WEST4URANTS also fancied a curry that Friday night, but she was baby-sitting, so I treated her to a takeaway from Indian Zing on King Street and, fond though I am of Annapurna, she got the better deal. If Indian Zing was in W4 that would obviously be our favourite Indian restaurant in Chiswick. But it isn't, so Annapurna is.


Food (for 2): £25.10
Drink: £9.70
Total: £38.30

Foxlow

11 Barley Mow Passage
W4 4PH

020 7680 2702


Now that I am deemed to be an expert on where to eat in Chiswick - and I'm talking amongst my friends here, this blog has not yet become the go to site for where to eat this side of Hammersmith Bridge - though it is only a matter of time, I'm sure - I find myself poleaxed by indecision.  Not least because I can't yet go somewhere I haven't been before (Mr W would think that a criminal waste of a potential blog opportunity) but also because I feel the need to impress with my inside knowledge of all things restaurant in W4. 

So, it was a ladies night.  Wanted: food (decent), wine (plenty) and atmosphere (but not too much - we are within striking distance of middle age after all) and all within walking distance. Foxlow would appear to hit the spot.  It emerged last year after the much loved Sam's Brasserie closed - not I hasten to add because it was not doing well, but because Sam fancied life in the countryside, and who can blame him.  And in November it was shortlisted for Best Restaurant in Chiswick in the Time Out Love London Awards.

Being laydees we did the inevitable and opted for the healthy(er) fish options.  Three of us had the hake with saffron white beans and roast tomatoes and one the salmon with new potatoes, spinach and creme fraiche.  All were good though we did agree that the hake was on the lukewarm side of hot.  We shared a milk chocolate pannacotta - last of the big eaters! - which was much much nicer than it either sounded or looked.  Just look at the photo.  All washed down with, wait for it, a bottle of Pinot Grigio. (Or Pinto Grigio as it said on the bill, which sounds like a different drink altogether).

So.  I think Foxlow is perfectly nice. The food is good, the wine is decent and it has a buzz which gives it a sense that you're not in the wrong place.  But like all half decent restaurants, of which there are many in Chiswick, it's the company that really matters.  And that night it was gorgeous.

Food (for 1): £17.38

Drink: £12.75

Total: £33.66 

Giusi

9a Devonshire Road
W4 2EU

020 8995 6999




Giusi (pronounced joo-zee) is a Neopolitan girls name, short for Giuseppa or Giuseppina. Famous Giusis include the actress and film-maker Giusi Cataldo, the presenter of 'Italia's Next Top Model' Giusi Ferré, and the Olympic Gold Medal water polo player Giusi Malato (or Giusi Sick as Wikipedia likes to call her in English, perhaps taking the translation concept a step too far). It's not clear if the restaurant is named after any of these ladies. Probably not the water polo one.

If you type 'Giusi Restaurant Chiswick' into Google, the second most popular search is the OpenTable link which says 'Permanently Closed', which isn't great for business. To be fair, it was beginning to look like the place would never actually open. Canta Napoli closed down in Devonshire Road at the end of 2015 and ChiswickW4 reported that it would re-open as a new Italian restaurant after Christmas. In January the Giusi Twitter page said it would be open in a month, which soon became less than 2 months, which eventually became 9 months. It finally opened in October - they tweeted us to say "we brought our menus to the next level and are ready to rock & roll! :)". So we went to rock & roll with them.

Giusi aims to bring the definitive Italian experience, offering traditional recipes with its own "unique spin". It has even got its own hashtag - #properitalian - presumably to distinguish it from all those improper Italians in Chiswick like Pizza Express and Caffè Nero.

Our waitress had clearly read our review of The Roebuck because she wrote everything down longhand in her pad ve r  y   s    l     o     w       l        y.  But she got it all right (take note, Roebuck).

While we waited for our starters we shared some Mediterranean "mixed" (i.e. all the same) olives and a "selection of artisan organic bread". Well I can't vouch for whether or not it was artisan or organic, but it was definitely not a selection. It was three pieces of the same (pretty good) bread, cunningly cut in half to make it look like six pieces. At around £3 (or £1 a slice) that's quite some margin.

The wine is less obviously over-priced, but it is confusingly priced. A 250ml glass of organic Montepulciano d'Abruzzo costs £7.50 (i.e. £22.50 for 750ml) or you can buy a whole 750ml bottle for £28. So in contrast to nearly every other restaurant they actively discourage you from buying more - a very responsible but not particularly commercial approach. So I removed maths from the selection process and went for a bottle of Primitivo di Manduria instead.



Younger Miss WEST4URANTS started with the Vizioso - Burrata cheese and Parma ham with pesto and crostini. It definitely ticked the 'definitive Italian' box - a generous amount of ham, well toasted crostini and fresh pesto. My roasted tomato, buffalo mozzarella and pesto tower was very good, though I must admit to a few pangs of jealousy. Mrs WEST4URANTS went for the verdure alla griglia con salsa salmoriglio, which is grilled vegetables but sounds so much better in Italian.



We all chose pasta for main course. One orecchiette alla campagnola (Italian sausage and friarelli), one rather pale risotto ai porcini and two of the daily special seafood linguine. The trouble with choosing pasta in a restaurant is you often feel that you could have cooked it just as well yourself at home, and this was no exception. All competently executed but nothing to write home about.

Or write a blog about really.


Food (for 4): £75.15
Drink: £25.00
Total: £112.67

Charlotte's Bistro

6 Turnham Green Terrace
W4 1QP

020 8742 3590


Date night.  Just the two of us.  We can make it if we try.  We make it to Charlotte's.  Finally.  Our neighbours have been banging on since the inception of this blog that it's their favourite restaurant in Chiswick - with qualifications obviously, such as if it's a weekday, not a special occasion, keeping it casual .. you get the picture.  We had been before but that was pre-WEST4URANTS and now our tastebuds are sharpened.  And we have to take photos.

Charlotte's is the sister restaurant of Charlotte's Place in Ealing, and arrived in Chiswick in 2010, taking over the site previously occupied by Fishworks.  In 2015 it was awarded Good Food Guide London Restaurant of the Year and last night (14 November) was named Best Restaurant In Chiswick at the Time Out Love London Awards.  

In 2012 the Gin School at Charlotte's was launched and after much success at the forefront of the gin explosion it's now evolved to include tastings from craft producers of anything and everything - tequila, whisky, vermouth, vodka, beer, wine... We didn't make the most of the cocktail list, having just returned from a gastronomic tour of the Lake District.  But I can tell you it's pretty extensive, featuring not only breakfast staples such as blackberry jam and egg whites but some intriguingly named spirits including Macchu Pisco, Illegal Mezcal and Tarquin's Cornish Pastis.



Mr WEST4URANTS had an aubergine and tomato concoction to start and I had the slow cooked egg, with jerusalem artichokes, trompettes and kale.  I was intrigued about a slow cooked egg and remain so.  I'm not entirely sure how it was any different than a cooked egg (albeit somewhat greyer) though I'm willing to admit it tasted good, as was the rest of the dish.  We both opted for the slow cooked pork which was nice but not exceptional.  Mr WEST4URANTS drew the short straw with a very fatty piece, and whilst, contrary to popular belief I'm not squeamish about fat, I would have been as underwhelmed as he was.

We also had a bowl of triple cooked chips, which were a little pastey looking considering their being subjected to the cooking process three times - boiled, baked, fried. Heston, of course, deep fries his twice (and freezes them in between) which sounds like a massive effort, but it's worth it. Charlotte's triple cooked version are no better than the once cooked chips served up across the road at Chris's Fish Bar. I think we actually left a few -  a virtually unparalleled scenario.

We are lucky to have Charlotte's really, but this wasn't the best meal we've had there. We'll just have to go back next year.


Food (for 2): £50.50
Drink: £41.50
Total: £103.50

Vinoteca

18 Devonshire Road
W4 2HD


020 7253 8786



The trouble with writing a restaurant blog is you have to keep moving on, a repeated venue is a wasted opportunity. So although Vinoteca is one of our favourite restaurants in Chiswick, it has taken until October for us to review it for the blog. We'd gone on my 50th birthday, so it seemed the fitting place to celebrate completing another year.

Created and run by Brett Woonton, Charlie Young and Elena Ares, Vinoteca claims to combine "high quality, characterful wine with a selection of paired dishes created from fresh and seasonal produce." They first opened in Farringdon in 2005 and Chiswick became the fourth location when it opened in Devonshire Road in August 2013, in the premises formerly occupied by the Oriental Brasserie.

They gave the interior a major revamp, putting the main dining area towards the front of the premises, with the kitchen and wine bar at the back. The menus are seasonal and constantly changing and the Chiswick head chef James Robson used to work at the River Café.  But as you'd expect from a place called 'Vinoteca' wine is the focus here: there are 25 wines available by the glass from a total list of 285 wines, which is updated twice a year. 

Miss WEST4URANTS was happy enough to start with some olives but I went for the Buffalo Mozzarella with Crown Prince Squash & Wet Walnuts and eschewed the recommended Chardonnay in favour of an Italian red. This Lombardy Pinot Nero, "with supremely Italian hints of rose petal and wild berries", is a big favourite of Mike in Operations, apparently. Forget Jancis Robinson, I always go with Mike's recommendations.

Mrs WEST4URANTS opted for the Day Boat 'Fritto' - a big fry-up of Cuttlefish, Hake & Pollock served with a Sage & Sorrel Aioli. She paired it with the recommended 2015 Lugana Cá Lojera, an Italian white from Veneto.

For main course she chose the Grilled Wild Bass Fillet with Chickpeas, Sprouting Broccoli & Dragoncello (a Tuscan sauce made with tarragon, vinegar, bread, garlic, anchovies and lemon juice). This was served with a glass of the brilliantly named Kung Fu Girl Riesling, "a ‘kickass’ dry Riesling from Columbia Valley, with apricot, peach and satsuma and a lime-rich finish." If Carl Douglas had been there we'd have burst into a verse of 'Kung Fu Drinking'; I don't know what 'the funky China men from funky Chinatown' would have made of it, but Mrs W enjoyed it.

The younger Miss WEST4URANTS is on the meat-eating side of the family, and she and I went all in with the Char-Grilled Marinated Bavette with Chips (obviously) and Cress. They'd run out of the recommended Aussie Clare Valley Shiraz from Rodney & The Horse (surely called Trigger?) but came up with a very acceptable substitute, a 2014 Syrah Nouveau from the Adelaide Hills.

We hadn't saved room for pudding, or any of their wide range of dessert wines, sadly.

Food (for 3): £78.00
Drink: £71.50
Total: £168.06

The Roebuck

122 Chiswick High Road
W4 1PU


020 8995 4392



According to the Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society, The Roebuck was licensed from at least 1732, and was one of the main coaching inns in Chiswick High Road, where the Manorial Court usually held their meetings. The pub was known for its fine bowling green and its extensive stabling. The original building was demolished in 1890 and replaced by the present building with statues of roebucks adorning the pediments.

The pub’s name has been changed many times in recent years. It was The Roebuck when we first moved to Chiswick, but controversially renamed The Rat & Parrot in 1996. In 2002 - when if someone said LGBT you'd have assumed it was trendy gin and tonic - it became The Bird Cage, possibly the first venue in Chiswick to fly the rainbow flag. (Not a lot of people know the flag originally had a hot pink stripe, but it was dropped in 1978 due to the lack of hot-pink fabric. For more flag facts check out W4 resident Tim Marshall's new book Worth Dying For: The Power and Politics of Flags.) 


Since 2006 The Roebuck has been part of the Food & Fuel group, the small chain of pubs run by the former Spirit and Café Rouge team headed by Karen Jones.

On one of the last warm nights of the year we sat outside in the courtyard at the back, presumably where the fine bowling green or extensive stabling used to be.

A nice Scottish waiter came to take our order, storing it directly in to his elephant-like memory without the need for the tried and trusted - but terribly old-fashioned - notebook. Moments later he was back to confirm if Mrs WEST4URANTS had ordered a side salad. (Regular readers of the blog will already know the answer to that one).

After a reasonable wait, our main courses arrived. Before we'd had our starter. Nice Scottish waiter was terribly apologetic, took the main courses away again and a short while later returned with the starter, which he said was on the house. We shared a Greek Board - hummus, artichoke & spinach dip, halloumi, olives and pitta bread.

I was already on to my second glass of Malbec, and Mrs W ordered another when the main courses arrived. I say 'main courses', but in her case it was a starter with the aforementioned (rocket, parmesan, mixed leaf) salad. She chose the Isle of Wight tomato with burrata and balsamic glaze.

I went all in with the breaded chicken fillet, with cheese croquettes, asparagus, Dorset black garlic and lemon beurre blanc. Luckily this is a pub which has not embraced the concept of putting calories on the menu. Nor it seems, the concept of remembering what the customers order. I had to chase up the wine, and when it eventually arrived it too was on the house.

So if you can put up with a little bit of waiting and chasing then The Roebuck is a great value evening out. The acquisition of a couple of notepads would boost its margins considerably.


Food (for 2): £24.00
Drink: £18.60
Total: £47.60

Crucial Café

The Hogarth Health Club
Airedale Avenue
W4 2NW

020 8747 4047


When we first moved to Chiswick, we often ended the week with a Friday night workout at the Hogarth, before rehydrating with a lager in the bar and refuelling with a curry nearby. If there was a healthy option, it wasn't an appealing one.

That's all changed now. The Crucial Café was officially opened in September 2015 by that picture of health, Bob Geldof (presumably not on a Monday). It's headed up by Ruth Wood, a clinical nutritionist and private chef, who says her mission is to make it easier and more convenient for you to eat in a way that is good for your body and will make you feel fantastic. Whilst situated in the Hogarth Club, Crucial is open to everyone, though its location means that, for the most part, it's Hogarth members who are regular attendees.

We went for breakfast, post-workout for me and Miss West4urants, pre-workout for Master West4urants.  Miss West4urants had a bowl of their homemade granola, which came with greek yoghurt (coconut is available as an option) and berries, which she was very happy with.  

With the interests of the blog in mind - and an attempt not to order two of the same - I chose the smashed avocado on toast with chilli, lime and a couple of poached eggs. I think I got the avocado that was a tiny bit past its best. I'm probably being picky, though I have eaten enough avocado on toast in the past 9 months to know a good avocado when I see one. 

Master West4urants ordered the scrambled egg with smoked salmon and was a little disappointed with the somewhat meagre portion of salmon on offer but otherwise was happy.

Again, in the interests of the blog we ordered a juice. We gave the Bloody Ruth a miss and went for something green. I forget what was in it - I think kale, celery, lime, pineapple and apple - but it tasted good, looked healthy and am sure was going all the way to making us feel fantastic.


Food (for 3): £17.50
Drink: (for 3): 9.50
Total: £27.00

Byron

227 - 229 Chiswick High Road
W4 2DW

020 8994 2277


Byron arrived in Chiswick in early 2014, when George Osborne's favourite burger restaurant replaced Bridget Jones' favourite bistro, Café Rouge, which had outstayed its welcome by about a decade. 

Seven years earlier Tom Byng opened the first Byron in London, inspired by the hamburgers he used to eat at the Silver Top diner in Providence, Rhode Island, during a four year stint in America. Apparently the chain is named partly after the eponymous poet and partly after an old English word for barn, or cowshed. In 2013 the chain was sold by Gondola to private equity outfit Hutton Collins for £100m. There are now more than 40 Byrons in London alone, and three within a mile and a half of our house.

We sat outside on one of the warmest evenings of the year, serenaded by the noise of double deckers and police sirens.

Only Master WEST4URANTS went for the traditional burger experience, opting for the B-Rex, a 6oz hamburger with onion rings, streaky bacon, American cheese, jalapeños, pickles, onion, BBQ sauce and mayonnaise. 

I decided to try the new Clucky Balboa, possibly the worst named burger since McDonald's New Zealand launched a 'design your own burger' competition in July and ended up with such classics as Pound Me Behind Daddy, Rektal Prolapse and Puusee Sammich. The Balboa is a fried chicken breast with guacamole, sriracha mayonnaise, pickled red onion, sliced pickles and shredded iceberg. It tasted good, though they should probably add 'deep' in front of 'fried' in the description.




Both Mrs and Miss WEST4URANTS chose the skinny veggie burger - a bunless bean patty with roasted red pepper, baby spinach, tomato, red onion, aioli and Byron sauce. Which is basically not a burger. And as if that weren't enough to upset the burger fascists, we didn't have a potato chip between us, just sweet potato and courgette fries.

Byron is a good venue for a quick family supper. The sweet potato fries aren't as good as GBK's but the table service puts it a step further up the burger ladder.  Dive in. 

Food (for 6): £78.95

Drink: £28.75

Total: £122.70

Gail's

282 Chiswick High Road
W4 1PA

020 8995 2266

Eight months in and we're up to number 40. You don't need to be a maths genius to work out that we're not going to get to 100 before Christmas. And we've done most of the best breakfast options, so Mrs WEST4URANTS wasn't exactly bowled over when I suggested we might hit one of the Acton Lane cafes for her birthday breakfast. 

But then we remembered we hadn't been to Gail's this year. It's not exactly an old favourite, but we have been fairly regularly and its coffee did help Master WEST4URANTS get through his A-levels, being the perfect distance from the library for a break.

Gail's opened in Chiswick in 2010 on the site previously occupied by Clinton Cards. While working together at McKinsey, Israeli Ran Avidan and Floridian Tom Molnar bought half of Gail Mejia's bread business and opened their first neighbourhood bakery in Hampstead in 2005. There are now more than 30 Gail's around London.

The birthday girl and elder Miss WEST4URANTS went for the Greek yoghurt with seasonal fruit compote and granola (I accept that the picture makes it look like vanilla ice cream with strawberry sauce, but anyone who knows them knows that's not very likely). Miss W's friend opted for the fruit salad and an orange juice, a nutritional step up from her usual Diet Coke start to the day.

And because I'd had such a modest supper the previous evening (see last blog) I opted for the egg and bacon on an English muffin. And between us we got through a few black Americanos; the coffee is better here than many of the specialist coffee shops on the High Road.

Food (for 4): £24.00
Drink: £18.35
Total: £42.35

Hedone

301-303 Chiswick High Road
W4 4HH


020 8747 0377

If ever a place embodied the phrase 'don't judge a book by its cover' then it is this dreary block at the western (i.e. unfashionable) end of Chiswick High Road, which houses the fourth best restaurant in Britain and 60th best in the World.

Although initially trained as a chef in his native Sweden, Mikael Jonsson became a solicitor and part-time food blogger before opening Hedone in Chiswick in 2011 on the site of a former Lebanese grill and nightclub.  Jonsson had never worked in a professional kitchen yet within 14 months his restaurant became the second in Chiswick to be awarded a Michelin star when it was named in the 2013 guide.

The restaurant was redesigned and reopened in October last year. It now seats just 18 at tables, with room for a further 4-6 at bar stools overlooking the kitchen. Two of these stools have names on the back in honour of the restaurant's best customers - a man from Amsterdam who has eaten at Hedone more than 300 times and his cheapskate rival from Frankfurt who has managed a mere 150 visits. So shame on you if you live in Chiswick and can't be bothered to venture further west than Sainsbury's.

A more reasonable objection to visiting might be the price - food of this quality does not come cheap. There is a menu but you only have one decision to make - whether to have the 7-course tasting menu (£85) or the 10-course carte blanche option (£125).

And if - like us - you worry that it all sounds a bit like one of those nouvelle cuisine places where you have to stop for a kebab on the way home because you're so hungry, then don't. Downstairs is a bakery which sells 1,500 loaves a week to some of London's best known restaurants. There is limitless bread and it's worth the trip on its own.



It was Mrs WEST4URANTS' birthday and we went with two local friends. We chose the tasting menu, and accompanied it with the £89 wine pairing. Mr Jonsson serves the wine himself, and explains a little of the provenance and style of each one. Pretty much all the wines we had were French, but none the less interesting for that. Not your typical muscadet or beaujolais here, Mr Jonsson puts the same care into picking the wines as he does the food.



Regular readers of this blog will know that if you want long and detailed descriptions of the food then you're better off reading a proper restaurant critic like AA Gill. And if I'm honest, even if I had been taking notes, I could barely understand any of the descriptions and by the eighth glass of wine (we had a cheese course too) they'd have been pretty illegible. 



And anyway, it can get a bit boring reading long lists of what other people have eaten. So here's a long (but sketchy) list of what we ate: two little amuse-bouches, one a sliver of foie gras on a pepper crisp, the other a filled tiny cone of dried salmon; 'fish and chips', a piece of monkfish in a potato crisp with all the juice and starch extracted; a parmesan cream with chia seeds; a variety of tomatoes with almond ice cream; crab with hazelnut mayonnaise; lobster; squab pigeon with cherries; cheese; figs; a chocolate dessert; petits fours. And lots of bread.



Chiswick is lucky in both the quantity and quality of its restaurants. But even in such exalted company Hedone stands out a mile. Foodies around the world will be envious that we have such exceptional cooking within walking distance. Go.

Food (for 2): £184.50
Drink: £223.90
Total: £460.32