The Crown

210 Chiswick High Road
W4 1PD

020 3330 7131


For the first review of the revived blog we decided to visit Chiswick's hottest opening of the year, The Crown at 210 Chiswick High Road. For 10 years the site was the home of Carvosso's, and keener followers will recall Mrs W's review from three years ago. (For less keen followers, i.e. most of you, here's a reminder). 

I'm not sure quite how Carvosso's lasted so long, I don't know anyone who went more than once, so The Crown already has the edge.  We've been twice, almost like proper restaurant reviewers.

The stucco-fronted former police station (until 1970) is the new venture of local chef Henry Harris, who made his name at Racine in Chelsea. It's the fourth site of Harcourt Inns. They had hoped to call it The Harlot (apparently inspired by Hogarth's 18th century series of prints The Harlot's Progress) but some pious locals objected, so the The Crown it is. 

According to ChiswickW4 the pub's local suppliers include Natoora, HG Walter in Barons Court and the Baker family, who have the greengrocers next to the pub. I have to take out a small mortgage if I want anything from Natoora, so I'm assuming most of the fruit and veg comes from the greengrocers next door, or profits will be waning. 

We first visited during the soft launch in January with friends who know Henry. This connection proved useful when after a long wait for our drinks HH went to get them himself. (The wait was just as long the second time. Unfortunately Henry was sat with friends at another table so we just had to wait our turn though they do need to work on that before the courtyard starts filling up in the summer.)

Our second visit was with friends from south of the river. Word of the blog has spread from W4 to SW13, and they left behind the Barnes delights of Riva and Sonny's to join us, promising not to fall off their chairs.

This time I started with the cannellini and broad bean minestrone. There were enough cannellini beans to stand a spoon up in, but their broader cousins were more scarce, and the broth was much too salty. Our guests both had the caponata and mozzarella on toast, which I'd had on our first visit, and was a much better choice. Mrs W had the chickpea tortelli (because we don't get enough chickpeas at home) and liked the taste but found the tortelli hard. Is that a thing? Hard tortelli? We weren't sure.

You may have to wait ages for drinks, but we'd barely had time to finish our starters when the main courses arrived. I had the classic Dordogne duck dish: confit with celeriac remoulade and Sarladaise potatoes, which rather boringly I'd also had on our first visit. The duck was perfectly cooked, and the potatoes wonderfully crunchy, but the remoulade felt like an after-thought and could have done with being a bit sharper (it's much better at Le Vacherin). Mrs W (and one of our guests) had the salmon with chargrilled onions, Marinda tomatoes and borage puree, which she really enjoyed. Our other guest had the whole roast coquelet with artichokes and turnip tops, which looked like a feast, though he thought his greens looked "a bit shagged out".

The wine list is genuinely interesting, apparently sourced by Mrs Harris. Lots of classics but some intriguing new finds too, from which we chose the Gaba do Xil Mencia on our first visit, a delicious Spanish red that the Harrises apparently drink at home.

All in all The Crown is a great addition to the Chiswick eating out scene. It is very much a gastro-pub, but clearly plenty of people just go in for a drink and the outside courtyard will come into its own when (and if) the sun starts shining.


Food (for 2): £53.63
Drink: £24.85

Total: £88.29

Review of 2016

Yogi Berra famously said: "It ain't over till it's over." But we did reach a bit of a stalemate.

Mrs WEST4URANTS fairly pointed out that the blog claims to be: "One family's attempt to eat its way round as many as possible of the 100 or so restaurants in Chiswick during 2016." And therefore she said we should just call it a day.

Whereas in my mind we set ourselves a challenge and we shouldn't quit half way through. Did I stop collecting Esso 1970 World Cup coins when there were still gaps where Emlyn Hughes and Alan Mullery should have been? Hell, no.

And while I'd be lying if I claimed we'd broken internet records, if I had a pound for every time we'd been asked to recommend a restaurant in Chiswick I'd have nearly enough money to buy a peach from Natoora. (And of course my mind always goes blank, like when someone hands you the Sonos at dinner and asks you to choose something 'really good'.)

Marriage is all about compromise, so we've agreed to round-up 2016 and then re-start in 2019 on an intermittent basis.

So...

We had something to eat in 50 different places in Chiswick in 2016, spending a quite embarrassing £3,571.03.

Our best (and most expensive) meal was probably Hedone, but then we did spend more than a tenth of our annual budget on that and you wouldn't want to go there every day.

Our worst was a breakfast at Rhythm & Brews, which seemed to have been thrown together by some hungover students. But that was probably unfair, and the owner was very apologetic about it and offered us a free breakfast (which we couldn't take up because we had to keep going to different places).

Did we find a new favourite? Well we didn't discover anywhere much better than Trompette or HRH or Charlotte's or Vacherin; they're local favourites for a reason. But we discovered Faanoos and the Coffee Traveller and Angie's Little Food Shop. I liked The Italian Job so much I bought shares in it (do go), Miss W4 got a job at Urban Pantry and Nikki's Bakery became a lucky study venue for Master W4.

In our two year break we've said goodbye to Carvosso's, Le Pain Quotidien, The Smokehouse, Jackson + Rye, Byron, Foxlow and Quantus, among others. Patisserie Valerie moved to where Maison Blanc had been, and then closed down abruptly when its finance director was taken into custardy for stealing all the dough. Darcau closed and its replacement, Melody Cafe, lasted barely a year, most of which was spent arguing with the council over its monstrous 'gazebo'.

But we've got plenty of new places to try. Top of the list when the hype dies down is The Crown, Henry Harris' bustling new venture in the former police station previously occupied by Carvosso's. As Yogi would say: "Nobody goes there nowadays; it's too crowded."