91 Black Lion Lane
W6 9BG
W6 9BG
020 8741 8386
Having relaxed the W4 rule, we took another journey into W6 on a scorching hot August evening.
(By the way, did you know that London postcodes are in alphabetical order? It seems natural that Warple Way W3 is just a stone's throw from Abinger Road W4, but Emlyn Road W12 sounds like it should be miles away, when in fact it's the next road over. Wikipedia has more for nerds (like me) but it goes: W3 Acton, W4 Chiswick, W5 Ealing, W6 Hammersmith...)
But I digress. Just over 50 years after St Peter’s Square was laid out by George Scott, The Carpenter’s Arms first opened its doors as a public house in 1871, owned by Burton-based brewer Thomas Salt & Co. The pub website reports that Chris Blackwell opened the Island Records office in the square in 1973: "We like to think that many of their roster of musicians including Bob Marley & The Wailers, Aswad, Cat Stevens, Robert Palmer, Steve Winwood, Grace Jones and U2 would have enjoyed a lock in at The Carpenter’s Arms." Maybe, although I reckon Bob and Bunny would have been down the other end of the lane at The Black (Iron) Lion (Zion), With Or Without U2.
In the mid-90s the pub changed ownership and became Le St Pierre and then The Lazy Vine, before the present owners bought the pub and returned it to its roots in 2007. 13 years on and the outside could do with a bit of re-decorating; the pub now appears to be called 'The Carpenter S Arm'. Perhaps they should just go down the Fawlty Towers route and re-arrange the letters into a new anagram each week: 'Enter Hamster's Crap'?
It's long been a favourite of the critics. Time Out named it best local restaurant in Hammersmith in 2015, AA Gill awarded it 5 stars and Times chef Lindsay Bareham finds its "boho style" her idea of "a perfect gastropub". But perhaps Harden's Guide sums it up best: "if Carlsberg made gastropubs..."
The only gripe, according to Harden contributors, is that it's a bit expensive for a pub. Which made it the perfect place to go to 'Eat Out to Help Out'. Rishi Sunak is the only Cabinet Minister to emerge from the past 5 months with his reputation enhanced, and launching 'Rishi's Dishes' was a masterstroke: 35 million meals went on the Treasury tab in the first 2 weeks alone. Younger Miss West4urants had already eaten around 0.00001% of those meals, so her elder sister was persuaded to accompany us.
Hands thoroughly sanitised, we were escorted through to the back garden, strung with lights that give it a festival vibe. Sadly that doesn't extend to the chairs, which exude more of a prison vibe. If the mission was to find chairs so uncomfortable that nobody overstays their allocated two hour window I must say it was successfully completed.
I started with what was described simply as 'gazpacho' but was made even more refreshing with the addition of melon (tomato and melon is our latest summer fad). Miss W4 went for more fruit, choosing the burrata pugliese with plums and rocket, while Mrs W4 had the torched mackerel with caponata, grilled courgette, rocket and lemon oil.
Miss W4's main course took the Instagram prize: a globe artichoke with avocado, summer leaves and orange peel (more fruit). Mrs W4 had sea bass with aubergine and I had the porchetta with crackling, apple sauce, bean puree and kale. We accompanied that with hand-cut chips and some padron peppers (has anyone ever had a really hot one or is that just a clever marketing ploy like the golden tickets hidden in Wonka Bars?)
Rishi chipped in £30 towards the bill, although as it's taken off before service charge, we felt the staff were losing out. Disappointingly, if you top it up on the card machine the staff don't get it, so make sure you take cash if going this week. We'd definitely be returning if we didn't have so many more places still to review.
Food (for 3): £68.00
Drink: £46.90
Total: £134.26
