Inside new Tom Kerridge London pub headed by former Hand & Flowers chef
Let’s face it, west London needs another gastro pub as much as Shoreditch needs more hipster coffee shops. If we’re not careful there will be nothing left to do in Chelsea that isn’t ranking fancy scotch eggs and sausage rolls.
I suppose the one man who may justifiably nudge in on West’s posho pub territory is Tom De Keyser, who was head chef at Tom Kerridge’s The Hand & Flowers, the only pub in the world with two Michelin stars. There he spent over a decade mastering the art of posh chips; Kerridge’s triple-cooked ones at The Hand & Flowers have the sort of crunchy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside texture that I fear should be sanctioned before I develop some kind of terrible addiction.
The Chalk Freehouse is just a few steps away from the King’s Road at the Sloane Square end. Turning offf the main thoroughfare, it’s nice to have a reason to explore the more residential backstreets, and by that I mean peer through the windows of elegant redbrick houses. The pub assumes the spot on the corner, like all good pubs should, and has a suntrap terrace, like all good pubs should. Inside it’s handsomely minimalist, with warm terracotta tiling and plenty of dark polished wood.
Dishes from Tom Kerridge’s Marlow pub have pilgrimaged over to Chelsea
My friend and I were pleased to find a bottle of chilled red behind the bar, an experience that isn’t common enough in Britain despite our friends on the continent swearing by the stuff for centuries.
From the menu featuring a best of British gastro pub theme, we kicked off with a bite from the snacks list, an ‘Nduja sausage roll with smoked mozarella, which was well seasoned and had great depth of flavour. A Cornish crab and Jersey royal potato salad was just right for the hot weather; generous tears of seafood compete against unifying brown crab aioli. But The Hand & Flowers chicken and duck liver parfait with apricot chutney and toasted brioche was too sweet for me, the jelly overpowering the parfait and given even more sugary oomph by the brioche.
De Keyser has an eye for plating. The pork chop schnitzel with smoked bacon and pickled cabbage comes with a glistening fried duck egg atop the meat. It looks and tastes great; the pickled cabbage a nicely fresh counterpart to a dish that otherwise epitomises The Kerridge Group’s incredibly rich approach. Ricotta dumplings with summer vegetables also looked artfully designed and the little mounds were delicately formed, although a touch over-salted. The hyped Chelsea Spud – a potato carved into bitesize pieces, sort of like stumpy chips – was a tad dry, but we had gone in at the end of the day. A Chelsea Bun with cold vanilla custard and ‘boozy’ fruit was heavenly.
Just like when I visited The Hand & Flowers, I left The Chalk Freehouse feeling overfull. It’s incredibly hard not to. Maybe The Tom Kerridge Group could tone down the richness of their food just a tad. Or maybe not. Either way, my visits to their pubs must be infrequent, for fear of, well, every health consequence.
Go to thechalkfreehouse.co.uk