Lamberts Restaurant – Balham – Review

After interviewing Ryan Lowery a few weeks ago for our series of London chef interviews we were excited to be offered a meal at Lamberts. After hearing literally nothing but good things about the food and service it was time to try it for ourselves. Situated on the high street near the Balham tube station Lamberts is unassuming from the street but as soon as you enter you are transported from the cold streets of South West London into a very modern, comforting space. Once seated you feel an overwhelming sense of calm. The walls are adorned with paintings from the Webbs Road Gallery and consist of turneresque skies which add to the cool and modern style of the dining space.

We were warmly greeted by Joe Lambert who talked us through our two options of menu’s, the a la carte menu for February and the mid-week set menu at £17 for two courses and £20 for three. To start we were presented with warm walnut bread and fresh butter on a cute wooden cutting board and two complimentary glasses of their new lovely Prosseco. The bread was delicious and full of flavour and looked great served on the wooden board. The wine list had a broad selection and is separated into flavour profiles (dry, medium bodied, rich etc) you can order glasses and decanters as well as bottles. I ordered a glass of 2009 Sandford Estate Shiraz and my partner had a 2008 Malbec-Corvina from Argentina. Both wines were surprisingly good for the price, and certainly not your average, forgettable restaurant options.
After having heard so much about the quality of the food I was very interested in trying the mid-week menu as it seemed too good a deal to be true. I often find that mid-week set menus lack the main stars of the a la carte but the selection on offer at Lamberts was equally exciting. I was recommended the Warm Salad of Ticklemore Gnocchi, Hazelnuts and Trompettes by Joe but was tossing up between that and the Cauliflower Soup, Kippers & Quail’s Egg which sounded very interesting indeed. I decided on the Gnocchi and my partner ordered the soup.

Both dishes were presented beautifully, the soup looking especially elegant with a creamy texture and the perfectly cooked quails egg floating in the middle. It tasted even better than it looked with a velvety cauliflower soup packed full of flavour and infused with the smokiness of the kippers. Texturally it was very interesting as well with fillets of the smoky kipper running throughout adding an extra dimension of umami. The yolk of the quails egg added an extra layer of richness. It was really a stunning entrée and original to boot.  My Gnocchi salad was equally satisfying, the small Gnocchi’s infused with the subtle taste of goats cheese. The Trompettes were bursting with flavour and worked nicely with the Gnocchi and salad leaves. It was a light but comforting start to both our meals and well suited to the (still freezing) February weather.

The mains were hard to choose as well, there was a lot of very tempting options, Wild Venison with Beetroots and Smoked Chocolate, Seven Hour Shin of Hereford Beef, Sea Bream with Scallop Ravioli and Coley Filllet with Crushed Potatoes and Crispy Squid being some of the amazing sounding dishes on offer. We are however very partial to duck and find it difficult to turn it down…. ever! So it went without saying that there was one serve of Telmara Duck Breast, Braised Chicory, Confit Leg Cassoulet. From the mid-week menu I was torn between the Coley (which I haven’t tried before) and Roast Pork Tenderloin, Cider Glazed Apple, Green Lentils, Black Pudding. I asked our friendly host Joe who didn’t really bat an eyelid recommending the pork, mentioning it was served medium rare and very tender.

Both mains were presented humbly, showing off the stars of the dishes, the perfectly cooked meat. The pork was lightly pink all the way through and wonderfully moist, sitting atop a bed of green lentils in a rich sauce. The pork tasted as good as it looked, melt in you mouth porky goodness! The ring of apple was nicely caramelised on top and of course went hand in hand with the pork, as apples do. I’m always a little underwhelmed by lentils and even though these were cooked well with just a little bit of bite I thought that maybe they could do with a boost of seasoning. The award for supporting star on this dish though had to be the delicious black pudding, I could have eaten a whole plate of it on its own. Probably the best tasting black pud I have ever eaten.

The duck was also expertly cooked, well rested and pink all the way through with a crispy skin a nice layer of fat. I particularly like that they sliced the breast lengthways, the amount of duck breast I have cooked in my time and I have never thought of doing this… It was served very rustic on a wooden cutting board with a charred bulb of chicory and the Cassoulet served in a small bowl on the side. The duck had a smokiness running through it which matched the charred bitterness of the chicory, my partner isn’t usually a huge chicory (endive… she is American) fan but loved it here. The sauce running through the breast was amazing to, but it would have been nice to have a puddle rather than a drizzle! The cassoulet was interesting as a side and delicious on its own. We both however thought that is felt a little out of place in the dish overall. There was a great duck flavour running through the vegetables however no noticeable leg meat inside. We also both chose nice reds to match our dishes, our selections from the full bodied section matching the meats dishes well.

We both had been eyeing off the Warm Chocolate Brownie with White Chocolate Ice Cream on the dessert menu and decided we had to share it. Joe very kindly brought over two glasses of dessert wine for us to try with our dessert. The humble brownie was really elevated visually with two strips of chocolate painted either side of the bowl, a large scoop of the ice cream on top and chocolate shavings. The white chocolate flavour in the ice cream was amazing and very creamy, my partner being an ex-pastry chef commented on how 90% of white choc ice cream she has tasted has been bland and grainy…Not this one. The brownie was rich and moist and was a perfect match for the glass of mildy sweet red from Languedoc that Joe kindly gave us.
Prices aside, on a purely sensual review of Lamberts it stands out as an exceptional, casual fine dining experience. The food is seasonal and all obviously chosen and prepared with love. All the dishes were presented elegantly yet not pretentiously. There is a good mix on the menus of classic dishes and also some more bold, creative flavour combinations. The Kipper soup was a real stand out and something we would go back solely for. All of this combined with the fact that you can enjoy three courses of this great food for only £20 is utterly amazing value in London (and anywhere really). Considering there are gastro pubs in the Wandsworth area charging over £25 for mains, Lamberts seems too good to be true. It’s not though and it’s understated prices, out of the way location, modern, warm atmosphere and humble yet exceptional dishes all come together to create a restaurant that’s not trying too hard to be the next Chez Bruce yet is doing it anyway.
Review by Mise En Place Hospitality Recruitment