Chez Bruce

The location in a quiet residential quarter of Wandsworth, overlooking the Common, has always given Bruce Poole's place the feel of a popular neighbourhood restaurant, and yet from its inception, it has punched way above that weight category, drawing custom from far afield. The plainly decorated interiors act as a neutral backdrop to accomplished cooking that draws on impeccable sources, and seeks its influences in the more domestic approach to European food articulated by such luminaries as Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson. Presentations can be appealingly rough-and-ready, which somehow emphasises rather than detracts from the quality of a dish. Grilled baby squid with chorizo are a case in point, each lump of sausage the base for a squid, with Gem lettuce underneath, a rouille sauce, and the final garnish a piece of crisply cooked hake. Main course might be a two-way serving of deeply flavoured coquelet (poussin), the breast herb-stuffed, the leg filled with leek, accompanied by creamy gnocchi, mushrooms and an assertively strong jus. Finish with tarte fine aux pommes, lightly glazed and presented with a serving of memorably rich Calvados and raisin ice cream.

Near Wandsworth Common station
Nearest station: Wandsworth Common/Balham

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