FOOD & DRINK / REVIEW
New Town W36 is Golborne Road’s most fabulous new opening Wo r d s p e n d l e h a r t e
I
t generated a lot of local excitement when we heard that the people behind Beach Blanket Babylon had taken on the abandoned Golborne Road pub that was last known as the Earl of Portobello and probably last visited with any enthusiasm back in the days of Golborne House. Now the entire building, the only remainder of Southam Street's original Victorian terrace, has been given a stylish makeover and reopened as an impressive townhouse hangout spread over three floors. When we arrive for dinner on Friday night a couple of weeks in, the place is full. The restaurant is on the ground floor and upstairs are a variety of heavily designed nooks and private areas, all
black-walled and cavernous. It feels a bit like a busy house party, an animated crowd giggling as they pass on the narrow stairs. But we're in the restaurant, which is white-tiled and leafy, the space divided with wood and glass partitions that can't help but spark comparisons with the Chiltern Firehouse. It's tightly packed
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and we're not spoilt for space, but it all adds up to an intimate, members club feel (without the actual membership). It's a grill house menu – meaty, with an extensive steak list. There's a tasting board for sharing slivers of every type of steak (they age their own beef here). While we're studying it, a vast rack of ribs arrives for the next table. 'I did try to talk you down to the half rack,' says the waitress apologetically, responding to the table's utter shock at the sheer volume of it. Of course, it's a lot of bone, but still a feast. To start, we order a crab and avocado trifle and a sweet and simple dish of ricotta, pickled quince and honeycomb – both are delicate and tasty, a lot gentler than the rib feast. I order a lobster from the grill menu, with garlic and hazelnut butter and fries, which comes looking glorious and tasting sweet and juicy – though the restricted dimensions of the table don't make the lightest work of all the cracking. My partner enjoys a very high-class rib-eye steak with perfect Swiss chard – and later, the waitress walks round with a large apple pie straight from the oven, dishing out generous portions like a true domestic goddess hostess. This is absolutely our new favourite place. u
● ●w36
36 Golborne Road, W10, 020 3752 0530 w36.co.uk
APRIL 2015
26/03/2015 12:04