The Fat Delicatessen 7 Chestnut Grove London SW12 8JA
The Fat Delicatessen
The Fat Delicatessen is a deli and a restaurant located in Balham next to the tube station. It can feel strange to have people looking at packages of tea or bisdcuits located on shelves against the wall past your table but it didn’t bother us. If you want to have peace, try to go to the tables at the far end of the deli.
Cups of tea
As starters we ordered the winter soup (£4) and the chorizo picante (£3.25). Other interesting snacks I hesitated to chose from were the pork crackling with a glass of Fino Sherry and the hot green padron peppers. As main courses we had the confit belly of pork with creamed rosemary fagioli (£6.95) and a black pudding with caramelised apples (£5.75). They had an interesting dish of snails with chorizo mash (£6.25) but we were not brave enough for that kind of meal… As drinks we had two cups of tea (£3.20) to help us defrost on a cold day first, and a glass of red wine (£4.65). For desserts we chose the fruit crumble (£3.50) and a white chocolate cheesecake (£3.50).
The winter soup
The winter soup was quite good. It arrived piping hot, served with some fresh wholegrain bread that had a nice nutty flavour. The soup itself was a thick mix of a range of winter vegetables. The only things missing were some butter for the bread, and possibly some salt and pepper in case you wanted to season the soup (though it was fine as it came). Soup like this is great comfort food for winter weather.
Chorizo picante
The chorizo picante came very hot and was good but just too much for one person. The grease got me pretty quickly because of the amount of chorizo. On a small portion, it is a nice meal.
The two main courses
The pork belly
The pork belly was very good. A nice thick slice of pork belly, with nicely crisp crackling and accompanied by some haricot beans in a creamy sauce. The pork here is amongst the best I’ve had in London, rivaling the Ship Tavern (and miles ahead of the nasty thing I once had at Terroirs). Certainly worth trying if you’re in the area.
Black pudding with caramelised apples
The black pudding with caramelised apples was huge. It is actually about the same portion they are selling in the deli area. The taste was good, a little on the strong and too rich side but well counter balanced by the full bodied red wine fortunately. Not bad at all (I even ordered some of it after the lunch for cooking at home!) but after the chorizo it was a little too much.
Fruit crumble
The fruit crumble wasn’t quite up to the same standard as the starter and main courses. In its favour is that it was clearly oven heated to order. The downside is that it needed another few minutes, as it wasn’t quite warm all the way through. The fruit was mainly plums, which were very good. But I found the topping, the crumble, just too sweet. This was just brown sugar – but would have been much better if mixed with flour and butter which, aside from making it more crumbly, would have reduced the sweetness to manageable levels. With that small addition, it would have been an excellent dessert.
White chocolate cheesecake
The white chocolate cheesecake was massive, once again, and unfortunately too sweet. A quarter of it with some strong tea or coffee would have been fine but not in that amount. Also, some sour red fruit coulis would have been welcome.
Cost and conclusion: it was £34.80 which was well priced, and the service was friendly and extremely polite. We would gladly recommended it. Just beware of the huge portions!
Gazette 1 Ramsden road, Balham SW12 8QX London
Gazette
Inside
Gazette is a French restaurant located in Balham, between Waitrose and Sainsbury. It has two levels: the ground floor and the basement. As the ground floor was quite full we went to the basement which was already half full at just mid day. It is decorated a little strangely with a flat screen tv showing videos of beautiful areas of France, the tables vary in style, there are several couches, and large racks of wine stored against the walls.
The main courses
The menu at Gazette varies daily, and we ordered the roast duck breast with green cabbage and foie gras sauce (magret de canard rôti au choux vert et sauce foie gras – £14), and the roast fillet of cod, chervil root meat jus (filet de cabillaud rôti, racine de cerfeuil au jus – £14). The staff are mainly French-speaking – as we found when ordering, as our waiter seemed rather relieved to be asked if he spoke French: in fact he had only been working there for a short time.
Later, we had a waitress who spoke only English, and who took our dessert order of little chocolate pots and freshly cooked Madeleines (petits pots de chocolat et Madeleine cuite maintenant – £4.50) and thin apple tart cooked upside down, vanilla ice cream (tarte fine aux pommes cuite à l’envers, glace vanille – £4.50).
As drinks we had a glass of red wine Cabernet Sauvignon Les Perles vin de pays d’Oc 2006 (£4.20) and a glass of squeezed grapefruit juice (2.50). The grapefruit juice was indeed freshly squeezed (made to order), and was excellent. It came with just a little ice, so after a small wait, was just right to drink.
Other interesting meals were the pan fried foie gras with apple, lime and chestnuts (£11.50), the tomato and mustard tart (£9.50) and the côte de boeuf for 2, dauphinoise gratin and béarnaise sauce (£19.50 per person).
Fillet of cod
The fillet of cod was quite nicely cooked, though I found (unusually for a French restaurant) that it completely lacked any seasoning. It is rare for me to reach for the salt pot, but on this occassion, it was needed. With that small addition, the dish was very good and nicely set off by the chervil root (a vegetable a bit like a parsnip or turnip). I would make a bit of a complaint about the dish it was served in though, which was a small-but-deep metal pan (a bit like a milk pan), which made it difficult to use a knife and fork correctly (I had a similar complaint about Terroirs – but fortunately, in this case the complaint is only about the serving dish, not the food as well).
Roast duck breast with green cabbage and foie gras sauce
The magret was excellent. Very well cooked and with the foie gras sauce it was delicious. The green cabbage were also perfectly cooked and crispy. It was served on a fry pan rather than a plate, but as it was quite flat it was not a problem.
The desserts
Thin apple tart cooked upside down
The apple tart had its good and bad points. On the upside, it was made with naturally sweet apples and had no need of sugar added. The downside was that it was a bit overcooked, and the pastry had lost that lovely puffiness and lightness that it would have had if rescued from the oven a few minutes sooner.
Little chocolate pots and freshly cooked Madeleines
The pots of chocolate were quite dense, not bad but I was happy the pots were small. Fortunately the little madeleines were warm and light, counterbalancing the chocolate.
Cost and conclusion: it was £49 including the 12.5% discretionary service charge. Very friendly staff and a quite decent lunch. It was a nice discovery. As for the price, it is not cheap but then I find Balham to be on the expensive side, and often with not-so-great food (Harrison’s, Hop & Spice, the Devonshire) or bad value for money (Lamberts) compared to Clapham or Wandsworth Common (Bellevue Rendez-vous & Cafe du village) with the decor being privileged compared to food.
Italian restaurant Bucci 195 Balham High Road London SW12 9BE
Nice cold Peroni beer
We had already tried Bucci, but it had been at lunchtime when pizzas are not available unfortunately. We enjoyed their set menus and finding this Italian restaurant in Balham was a quite nice discovery. Are the pizzas great as well?
Bucci pizza and calzone
There is a large choice of pizzas at Bucci, 19 to be precise! We decided on the Bucci pizza (tomato, mozzarella, parma ham, parmesan and rocket – £8.50) to try their specialty, and the Calzone tradizionale (tomato, mozzarella, ham and mushroom – £7.90) as we are into these folded pizzas. There are three different calzones, the other two being the Farcito (tomato, mozzarella, ricotta cheese and spinach – £7.90) and the Cantadino (tomato, mozzarella, roasted courgette, aubergine and peppers – £7.90), both vegetarian pizzas.
Other pizzas we were interested by were the Tonno (tomato, mozzarella, tuna, olives and cappers – £7.90), the Aldo pizza (tomato, mozzarella, ham, mascarpone cheese and radicchio -£8.10), the Caprinba (cherry tomato, mozzarella, asparagus, goat cheese and rocket – £8.50) and the Parmigiana (tomato, mozzarella, aubergines, peppers and olives – £8.10).
Calzone tradizionale
The calzone was quite a disappointment. It was not at all crispy, lacked flavour, and arrived leaking some fluid (presumably from the mushrooms). The filling was minimal, with much of the space inside taken up by hot air leaving you feeling as though you’ve only been half fed. It’s not a pizza I’ll try again, and doesn’t come close to Limoncello a short distance away down near Tooting Broadway.
The Bucci pizza by contrast, but also in absolute, was huge. Normally I can finish a pizza but here I had to leave some of it. Well, not that much as I managed to eat maybe 85% of it! While I found it good, it lacked something to make it memorable, probably because of the taste of the base or the lack of it too. At Pizzeria Rustica in Richmond with the pizza Buffalo which is similar the base is wonderfully crispy and the tomato sauce (added after the base has been cooked) feels incredibly fresh with little bits of tomato and herbs.
Cost and conclusion: it was £21.60 without service charge and it is not automatically added to the bill. A big grazie to Bucci for respecting their customers!
Compared to Double Espresso a few doors down, I think Double Espresso pizzas have a better base but the décor is a lot nicer at Bucci. Both have a friendly service. That said, if you are into pizzas, two tube stops away, not far from Tooting Broadway you have Limoncello which is probably the best pizzeria in the Balham and Tooting areas. If it is about Italian food other than pizza, Bucci is a decent choice with excellent and well priced meals. Click here for our previous review of Bucci. Other restaurants reviewed in the area are Lamberts, the Cattle Grid, and a little further Hope & Spice and Harrison’s.
Bucci
Retro design
The entrance
We went to Bucci with the intention of eating pizza. However, it turned out that they only fire up the wood fire for pizza in the evenings – we went at lunch time, so were out of luck (or so it seemed).
With pizza unavailable, we took instead the set menu, which was priced at £9.95 for two courses or £13.50 for three. For this modest sum, we could choose for the starters between soup of the day (in this case, minestrone), a Norwegian prawn coktail, timbale of aubergines and mozarella in a tomato sauce with drops of pesto, and calamari rings sautéed in chilli garlic and olive oil and garnished with continental parsley. For main courses, there was a choice between baked meat cannelloni in a tomato and béchamel sauce, risotto with mixed finely chopped vegetables finished with a drop of pesto sauce, pan fried piccata of chicken in white wine and lemon sauce, or grilled skewers of prawns on a bed of aromatized bread crumbs finished with a delicate parsley sauce. For dessert, the choice was between caffé cream, chocolate trilogy cake and fresh fruit salad.
We chose the calamari and the aubergines as starters, the cannelloni and chicken as mains, and caffé cream and chocolate trilogy cake as dessert.
The two starters
The timbale of aubergines
The timbale of aubergines and mozarella in a tomato sauce with drops of pesto was excellent. It arrived piping hot (seriously very hot) and with it we were offered pepper and parmesan cheese. We passed on the pepper, but accepted the parmesan – with which the waitress was not stingy! Really a very enjoyable dish, which I’d certainly take again.
Calamari rings
The calamari rings were quite good with a delicate olive oil taste and a hint of chilli and garlic. It was certainly not a spicy (hot) dish but a well balanced meal. The calamari were fortunately not chewy.
The pan fried piccata of chicken
The pan fried piccata of chicken in white wine and lemon sauce was also extremely good. It was 4 mini chicken breasts on a bed of salad. I didn’t notice any sauce, but the chicken had clearly been pan fried in something as it had an excellent flavour to the lightly singed outside. It was nicely crispy on the outside, tender inside, and not a bit dry.
Baked meat cannelloni in a tomato and béchamel sauce
The baked meat cannelloni in a tomato and béchamel sauce was overall pretty good, served hot with a nice creamy tomato and béchamel sauce. The meat was a little bland, it could have been seasoned more.
Chocolate trilogy cake
The chocolate trilogy cake was not bad. I don’t think this was commercially supplied (as is often the case with Italian restaurants). The top layer was marscapone, beneath which was layered chocolate and vanilla cake. All served with a chocolate sauce and a dusting of cocoa. It was pleasantly moist, and not over sweet.
Caffé cream
The caffé cream was better though. It was a dense cream flavoured with coffee. This is the sort of dessert that has the potential to be a bit heavy, but in this case it was mixed with some sort of suet, which just set it off nicely. A good end to a very good meal.
Espresso coffee
We finished with a couple of espressos, which were very good. Nice and thick and strong, not too bitter and not at all burnt.
Cost and conclusion: it was about £35 service charge not included and not automatically added to the bill. We like restaurants like Bucci who respect customers right to decide on any tip. Good and well priced food, and a very friendly service. We will be back!
Sri Lankan restaurant Hop & Spice 53 Bedford Hill, Balham London SW12 9EZ
Hop & Spice
Inside Hop & Spice
Hop & Spice introduces the tapas concept to Sri Lankan cuisine (which is not dissimilar to South Indian). The idea there is that you choose about 3 small dishes from their menu, and construct the rest of your meal by choosing bread, rice, etc. Or you can just take one (larger) main course which comes with basmati rice, bread, popadoms, chutney and a yoghurt raita already included. We opted for the latter (but now suspect it wasn’t the best choice).
As main courses we chose kandian scallops (medium) described as king scallops poached in a delicately spiced sauce (£16.85) ; and kerala coriander chicken (mild) described as off the bone, simmered in spices and finished with coconut cream and fresh coriander (£11.55) . We took two different types of bread: paratha – delicious rich bread made with ghee, and chapati – healthy wholemeal unleavened bread (these were inclusive, but if you were to choose from the tapas menu would be £1.45 each).
Good beers
We followed the menu suggestion and took Lion beer 4.8% Sri Lanka light and refreshing, brewed in Sri Lanka since the colonial days (£3.20), and Singha beer 33cl 6% Thailand a full bodied barley malt with a rounded long finish, made for spice (£3.30).
As desserts we tried wattilappam (pronounced vuchillupum) – described as our twist on this wonderful Sri Lankan pudding; a custard made with palm sugar, coconut and mango, topped with caramelised cashew nuts (£4.95), and banana tiramisu – a tropical twist on this amazing italian pudding; fresh banana cream layered with sponge, espresso and tia maria (£4.45).
A small remark about the seating in this restaurant – the chairs have varying heights. Mine, for example, was too low whilst my companion’s was normal height. I noticed that other tables also had a mix of chair types. Though I’d prefer not too, I can live with the low seats – but it needs to be uniform (i.e. it doesn’t feel right when your companion is sitting at a different height, and degrades the dining experience a bit). With that remark out of the way, on to the food!
Soup
Overview of the two meals
Kerala coriander chicken
The meal started with little bowls of vegetable soup. The soup was quite tasty, but I didn’t like the metal bowls it was served in. These were too hot to hold, and the bowl too small to tidily drink the soup with the serving (not soup) spoon provided.
The kerala coriander chicken was good, but after comparing it to the kandian scallops, it seemed a little bland. Still, a quite decent meal. The chicken was tender. I did not care much for the yoghurt and the chutney coming with it. More sauce to go with the rice would have been welcome.
Kandian scallops
The kandian scallops was an expensive dish for any sort of curry restaurant. Scallops aren’t exactly cheap – but the portions here aren’t exactly large either and £16.85 is a lot to pay for this type of cuisine. Fortunately, the dish was very good. It was nicely creamy and the scallops themselves were very nicely cooked. I wouldn’t give much for the paratha bread though, which was somewhat greasy and the rice which was rather dry. That last complaint takes on some significance in consideration of the small size of the dish overall (seemed a bit less than half of what you’d ‘normally’ get in a curry house), as there wasn’t enough sauce to flavour & moisten more than about 1/3 of the rice. And forget about dipping the bread in the sauce (unless you’re then prepared to eat your dry rice dry ;)). My suggestion with this dish would absolutely to take it as part of a tapas selection – and if you’re taking rice, make sure you get several dishes that all have some sauce (unless, of course, you like dry rice).
Banana tiramisu
The banana tiramisu was surprisingly good. On first sight, I was worried as it was covered in a chocolate sauce (I hate most chocolate sauces, as they’re usually horribly sweet). I worried needlessly though, as the sauce was not over-sweet and not overpowering either. The tiramisu was nice and fresh, and I believe flavoured with real bananas. The tia maria was detectable, but also a gentle flavour that didn’t overpower the rest. A nice surprise
Wattilappam
Details of the Wattilappam dessert
The Wattilappam was surprising. I ordered it because I had no idea what it could be. It was ok but in very small doses because it is quite sweet. Its main flavour is mango but also cashew nuts. I liked the cashew nuts more than the custard. Fortunately it was not that big as it appears on the photos. Its plate is raised, so actually you get a thin layer of it and shallow bowl.
Cost and conclusion: it was £48.73 with the “optional service charge of 10%” automatically added. One again, I am against these “optional service’ charges automatically included. It should be up to the clients to decide if the service was worth a tip and then how much. Here, the service was friendly but not that efficient since we got our main courses before our drinks arrived. Not a big deal. Overall I would say the food is quite decent but on the expensive side compared to some other Asian restaurants. I prefer the Thai restaurant Banana Leaf in Clapham even if it is more canteen like.