The County Arms
345 Trinity Road
London
SW18 3SH
http://www.countyarms.co.uk

Reviewed on Thursday 9 April lunch time

The County Arms in Wandsworth

The County Arms pub is located on the busy Trinity Road at the corner of Alma Terrace. It is facing the sports area of Wandsworth Common. It is a pretty large building and the setting inside is quite spacious and nicely furnished with large tables. We chose a table in the conservatory, to the rear of the building. It was not busy at all, but it was a Thursday lunchtime and I can imagine the place well crowded on Friday evening or during the weekend with all the families going to the park next door.

As starters we ordered potted chicken liver pate with toasted bread (£5.50) and toasted goat’s cheese on a beetroot and potato salad (£5.25). The goat cheese was quite good, generously sized. It was on top of a potato salad which had a good amount of onions which complemented the goat cheese nicely. The potato salad was chilled, it would have been better at room temperature. The goat cheese was hot of course. The beetroot salad has a spicy mustard sauce. The chicken liver was great, smooth and not overpowering. I just wished to have a little more bread, which was excellent too by the way.

The toasted goat's cheese

Potted chicken liver pate

For main courses we had a lamb shank with roasted potatoes and green beans (£9.95) which was their BBQ special for the day and a cumberland sausage with creamy mash and caramelised onion gravy (£8.50). The red wine was a good Le Sanglier Carignan 2007 (£15.45) which went well with the meals we had. The lamb shank was good, it could have been seasoned a little more but that’s not a major complaint. The gravy was not obviously from a packet unlike in many pubs… The potatoes were not fantastic, they were probably pre-roasted and then nuked. They were hot but not crispy. The sausages were fine and the creamy mash good too. It is not a top meal naturally but it was exactly what I expected and wanted in a pub. I was very hungry as you can tell.

Lamb shank

Sausages and mash

Overview

For desserts we took the fruit crumble with custard (£4.95) and a bread and butter pudding (£4.95). The fruit crumble was based on plums and was good, not too sweet and a little sour. It was very hot. The bread and butter pudding could have been better. It was fine but was the same as you could get in a hundred other places. Maybe too much eggs and not enough bread and butter.

Bread and butter

Fruit crumble with custard

Cost and conclusion: with two 3 courses meals and a bottle of wine for £60 (including the service charge) the County Arms is reasonably well priced. The surrounding is nice and the service was efficient. We will be back!