The Stonhouse
165 Stonhouse Street
SW4 6BJ
020 7819 9312
http://www.thestonhouse.co.uk/
Why haven't we got our own "gastro-pub"? - Everywhere else has! Islington has a good few, Chelsea has a number of them, Central London, Borough, and even Greenwhich has a couple. In Clapham we have good restaurants and we have pubs that do food but not, up to now, a gastro-pub, ie pub that does good restaurant-style food in stylish comfortable surroundings.
BUT now we do! It's the Stonhouse on Stonhouse Street and it's very good indeed! I am not sure I had ever been to this pub before but I then remembered coming here over 10 years just after moving to Clapham. It was fairly non-descript. BUT it's had a magic-wand makeover and now looks fabulous - it's also got a little courtyard garden. AND this is where I had lunch on a sunny Thursday in March.
I started with crabcakes and there were perfect. Plenty of crab meat in evidence and a nice lemon & basil mayo to go with them. I followed this by a great lamb, potato and artichoke main couse. This was the "Thursday" dish. They have a different special each day. If every day is special as Thursday they will be doing well, the lamb was superb. Perfectly cooked and the potatoes and artichokes was great, too. A fairly simple dish but all the components working well together.
Having three courses for lunch at lunchtime is little naughty but in for a penny in a for pound. A wonderful treacle tart was so light and the lemon cream made it even more special. A really good dessert.
I can highly recommend The Stonhouse. I will definitely be going back for dinner and I hope the service is friendly as it was on the sunny Thursday lunchtime.
Only slight niggle is the insistence that that take a debit/credit card as soon as your seated. Something the Time Out review picked-up on. It's not very trusting is it?
J.
