“An SW17 legend… sets the local standard… special every time”; local fans never tire of Chez Bruce’s sociable, neighbourly attributes, its high-achieving sense of style or its “consistently superb” Michelin-starred cooking. We also approve of Bruce Poole’s egalitarian approach and the fact that he can produce top-end cooking without eye-watering price tags, fawning service or reverential pomposity.
Eating here is all about having a good time and enjoying great food in surroundings that are underplayed but sophisticated (think neatly laid tables, polished wood floors and striking modern art on pastel walls).
The kitchen’s remit is gusty, generous and immensely flavoursome Euro-inspired cooking – the kind of food that pleases, excites and soothes in equal measure. It’s an ever-changing seasonal feast, but the menu might take you from starters of sautéed duck hearts with pearl barley, roast new season’s garlic, smoked sausage and parsley to desserts such as a seasonally tweaked Arctic roll with poached peach and blackcurrants or buttermilk pudding cheekily partnered by a slice of lemon drizzle cake, lemon curd and strawberries.
In between, the big-hearted approach could yield prime cuts and earthy platefuls such as wild turbot accompanied by fresh coco beans, cucumber velouté, pickled apple and samphire or rump of veal with ragù-dressed hispi cabbage, crisp polenta, courgette purée and girolles – manna indeed for the well-fed burghers of Wandsworth. Chez Bruce is also famed for its prodigious cheeseboard, and we reckon its “fantastic” assortment deserves much more than a passing sniff.
Brilliant staff and knowledgeable, “old school” service add to the all-round feel-good factor here, while the monumental 600-bin wine list is a treasure trove of classy bottles offering tantalising diversity, style and quality at drinker-friendly prices. In short, Chez Bruce promises “a great night out!”