If The Brown Dog were any easier to find in the backstreets of Barnes, it would be even harder to get a table here in busy periods. Drinkers are welcome to prop up the bar in one room with a pint of well-kept local ale (Sambrook’s Wandle, Twickenham’s Autumn Blaze) or a glass of wine from the decent list. Diners make their way to the other room for pleasing seasonal soups (white onion with black olive tapenade, say) and a daily roster of dishes running from wild garlic, ricotta and lemon ravioli to chicken and chorizo pie with mash or whole grilled sea bass with samphire and Jersey royals. Steaks and burgers also have their say, while desserts might bring baked rhubarb cheesecake with ginger crème fraîche. The garden come into its own on sunny weekends, when staff often light the barbecue.