The Roebuck

You should always be suspicious of reviews by food writers who are writing up places within walking distance of where they live; there is inevitably a tendency to be favourably disposed. It is for this reason that I have tried three separate meals here before adding this to the web site, as I wanted to be sure.

The Roebuck is a Chiswick pub that is a revamp of a long-established pub that had gone to seed. At the back of the pub is a large dining room, serving food that is just a little more ambitious than one might expect but still with appealing bistro classics like Cumberland sausages and cote de boeuf . Starters are £5 - £7, main courses £9.50 - £16.50 and desserts mostly £5.

One meal was as follows.

I began with a simple but enjoyable mackerel pâté on toast, the pâté having plenty of mackerel taste and fairly smooth texture (2/10). A leek and potato soup was home-made and properly seasoned, with a pleasantly warming effect on this wild evening of heavy rain (1/10). Loch Duart salmon was roasted and served with crushed potatoes flavoured with lemon and parsley, with braised fennel; and salsa verde. The fish was properly timed, and the vegetables cooked well, while the salsa verde added a little bite to the dish (1/10). Roast free range chicken breast was served with a cake of bacon and potato, alongside some leeks, the chicken garnished with a tarragon cream sauce. The chicken was correctly cooked, the bacon and potato cake could have been crisper, but the cream sauce worked well enough (1/10). Hand-cut chips were quite good, being crispy and decently seasoned (2/10).

Desserts actually moved up a gear. A warm fig and almond tart had very good pastry, and was served with a smooth honey ice cream (3/10). A dark chocolate truffle cake was a little dense, but nonetheless had nice chocolate flavour, served with a vanilla ice cream with proper vanilla flavour (2/10). Service was very friendly and came across as genuine.

At another meal, I had very good celeriac soup, the soup well seasoned and having plenty of celeriac taste (3/10). Venison haunch was cooked pink and served on a bed of decent red cabbage, salsify and cooking juices flavoured with rosemary (2/10). Sea bream was pan-fried accurately, and served on a bed of crushed potatoes and Swiss chard (3/10).

Service has been very friendly on my visits here, and dishes arrive at a steady pace. This is not a destination gastropub like the Harwood Arms, but it is nonetheless very pleasant indeed.

Andy's profile     Other reviews by Andy     Andy likes    

I was in this pub this Sunday which had a nice family/relaxed feel with a great little beer garden. The only downside was that not only were the soft drinks really expensive but the food was ridiculously priced. 13 squid for a roast dinner..The most expensive Sunday Roast I'd every had which didn't fill a hole either....shame

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