A local bistro with great word of mouth buzz, Entree is a bit of sophistication on Battersea Rise.

The Venue
Taking over posh kebab restaurant Olive and Earth, Entree is a bar and restaurant set over two levels. Up a small flight of stairs from the entrance is a mezzanine level that houses the main restaurant, a long room with dark grey tables and mismatched, bistro-style chairs. A couple of tables for two look down to the bar below, which, even well before the bar fills up, provides entertainment in the form of the bartender, busily setting up for the evening and chiselling pieces of ice into perfectly formed spheres for cocktails.

The Atmosphere
Popular with large groups and chatty female friends catching up, Entree is bustling with locals who move freely between the downstairs bar and the upstairs restaurant. The bar features a piano tucked into of the staircase, on a little raised nook, and live music a couple nights a week is already proving popular. Staff are friendly and helpful.

The Food
Entree’s chef has worked at restaurants including Le Gavroche, Tom Aikens and Nobu which means that expectations are high on the food front. Unfortunately, an amuse bouche of a rosemary bread roll and shot glass of cold pea soup with parmesan sprinkles isn’t that impressive. Although the bread is warm and soft, it’s much too salty and the salted butter doesn’t help much on that front. The pea soup has a nice flavour but should be much colder to make it stand out.

Luckily, after that things pick up a bit with the starters, which feature pea arancini (risotto balls, £5.50), which are crisp on the outside and a pretty pale green colour, served with a strip of guacamole. The same guacamole shows up at the bottom of the seafood salad (£7.50), which comes wrapped like a parcel in thin slices of cucumber. The salad features prawns and squid, both of which are perfectly cooked, and a trio of open mussels around the edge of the plate. It’s light but still satisfying.

Much more indulgent is the dish of Denham Estate pork belly (£15), which is rich, soft and sweet, just how it should be. A thin layer of crackling tops the square of pork belly, and the accompanying thinly sliced potatoes layered with chorizo (almost like a slice of potato-chorizo cake) and the apple sauce (with chunks of apple in an intriguingly creamy sauce) are both delicious. Roasted cod fillet (£16) is also good, the piece of cod thick and nicely cooked, surrounded by a combination of borlotti beans and summery veg like peas and asparagus. A side of seasonal vegetables (£3) including courgettes and a variety of green beans is fresh and buttery.

For puddings, the lemon posset (£5) is smooth and rich, served in a Kilner jar with a layer of rhubarb on top and a biscuit base beneath. The flourless chocolate torte (£5) is rich in flavour but slightly strange in texture, a bit too runny.

The Drink
The wine list has a few unusual bottles and ranges in price from a reasonable £15 a bottle to £43 for a Puligny Montrachet, which won’t be bursting any wallets either. A handful of reds and whites are available by the glass from £3.75 to £5.75, including a bright, clean-tasting Raintree Reserve from South Africa (£3.75/£15) and a ripe, fruity Coiron Malbec Shiraz from Argentina (£5.75/£23).

The downstairs bar has a full cocktail list with options including a Negroni (£6), served with a big round ice cube in the glass, which itself is frosted with ice, making the drink so cold that even the eyebrow-raisingly strong concoction of gin, vermouth and Campari goes down as smoothly as a good wine. A raspberry mule is pretty, pink and refreshing.

The Last Word
Despite a modern look and an up-to-date menu, Entree has an old fashioned charm. A great addition for Battersea locals and the other Londoners who make the trip to SW11.

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