West London has a great choice of eateries and most of them seem to be in Chiswick, where High Road Brasserie is one of the best.

The Venue
There’s something for everyone here as the High Road is not only a brasserie but also a hotel, a club and a Cowshed shop selling indulgent grooming products. The ground floor brasserie is a large room with tables outside. Busy most of the time, it attracts media types, yummy mummies and their offspring and the odd local celeb. Foodies love it because it offers something special for gastronomes. High standards are always on the menu at the High Road.

The Atmosphere
The decor is very chic grey. Not much in the way of soft furnishings, so it’s hard surfaces and high ceilings which account for the hubbub at busy times. Actually the noise is all part of the deal here. Open all day and most days from 7am for an early breakfast (8am at weekends) right through to 11pm or midnight, it has to be a pretty slick operation. It is indeed that and it wears its smartness like a badge and deservedly so.

The Food
Breakfast is served until noon, then it’s afternoon teatime. There’s an all-day menu plus brunch at weekends from noon to 5pm. The prix-fixe menu is £12.50 for two or £15 for three courses and for those in a real hurry there’s the weekday £10 Beat the Clock menu, a choice of four dishes plus a soft drink served in just ten minutes – or it’s free. The set menu is great value and always has some unusual options.

The all-day menu starters (£4.50 - £8) includes rich, thick and intense pea and mint soup (£4.50), served hot or cold, while small plates (£5) include salt cod fritters, neat balls of deep-fried fish and potato with tartare sauce. There are other dishes such salads, shellfish, and main course sandwiches. The goujons of plaice with tartare sauce (£12.50) are chunky pieces of the fish deep-fried and really substantial. From the grill, the squid with bean relish and pancetta (£14.50) is a hearty mixture of big, tasty chunks of the seafood smothered in the beans with the bacon adding extra flavour – so delicious! For dessert, treacle tart is soft, yielding and smooth, while the hot chocolate pudding has a runny inside that bursts forth with luscious moltenness.

The Drink
Many of the wines are available by the 175ml glass or the 500ml carafe. Six whites, six reds and two rosés are on this list and both the house red and house white are eminently drinkable at £4.50 a glass or £11.30 a carafe. Other wines rise to £6.75 and £18.50 for Pinot Grigio and £7.50 and £20 for Pinot Noir. There’s also a full list of great wines by the bottle from £16.50 to £98.50, suiting every pocket.

The Last Word
High Road Brasserie has a reputation built on faultless food that’s never less than inspiring, served with immense professional skill by polite and helpful staff. Long may it reign.

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