• About The Hedonist
  • Bar Talk-Where we’re drinking
    • The Polo Bar @ The Westbury
    • Pink Chihuahua
    • 69 Colebrooke Row – Review
    • The Bar at the George V Paris – Review
    • Duke’s Bar – Review
    • Bassoon Bar – Review
    • Banca – Review
    • THE EGERTON HOUSE BAR -Review
    • The Lucky Pig – Review
    • Beagle – Review
    • 214 Bermondsey – Review
  • London Restaurant Reviews
    • Caractère – Review Notting Hill
    • Patri – Review
    • Villa di Geggiano – Review
    • African Volcano @  Great Guns Social  
    • Beso – Review
    • Padella – Review
    • 28°-50° London Wine Workshop and Kitchen – Review
    • The Goring – Review
    • Freakscene – Review
    • CUB – Review
    • Tsukiji Sushi – Review
    • COYA Angel Court – Review
    • Nutbourne – Review
    • Galvin Bistrot de Luxe – Review
    • Palatino – Review
    • Lao Café – Review
    • Galvin at The Athenaeum – Review
    • 7 Park Place – Review
    • QP London – Review
    • Cinnamon Bazaar – Review
    • Chinese New Year @ Hakkasan
    • Dinner by Heston Blumenthal – Review
    • The Ritz @ Xmas – Review
    • Coriander – Review
    • El Parador – Review
    • Inamo – Review
    • Ostuni – Review
    • Chai Wu – Review
    • Shotgun BBQ – Review
    • Ormer Mayfair – Review
    • Review-The Angler
    • The Harcourt – Review
    • Pizzicotto – Review
    • The Painted Heron – Review
    • All Star Lanes – Review
    • Kurobuta Harvey Nichols – Review
    • Bangalore Express – Review
    • Zero Degrees – Review
    • Chakra – Review
    • Cottons Caribbean Restaurant and Salon de Rhum – Review
    • Lotus – Review
    • Charlotte’s W5 – Review
    • Massimo – Review
    • Brasserie Les 110 de Taillevent – Review
    • The Dalloway Terrace @ The Bloomsbury hotel – Review
    • Plum + Spilt Milk – Review
    • Bella Cosa – Review
    • Roka Aldwych – Review (with Bookatable)
    • Brasserie Gustave – Review
    • Muga – Review
    • Barrafina – Review
    • Charlotte’s Place – Review
    • The New St Grill – Review
    • The Lockhart – Review
    • Kêu – Review
    • The Richmond – Review
    • Allan Pickett @ Sanderson – Review
    • Scents of Summer Afternoon Tea @ The InterContinental London
    • Tartufi & Friends @ Harrods – Review
    • The Five Fields – Review
    • West Thirty Six – Review
    • Evoluzione @ Hotel Xenia Kensington – Review
    • Rex & Mariano – Review
    • Kitchen Table @ Bubbledogs – Review
    • John Doe – Review
    • Ceru – Review
    • Kouzu – Review
    • Enoteca Rabezzana – Review
    • Old Tom & English – Review
    • The Wallace – Review
    • Zaika – Review
    • Xmas at Boulestin – Review
    • Crocker’s Folly – Review
    • The Cavendish – Review
    • Laurent-Perrier at The New Angel – Review
    • Assado – Review
    • The Life Goddess – Review
    • Bubba Gump Shrimp Co – Review
    • Ember Yard – Review
    • The Palomar – Review
    • Blanchette – Review
    • Cannizaro House – Review
    • 1901 Restaurant at Andaz – Review
    • Notting Hill Kitchen – Review
    • The Guildford Arms – Review
    • Curry for Change @ Cafe Spice Namaste
    • Chotto Matte – Review
    • Lyle’s – Review
    • The Clove Club – Review
    • Quo Vadis – Review
    • Polpetto – Review
    • Osteria dell Angelo – Review
    • Amsterdam-Johannes Restaurant – Review
    • The Worlds End Market – Chelsea
    • Brigade Bar & Bistro- Review
    • La Polenteria – Review
    • Mele e Pere – Review
    • La Mancha – Review
    • The Well – Review
    • Harrods The Salad Kitchen – Review
    • Layla – Review
    • See Sushi – Review
    • Pescatori Mayfair – Review
    • Flesh & Buns – Review
    • Grain Store – Review
    • Acciuga – Review
    • Pizza Pilgrims – Review
    • Les Trois Garcons – Review
    • Little Social – Review
    • Review-Ametsa with Arzak Instruction
    • Review-Balthazar
    • Reviews-Brasserie Zedel
    • Review-Copita
    • Review-Hawksmoor Air St.
    • The Glasshouse – Review
    • Review-Coya
    • 214 Bermondsey – Review
  • Travel
    • Tuscany
      • Tuscany-A Florentine Feast with Anna Bini
      • Tuscany-Olive Oil Pressing in Pistoia-Olio Nuovo
      • Tuscany-Pecorino and Ricotta from the Pistoia Hills
  • Music
    • When A Gig Goes Wrong – Pop Music’s Hall of Shame

The Hedonist

Review-Harrison’s

March 2, 2013 by Adrian 2 Comments

Harrison’s                          Balham

Follow @Hedonisttweets

15-19 Bedford Hill  London SW12 9EX
020 8675 6900/www.harrisonsbalham.co.uk/
Harrison's

Harrison’s

Balham is a slightly strange place. Not as aspirational as Clapham or as urban as Brixton, it is a place you probably drive through on the way to somewhere else-it is after all the gateway to…er…Tooting.
Harrison’s is an all day brasserie that is the new baby sister of Sam’s, a joint in the much more upmarket West London suburb of Chiswick, which seems to mostly populated by lawyers and media types these days. It’s my guess that Sam Harrison, who owns both operations with the backing of mentor Rick Stein for whom he ran front of house in Padstow, is taking a punt on Balham and certainly the lunchtime we were there we spotted enough yummy mummies to keep the place afloat.
IMG_1722
The interior is all white tiles, wood and leather with a zinc bar. It’s an attractive and welcoming space-trendy enough without being oppressively so. The same could be said about the menu. It is eclectic, taking dishes from France, Spain, Italy, the USA and the UK and mixing them up,  finely tuned to appeal to nascent masters and mistresses of the universe-there are hunks of meat between slabs of bread for him and maybe some Padron peppers and Quinoa salad for her. It could be a recipe for disaster-but it isn’t.

I was lunching with Fiona from London Unattached who is a renowned trencherwoman determined to overthrow gender stereotypes-so she ordered three starters to the Hedonist’s one (OK-I did have a taste of hers and they were small plates…).

IMG_1724
She went for Giant Green Puglia Olives (£3.50) , which were fat and juicy…
IMG_1727
with a plate of hot and salty Padron Peppers (£4)…
IMG_1728
and some Moroccan Hummus, Flat Bread (£4). The hummus was well blended and spiced.
IMG_1726
Now I love Burrata and tend to order it when I see it on a menu. It’s a turbocharged mozzarella injected with cream and mozzarella strands but if it isn’t really fresh it can be less than thrilling. So you can imagine my nervousness on ordering the Burrata, Clementines, honey glazed almonds, chilli and mint dressing (£7.50). Would the cheese be past its best and would the additional elements ruin the purity of the burrata experience?  To put your mind to rest I can report that the burrata was fabulous, the dish not only  looked beautiful but tasted great too. The cheese oozed creamy goodness, the clementines provided citrus sweetness, the almonds brought crunch and a honeyed bitterness to the proceedings and the chilli gave it a bit of bite. At this point I realised that Harrison’s was offering something much better than your average local brasserie.
Although we were situated south of the river our palates were tempted east by the wine list. Sadly the Leyton Lambrusco was off but a Dry Tokaji, Chateau Dereszla, Hungary 2011 (£19.75 for 500 ml) was very much available. It’s so unusual to drink a dry Tokaji in the UK and it drank very well from the off, full of melon and herb flavours.
IMG_1732
Grilled Chicken BLT, Fries, Avocado Mayo (£13.50) was pronounced by Fiona to be an exemplary dish of its kind. I liberated a few of her fries and they were crisp without being overdone.
IMG_1729
Sea Bream, cauliflower, raisins and pine nuts  (£13.50) was another well executed plate of food. The bream skin was crisp and the thick fillet of the fish perfectly cooked. Even the roast cauliflower was good…
Harrison's After Dinner Treats

Harrison’s After Dinner Treats

Fiona went for the Harrison’s After Dinner Treats (£3.50) to finish the meal whilst I went for the Chocolate Fondant, Salted Caramel Ice Cream (£6.50).
Chocolate Fondant, Salted Caramel Ice Cream

Chocolate Fondant, Salted Caramel Ice Cream

The chocolate was deep and rich and beautifully offset by the salt caramel ice cream. To accompany our desserts we drank an off menu Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc, Noble Late Harvest, 2009, South Africa that was sticky and sweet- perfect with the chocolate.
The food and drink at Harrison’s punches above its weight whilst cannily appealing to the local market. Service is friendly and not overbearing and if I was driving through Balham I would be very tempted to stop. If I lived there- I might very well move in.

The Hedonist was a guest of Harrison’s

Harrison's on Urbanspoon

Square Meal

4 / 5 stars     

Filed Under: Restaurants & Bars

Trackbacks

  1. Sam's Brasserie and Bar-Review - The Hedonist says:
    April 3, 2013 at 2:00 pm

    […] Review-Harrison’s […]

    Reply
  2. Sonny's Kitchen - Review - The Hedonist says:
    May 31, 2013 at 10:40 am

    […] Review-Harrison’s […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tags

Acciuga Belgravia Brighton Bruno Loubet Camden Chelsea Chiswick Cocktails Covent Garden Curry D@D Fitzrovia Gallery Mess gin Hackney Harrison's Harrods Hoxton Indian Islington Italian Japanese Kensington King's Rd London London-Unattached Marylebone Mayfair Namaaste Kitchen Negroni Notting Hill pan-asian Peru Peruvian Pizza Restaurant sake Sam's Shoreditch Sloane Square Soho tapas The Hedonist The Saatchi Gallery Tony Conigliaro

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in