Crocker’s Folly – Review

24 Aberdeen Place, NW8 8JR

020 7289 9898/www.crockersfolly.com

I go to a lot of new restaurants (thanks for your sympathy..) and inevitably there are a number of design clichés that keep coming up; for instance I have probably been inside enough joints with distressed walls, white tiles and filament light bulbs to last me a lifetime, but the thing that annoys me the most is the faux antique look. However with my recent visit to the newly opened Crocker’s Folly, a stunningly restored Grade II* listed Victorian gin palace, you will be pleased to hear that my finely tuned aesthetic sensibilities were in no way disturbed.

In its latest iteration the building is a Modern European restaurant owned by the Maroush group who have been supplying Lebanese food to Londoners since 1981. It sits almost hidden down a side street in St John’s Wood but Tardis-like seems much larger on the inside than the outside.

There is a real sense of surprise when you enter with the interior featuring marble, Romanesque columns, cut glass chandeliers and carved mahogany.

Built in 1898 as the palatial Crown Hotel by entrepreneur Frank Crocker, it enjoyed over a century as a thriving pub until 2004 when it closed. By 2007 the building had been placed on the top 10 endangered list by the Victorian Society.

I had been invited to review alongside a hungry band of bloggers and after a refreshing glass of Duval Royal house champagne we were taken through to The Marble Room in what was once the building’s legendary saloon bar. Created from no less than 50 types of marble, it has been transformed into a spectacular dining room.

 In my view it is always appropriate to follow champagne with cocktails as a liquid bridge to the wine. Due to time constraints I only had a couple- the Cherry Folly was like an alcoholic cherry drop in a good way and the Crockerstini was melony sweet.