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Description: This "cool" and "buzzy" new member of Nick 'Soho House' Jones's empire has proved "an excellent addition to Chiswick"; the brasserie fare "isn't going to win any Michelin stars", but it is "well-prepared and thought-out" (and brunch is "fabulous").
Food: 
Service: 
Ambience:
Phone: 020 8742 7474
Website: http://www.highroadhouse.co.uk
Good for: Good food, Ambience.
Payment options:
Head chef Duncan Impey at High Road Brasserie
Should Kirsty Young (Mrs Nick Jones) invite her husband onto Desert Island Discs when she starts as presenter this autumn, I would imagine that his luxury would be an all-day menu.
That amenity has served him - and others - well at Electric Brasserie in Notting Hill, Boheme Kitchen & Bar in Soho and Balham Kitchen & Bar.
I can see Nick now, slouching happily on the sand, back against a palm tree, toes in the surf, ordering crispy squid, a suckling pig sandwich with Bramley apple sauce and chips and a bottle of Tignanello and wondering why it is all taking so long to arrive.
High Road House is the Chiswick manifestation of the hotel/members' club/Cowshed beauty parlour/public restaurant assembly that Jones and his Soho House associates are intending to roll out all over the universe, probably including a few expensively scantily-populated islands.
What was previously a family-run hotel called Fouberts has become ideal five-storey premises in the postal district that every restaurateur I know has his or her eye on.
Chiswick is populated with media players and well-to-do young marrieds (or whatever). You can infer their smugness from the fact that it is the only borough I have driven to where residents' parking spaces have no time parameters. If you don't live in Chiswick, tough titty. You can't ever park where residents can.
Next door to High Road House is an old cinema currently trading as an antiques shop. If that could be bought, then the ideal Jones commercial jigsaw would be complete.
Meanwhile, the ground-floor brasserie is open to all, literally open in a truly inviting way with the kitchen on view from the road.
Tables on the wide pavement corralled behind a wooden fence lead seamlessly into the dining room and bar which Ilse Crawford, creative director of the group, has modelled on a French brasserie, complete with marble bar top, bevelled mirrors on dark polished columns, globe lights, zinc-topped tables, high leather banquettes and a rustic colourful tiled floor, for which Chiswick residents are already requesting the website.
Head chef Duncan Impey has benefited from time spent working with Henry Harris at Harvey Nichols Fifth Floor and Racine. Henry Harris, whose house is in Acton (where you live before Chiswick), was eating in the restaurant the evening we were there.
"Try the baked spider crab," he said. I ordered pea-and-pecorino risotto to start, and accepted the waiter's idea that time spent waiting could be gainfully occupied by sharing with Reg a slice of tuna carpaccio.
This rosy disc was dressed with lime, oil, chilli and capers at a nearby trolley where a little rocket salad was tossed to accompany it - a nice bit of theatre, as was presentation of seafood platters and Chateaubriand on high metal stands for two.
Moules marinières in a creamy sauce were served in an cast-iron Staub cocotte and so was the delicious summer chicken casserole which was Reg's main course. The risotto was perfect, the baked spider crab woefully over-salted.
I kept dipping into different areas in the crusty asteroid surface but it was just too salty to be enjoyable. I concentrated instead on a side dish of cauliflower Mornay that had been beautifully timed to retain a crunch in the vegetable atop its gooey sauce. Cauliflower cheese is indeed a desert island dish.
Fruit plate with Foubert's sorbet - a sort of cheap lemony flavour - and Eton mess were our desserts. People have said about Nick Jones's places that you have such a good time you don't notice how indifferent the food is.
Here at High Road Brasserie the food lives up to the atmosphere. Some people reading this may know that my son Ben works for Nick Jones. If the last two sentences come across as causally connected, then just put me down as a loving mother.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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The breakfasts are absolutely superb and difficult to fault. This is the first place I head to whenever I arrive in London after a long haul overnight flight from my home in the Far East.
- Duncan, Originally across Chiswick Bridge, now Bangkok, Thailand
Ate at the Brasserie last night with friends. Had been looking forward to checking it out for while and unfortunately left rather disappointed. Main let down was the yawn inspiring menu. The lack of inspiration wasn't helped by the fact that ALL the main course fish dishes were unavailable bar the salmon. In fact, the vast majority of all the seafood on the menu was not available at all. Whoever is in charge of stock better do some number crunching and fast. Service was great and the staff did their best to make the bland food on offer sound more appealing but there is only so many adjectives one can use to make 'chicken casserole' sound exciting. We had a great night as we were in good company but for the up market bistro food that we were presented with, our bill was ridiculously high. The lighting needs a makeover too. All in all, fun night out with friends but yawn yawn yawn when it came to the food.
- Anna, Chiswick
