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Fay Maschler's rating
Gregg is going all homespun in Wallace & Co
By
Fay Maschler
28 Jan 2010
We arrived and there he was: Gregg Wallace of Masterchef fame, the chap who someone — most probably himself — described as “the cooking woman’s crumpet”. Bald head gleaming, teeth refracting the light, skin tone buffed in that way that exposure on even just the small screen achieves, Gregg seemed genuinely put out that we had arrived on what, as it turned out, was the first full day of trading.
“I did book,” I said, sort of apologetically. “I booked for three in the name of Taylor.” Gregg showed us to what seemed a particularly well-placed, large table. “Are you sure you want us to take this one?” I ventured. “Well, you are the Taylors,” he shouted, “just the bloody Taylors.” Will this become a catchphrase along with “bags of flavour”? Only time will tell.
The company Gregg keeps in this new restaurant venture is Vernon Mascarenhas, his partner in the wholesale vegetable business Secrett’s Direct, and chef Tim Payne who for seven years was executive chef for Marco Pierre White’s establishments, consultant chef to Oliver Peyton and most recently headed up the kitchen at the gastropub Paradise By Way of Kensal Green.
Using the shorthand of a British interpretation of the first Carluccio’s Caffè — similarly destined for roll-out — immediate impressions are of a gastronomically more ambitious and at the same time ambitiously homespun operation.
The choice of Putney as opposed to near Oxford Circus for the first manifestation, the children’s nursery colour scheme and references to the retro design of products such as Sarson’s Malt Vinegar and Colman’s Mustard arranged on a cream-painted dresser scream family values. There is enough floor space for Bugaboos to be neatly parked and certain sections on the menu are entitled For Kids. What is wrong with the word children and, since it is mostly a price rather than a dish differential, why not promote the idea that everyone can and should eat the same food?
The front part of the premises, with its high tables for snacking, features a display of vegetables from Secrett’s Farm and a big wooden table heaped with breads and other baked goods. A refrigerated display of salads, quiches and desserts could provide a quick lunch or supper to take away. Towards the back is a raised eating area underneath a glazed roof.
We sat in the middle and didn’t make pigs of ourselves but tried to cover as much ground as possible. There is an all-day list of soups, salads, tarts, pies and puddings and some extra slightly more substantial dishes for evenings and Sunday lunch.
It’s not that long ago that a British charcuterie plate would have been a contradiction in terms. Trealy Farm, in Monmouthshire, can supply a selection of salami, coppa and bresaola (“salume plate” would have been more accurate). But so can Carluccio’s, so we bypassed that and shared mackerel escabeche, Scotch egg, imam bayaldi (their spelling) and Jerusalem artichoke frittata.
The escabeche was properly done — the fish first fried and then marinated in vinaigrette — but the flesh was a bit creaky, lacking the suppleness and maybe, God knows, the Omega 3 you expect from an oily species. A homemade Scotch egg is no longer a thing of wonder. Every gastropub is knee-deep in them, so much so that we start to expect and demand soft centres. At Wallace & Co, the yolk was hard-boiled but the sausage meat coated with the deep crunch of breadcrumbs from a loaf not a packet was high quality and a whisper of warmth indicated fairly recent deep-frying.
Imam bayeldi is described on the menu as “spiced Turkish aubergine dish”, no reference to the translation of the imam (priest) fainting either from rapture or because of the extravagant use of olive oil. An overdose of tomatoes meant that an imam visiting Putney would probably have stayed firmly on his feet but the vegetarian mish-mash had lively spicing. The frittata was more of a depressed soufflé and would have been useful for lagging pipes.
Rowley Leigh, whose recipes in the Weekend FT I follow closely, said last Saturday that he counsels caution when cooking with beer since bitter can indeed be bitter. This observation was borne out by the Wallace & Co steak, mushroom
and ale pie but in other ways, such as self-effacing pastry, tender meatiness and dark hue, it was most satisfactory. Chicken chips and coleslaw delivered chicken cooked in unannounced fine breadcrumbs, which for the wheat-sensitive (most women) is a shock.
Monkfish skewer with salsa verde and salad potatoes was, you and Gregg and maybe also Tim Payne will be pleased to know, an unqualified success.
“It’s all treacle,” bellowed Gregg when we ordered treacle tart with clotted cream but of course there should be breadcrumbs in there to lighten the filling and the sweetness of choice is Golden Syrup. Knickerbocker Glory lived up to its name.
Wines are bought from Chiswick-based wine merchants Swig, and restaurant prices are no more than £10 above theirs, which is fair-dos, a judgment I would make generally about Wallace & Co. After all, opening a restaurant based on indigenous produce with a view to a chain — It Doesn’t. Get Tougher. Than That.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader views (18)
Found the reception a little icy (a 'Hello' would have been nice) and management/ chef inflexible. We booked our table for midday, were seated at roughly 12:05 and we all ordered the All-Day breakfast. One of us asked to have the eggs scrambled instead of fried and was told that they could only do scrambled eggs before 12 o'clock. When we approached the manager to find out why the chef was so inflexible we were told 'Those are the rules'. In my opinion if you're doing an All-Day breakfast giving diners a choice of how they'd like their eggs done is essential. Food good overall but not sure I will be going back.
- Walter Jones, London, 18/10/2010 14:11
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I've been to Wallace & Co about 4 times now so I have a good overview. The service is confused. You always wait a long time for everything and one time we even had to wait 20 minutes to be asked if I would like a drink. This isn't down to the lack of staff either. The food is ok, i've had one good meal (steak), 2 average meals (both pies- a little watery) and a terrible breakfast. The breakfast was a joke - i waited 25 minutes on a quiet morning, my coffee was cold, my bacon was burnt black, sausage undercooked, scrambled egg was over done. Before I could comment to the staff, my half eaten plate was taken away without my consent. A bargain at 7.99 mmm... oh and i nearly forgot -there was a delivery guy throwing massive tins of food on the floor right next to me while i'm trying to eat. All in all i won't be going back.
- Adam, Putney, London, 13/08/2010 16:04
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I went there last Tuesday and whilst not packed there seemed to be a steady flow of people in and out. The first thing that struck me was the general unstuffiness of the restaurant, it was all very relaxed (in a good way) and felt comfortable straight away. Sometimes when eating out it's easy to "give in" to the vibe and forgive alrightish food because of the atmosphere so I was pleasantly surprised (not that I should have been what with the folk behind the restaurant) that the food was so outstanding. I've lived in Putney for a while now and had always thought something like Wallace & Co was needed. Very nice indeed.
- Grant Turner, Putney, London, 02/06/2010 13:03
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Went to Wallace & Co today and the food was delicious. Sat down at a booth which was dirty with bits of dried food, not a good start, and it took what seemed like an age for the waitress to take our order but the atmosphere was good so we didn't really mind waiting. When the starters arrived they were certainly worth the wait. The scotch egg was very flavoursome and the asparagus with hollandaise was al dente and fresh. Again service was slow and it took 20 mins for the waitress to clear our plates. Then we had to wait a good 40 mins for the main courses to arrive, which turned out to be delicious (although we had to send 2 plates back because they were filthy and this should have been spotted by the staff).What I found most unpalatable was the staff behind the bar preparing the salads. The person preparing our salad had floppy greasy hair, was wiping down dirty kitchen surfaces by hand and then cutting tomatoes and the like (not a tong or glove in sight!). Clearly not hygienic and as a result I couldn't eat my salad.
Back to the food, Damson ice cream was a star dessert as was the bakewell tart (despite the mimsy amount of clotted cream).
Overall the food was of a very high standard but the hygiene and service both need to be improved.
- Alex, London, 01/05/2010 19:36
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We visited the Wallace & Co. on Saturday 27 March in the evening and had a fantastic night. We ordered the imam bayaldi and salmon gravadlax followed by the chicken and chips and ribeye steak and chips. Both the salmon and imam bayaldi were lovely, perfect quantities. The boring-sounding chicken and chips was perfectly cooked with a very tasty sauce. The steak was the best steak I have had in a very long time, properly rare as requested, juicy and tender, with a delicious sauce. The giant chips were awesome. The food was very nicely paced, it could easily have been a rushed evening because the restaurant was quiet, not too slow not too quick. The wine was delicious and very reasonably priced. The waiter was attentive without being overly so. Whilst they had run out of chocolate brownies, they offered us a chocolate cake instead, which to my mind just demonstrates that they serve fresh food rather than poor planning. They served us a huge piece of chocolate cake with both custard and ice cream (I wanted custard, hubby wanted ice cream) and the cake was delicious. I know this place has some disappointing reviews but we wanted to find out for ourselves and were very pleased that we did as we will definitely be back again- i suggest that those who were not impressed give it another go as it really was very good last night!
- Shelley & Martin, Putney, London, 28/03/2010 22:13
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Very disappointing. We went in for some late lunch/early supper at 5pm only to be informed that, once we'd been seated, half the menu was unavailable. This is not a problem if your kitchen is about to close, but the place was staying open for another 5 hours!
The service was just as bad as a number of others on this site have already mentioned, and I didn't appreciate paying for bread and butter, only to receive a slice and a half of supermarket sliced brown bread without any butter!
It's a shame because it could be a great little place, but we certainly won't be going back anytime soon.
- Andy, London, 28/02/2010 21:11
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Let's face it Putney is absolutely dire when it comes to food. As an ex-chef whose first job was in a Michelin-starred restaurant, I'm pretty difficult to please. And so, I was pretty intrigued by this place that suddenly appeared in Putney, but had to wait until a return trip from Melbourne to check the place out.
One of my tests of a decent eaterie is a good coffee, or cappuccino in my case. Nowhere beats Melbourne for coffee (I'm English) and quite frankly you can get a better cappuccino in the back of a dilapidated bingo hall over there than you can in Putney.
Generally speaking, I couldn't give a hoot about service, it's the food that really matters, but the guy that heads up the team could really do with smiling once in a while, but getting his team in order should be top of his list. I've been there 3 or 4 times now and the staff are, on the whole neither impressive nor unimpressive and clearly demotivated.
The salads present a good deal at 3 for six quid. They're fresh and do the job, the chicory + orange is questionable, but on the whole the selection works. The muffins are ok, same as everywhere. I tried the rhubarb crumble with (lumpy) custard, this was pretty impressive. They need to lose the rhubarb Jam (scones without raspberry jam is a no no)
So for my cappuccino test; I have never drank one in Putney where the milk hasn't been boiled to death or where the quality of the coffee is 5/10 max. Today was a momentous day as Wallace & Co served an 8/10.
- Caroline, Putney, 24/02/2010 21:06
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Just had Sunday lunch here. Service was dreadful - slow and inefficient - and clearly suffering from a lack of direction. Reorganising the furniture when people are waiting for menus and there are uncleared tables shows the management does not understand why people go out to eat. When we complained, the manager said (in a tone that indicated that this was a common complaint) that he would be working with the staff on this. That's really not good enough. If he just got the waiters to look at the customers so that they could check whether they needed to clear tables, instead of sweeping on by in an effort to look busy, that would be something. It should be possible to eat 2 courses in under an hour and a half. They stand no chance of attracting any kind of trade for a working day lunch at this rate.
Portions were small and by the 2pm sitting, not only had they clearly run out of the accompaniments mentioned on the menu for the Sunday roast, but only ultra rare beef was left. The rhubarb crumble was so sweet that you could not taste the rhubarb, what little there was of it. The accompanying custard (actually, vanilla crème anglaise) was cold and when we complained, a microwave nuking just left it lumpy.
The restaurant was busy, but I don't see them maintaining this level of trade. since other diners clearly had the same problems that we did. More effort and attention to detail is definitely required.
- Sak, Putney, 21/02/2010 19:17
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We ate here 5th February, sorry I'm late with the review, I've been in hospital for a break.
I had to have a scotch egg while we were waiting in the bar area, they were winking at me, can't wait to go back when the bar snacks are up & running!
I ate the 3 salads as a starter, what a good choice! the celeriac remoulade, gorgeous, the imam bayeldi was lovely and the tuna & bean salad was the best I've ever eaten anywhere. Steak & chunky chips I could have eaten again if I hadn't been so full.
Dessert I chose the treacle tart because I'd told Gregg I would! What is that nonsense about golden syrup & breadcrumbs?? Too many chefs for too long have been making "treacle" tart with golden syrup & breadcrumbs, treacle is treacle, not golden syrup, and any food critic professing to have any knowledge of food should have welcomed the real deal instead of falling into the "all treacle tarts are made with golden syrup""if it's a beefburger, it must be how MacDonalds make it" mentality.
Anyway moving along because I ddin't come here to rant, the wine we allowed the staff to recommend to us and they were good choices at an acceptable, not to say bargain prices.
I will be going again next time I'm in London, it's very handy for the tube too! The atmosphere can only get better as people go again & again and recognise each other.
- Bill Shaw, Blackburn, Lancashire, England, 18/02/2010 20:37
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We expected great food and a lovely ambience. The room was very cold, my food was served on a cold plate and went cold very soon. The monkfish was overcooked too. My family had pies and said they were delicious. The puds were over-sweet for our taste but nicely presented. My coffee was cold...Not a bad price, nice menu, pleasant service.
- Helen, London, 18/02/2010 19:23
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I had a really good meal and have been back twice since then. I like the fact that you can have a really good quiche and salad and a glass of wine with no pressure to order 3 courses. Reasonably priced and good relaxed atmosphere. I love being able to buy seasonal vegetables to take home that don't come from Kenya. Delicious white and red carrots and the best rhubarb I've ever tasted.
- Carolyn, Putney, 17/02/2010 17:32
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Only reason for siting the place in Putney is the proliferation on moneyed people who can easily be relieved of their cash in exchange for sub standard fare.Until the restaurant going public learn what good food is, they'll continue to pay for muck.
- Alan., Wimbledon, 05/02/2010 17:53
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Went last Sunday and wanted to order a pie as they looked amazing, was told they had no pies and less than 30 mins later I saw pies coming out by the tray full, people who arrived after me could order pies, bad communication between the staff and the kitchen, was not happy. Also the deserts we ordered where sold out, chocolate tart and they put no chocolate on my Cappuccino, poor form, won't be rushing back anytime soon.
- Ted, London, 29/01/2010 12:05
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I thought this was a review on the food, not Rngo Starr - Get with it guys
- Paul, Sydney, Australia (Formerly of London), 29/01/2010 04:45
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I like this place - the food is simple and great. The wine list here is particularly worth mentioning, you can sample all the wines by the glass, so a different one with each course. Ignore the negativity, I recommend it. There should be one in every neighbourhood - it's better than carluccios and cheaper too.
- Polly, London, 28/01/2010 20:13
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If they don't sort themselves out soon, this will disappear. A very disappointing and joyless experience
- Simon, london, 28/01/2010 16:24
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Arthur, if you are saying that Ringo Starr was carried by the other three and was "only" the drummer, I suggest you check your music history, Ringo was and is one of the greatest drummers in the world and hugely respected for his work. This is an extremely ignorant comment.
- James, London, 28/01/2010 16:18
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Along with 'a lovely plate of food' - all his other comments are merely repeating what the other presenter has just said.
He is the 2nd luckiest man in the world. The 1st being Ringo Starr.
- Arthur Carroll, london, 28/01/2010 13:19
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