High Road Brasserie

High Road Brasserie is open all day and is very popular with the denizens of Chiswick, who pack its outside tables on anything resembling a sunny day. It is on the ground floor of Soho House, with a separate members-only restaurant upstairs. The menu is simple but appealing, with burgers, steaks, salads and pasta dishes.

The wine list ranged in price from £23 to £125 and had labels such as Nativa Carmenere Reserva 2014 at £29 compared to a shop price of £9, Opawa Pinot Noir 2013 at £46 for a bottle that will set you back £16 in the high street, and the excellent Antinori Tignanello 2012 at £125 compared to a retail price of £64.

Crab and avocado on rye toast was a very simple dish, but the avocado was ripe and the crab tasted quite fresh (12/20). I quite enjoyed a pretty salad of beetroot, rocket and goat cheese. The rocket was suitably peppery though the cheese was a little bland (12/20).

Tuna Nicoise had decent seared tuna but the salad dressing was uninteresting; this could be improved by using higher quality oil and vinegar (11/20). Lobster linguine with a tomato sauce was better, the pasta having reasonable texture, the tomatoes decent flavour and the lobster avoiding any hint of chewiness (13/20). Cheesecake is made from scratch here and was pleasant enough, though the flavour was a little bland and the biscuit base could be improved (12/20). 

Service was good, with wine topping up attentive most of the way through our meal, and a friendly and efficient waitress serving us. The bill came to £93 a head but that was with some excellent wine. If you shared a modest bottle between two then a typical cost per head all in would be around £65. High Road Brasserie is very successful and has an appealing menu, but the food seems to me too expensive for what appears on the plate. The perennially packed dining room suggests that I am in the minority here.

Further reviews: 01st Sep 2023 | 25th Aug 2022 | 02nd Aug 2021 | 20th Jul 2020 | 02nd Aug 2014 | 12th Dec 2010