The Gladwin Brothers have already had quite a few London hits – Soho’s Sussex, Battersea’s Nutbourne, Notting Hill’s The Shed, Chelsea’s Rabbit and Richmond’s Fat Badger – and now the duo are onto their sixth restaurant, this time right in the heart of Wimbledon Village. Like its siblings, The Black Lamb is all about showing off the best British produce, with a lot of the ingredients coming straight from the family’s farm in Sussex.
With just 65 covers, it’s their smallest spot yet and if you wanna make the evening even more intimate, there’s a private dining room you can hire out too. The new digs are relaxed and rustic, featuring plenty of Wimbledon-inspired artwork, vintage crockery and wallpaper adorned with naked farmers pruning their bushes in the bathrooms.
With The Black Lamb being a farm-to-table restaurant, it’s only natural for the menu to lean heavy on the veggie-side but there’s a good sprinkling of meat and fish throughout too. We kicked things off with a few of the small plates, the standout being the mushroom marmite eclair. Quite impressive for something so light to be packed with so much flavour. The Wye Valley grilled asparagus with poached duck egg and hollandaise was another winner; the spears had to be taken to a very charred place and the epitome of poached egg perfection was plonked on top. Sadly, the shaved kohlrabi with broad beans, hazelnuts and goat’s cheese didn’t quite hit the spot for us; we were hoping for a little magic to come out of those flavours but it was not meant to be.
Moving onto mains and our fave dish of the night, South Coast Hake with cauliflower, cockles and sea vegetables sitting in a heavenly pool of Chardonnay butter sauce. Oh how we’d love to bathe in that buttery, zingy sauce. It was a simple and very pretty plate, a reminder of what the Gladwin Brothers do best. Obviously we ordered a portion of the crispy roasted potatoes with walnut aioli and what a dark, dangerous horse they were. And obviously we chased them down with a second portion.
We rounded the evening off with a thick slab of salted caramel chocolate torte and crème fraîche sorbet, of which we would have appreciated a bigger scoop but it was delish nonetheless. And when it came to drinks, the (mostly) English wine list featured a selection sourced from the Gladwin family’s very own Nutbourne vineyard in West Sussex, alongside some other specially selected bottles from across the globe.
The Black Lamb is serving seasonal veg, hefty amounts of butter on every plate and quality meats. Seriously, what’s not to love?
67 High St, London, SW19 5EE
theblacklamb-restaurant.com