The Chalk Freehouse — Restaurant in London

Overall: ★★★☆☆

Tom Kerridge is a lovely guy. I’ve met him once, seen all his shows and no doubt he is down to earth in all he says. Sadly, this is not reflected in any of his restaurants anywhere. I won’t get into the £38 fish and chips at Harrods but will focus today on his ‘boozer’ (his own words) in Chelsea. There is nothing of a ‘local boozer’ about it in any sense. This is a meat dominant restaurant dressed up as a pub. You order at the bar or through a QR code at your table yet there is an expected tip (from 10% to 20%) for essentially passing your food to you from the hatch to the table. This is not a table service worthy of a tip. I make no apology about that. This is less work than a retail assistant does in any local shop. It’s expensive too. £23 for the very cheapest burger and fries up to £112 for a 1.2kg steak. How much is bone? These exact fries can be bought in Booker. The service was patchy. Nice welcome and after serving the food the next time you see them is to clear the table. This place won’t survive long in the current format. It’s not The Devonshire and should reduce prices and offer a decent table service. I would love to give this pub a revised upward rated review but that's down to them. Tom, if on the remote off chance you’re reading this please have a think about your prices. We live in leaner times and if you want to attract regulars you need to listen. You’re a lovely guy but listen to your customers who count not just the gushers. On Saturday lunchtime in this location you should be rammed not half empty.

Food: Burgers and Steaks

What I liked:

• Nice clean set up but then it is fairly new • Food served quite quickly • Lots of staff it seems

What I didn’t like:

• Prices. Simply too expensive for a pub. • Lack of vegetarian options • Nothing vegan • Lack of table service • Maybe more dessert options.

Do I recommend going? NOT REALLY Will I go again? POSSIBLY (IF THEY LET ME!) Was it good value?...

Firstly and foremost the pub itself is lovely with a nice atmosphere and a busy but not hectic vibe to it. We wanted to love the food given it’s under Tom Kerridge’s stewardship, and whilst some dishes were great, others were fairly underwhelming.. Snacks: both the scone and sausage roll were superb, and at £3 each you could easily have 2 of those each and be happy with a few drinks. Starters: baked saffron rice w/ oxtail was pretty bland in taste and watery in texture underneath, which was unexpected given the suposed bone marrow addition to it. We expected it to be rich and beefy but this was not the case. Under-seasoned and forgettable. Crab and potato salad was fine. Mains: Skate wing (FOTD special) was well cooked and a decent size. Didn’t come with any sides but we ordered the crab salad with the mains to go with it. Beef roast: here’s where things really let the Chalk down. The beef was good quality and cooked well but for £36.50, one would expect 2 slices given, considering even the 1 slice was by no means large in size or thickness of cut. Yorkshire pudding with some crispy beefy end bits was a nice touch, however the potatoes were sadly dry, chalky on the inside and barely any crispy exterior. Why do pubs find it so hard to cook decent roast spuds?? 1 solitary purple carrot, and a smattering of watercress completed a pretty underwhelming Sunday roast dish. Yes the pub is new, and no doubt still finding its feet, but for ~£150 (incl. a Guinness and 2 glasses of middle range wine) seemed both punchy and not great V4M.. worth mentioning that the sides - a leafy salad, mashed etc. priced at £9 each put us off adding any to our meal given the cost. We wanted to love it, and rate it highly, but we ended up getting dessert and coffee...

The waiter was really nice but the service was a bit of a letdown and not very attentive despite the restaurant being fairly quiet at lunch time. We had to refill our own glasses and one or two items were forgotten when requested. He was lenient with the wine as my friend didn’t like the South African wine and only charged us for a small glass each. The SA wine was lightly disappointing for the price and could have been more elegant and less young. The German Pinot noir rose and the Provence were nicer but both very youngfor the price charged.

The burger was tasty but there were quite a few things that were really burnt/ black and not eatable. The three of us weren’t keen on the satay sauce as it tasted quite sweet and a bit chocolaty and two of us returned it pretty much untouched.

The truffle fries didn’t taste of Truffles. We really enjoyed the Hispi cabbage with wild garlic as well as the coleslaw . The banana fritter on top of the burger was a nice touch and delicious.

A minor thing but the children menu was priced at £ 8,50 on the paper menu which is fine. The menus might have been out of date but it would have been nice if someone would have communicated that.

There was a fur throw on the bench behind us we were sitting at which was a very hairy the hair ended up on the table plates and on our clothes which didn’t feel very hygienic.

I was really looking forward to this meal because I’m a big fan and maybe my expectations were too high but overall I feel like the price didn’t justify the...