Since I moved to Fulham about 6 years ago this place has gone through several different iterations, with varying degrees of success. The Harwood Arms, when I first visited in 2006, was a better than average local serving decent and very reasonably priced English pub-grub that verged on ‘gastro-pub’ but didn’t quite make it and didn’t actually need to. Then it was sold and the new owner tried to be different, introduced a fiddly and rather unappetising menu and alienated most of the regulars. The next (and final) change of ownership saw the place taken over by the Brett Graham of the Ledbury restaurant, Mike Robinson of the Pot Kiln pub in Berkshire and Edwin Vaux from the Vaux brewery. We didn’t know, but dropped in there when our planned lunch venue was packed out with exhibition visitors (the perils of living near Earls Court).
Wow, what a surprise! I seem to remember feasting on razor fish, venison and foraged wild sorrel. And the place was all poshed up with linen napkins and little hessian sacks of foodie bread. If I remember the bill was ridiculously cheap, less than we would have paid at the Atlas, and the place was half empty. What we didn’t know was the heritage of the new owners.
I took a foodie friend there, who interrogated front of house staff as we ate our way through yet another fabulous meal. And we promised ourselves more visits! But, here’s the rub. The Harwood Arms got rave reviews and was awarded a Michelin star, I think within a year or so of its reincarnation. And, when we went back, it was full to bursting, even on a weekday lunchtime and front of house staff were simply ungracious. The prices went up and the service went down. We sat through one lunch of ‘foodie’ but greasy bar snacks because ‘the kitchen was catering for a large party’ and the subsequent two visits we walked out before being served.

So, a year on, I decided to try once more.

The Harwood Arms format is pretty much unchanged. The flowers on the table are cultivated, not wild but the… More