We continue our guide to London’s most desirable districts with a name that doesn’t feature in too many tourist guides but is definitely one for those in the know to explore. We love to hear from local experts, so if you’ve got a bar, restaurant or attraction in mind that you can recommend, then please reach out to us on Facebook or Instagram.
This week, we’re out in the near-west in Brook Green.
Named after its centrepiece public park, Brook Green is in Hammersmith and Fulham, just five miles from central London. Nestled between Holland Park and Hammersmith, two tube stations (Hammersmith and Goldhawk Road) make for great connectivity into town, while there’s a village feel to Brook Green’s wide, leafy avenues that’s also reflected in lots of high-quality independent high-street businesses and a genuine, friendly community. And with Kensington Olympia and the Hammersmith Apollo just a stroll away, events of an international standing are on your doorstep too.
Where to eat in Brook Green
A lovely setting on the Green helps bring guests to the 17 rooms at this quirky pub-cum-boutique hotel that’s updated its Victorian heritage without losing its retro charm.
The menus also tend towards traditional and hearty British food in a gastro-pub style and with plenty of nods to current trends in sustainability, provenance, and even veganism.
If the Young’s beers in the pub’s bar don’t tickle your fancy then head down to Smith’s Cocktail Bar in the basement to put some sophisticated shakery into your night out.
Family-run and family friendly, Los Molinos is a great neighbourhood Spanish restaurant with a long history and a devoted local fan base.
When you can find a seat in one of its two bustling dining rooms, you’ll find a long menu of tapas classics with wonderful Spanish ingredients – white asparagus, squid, octopus, salted cod – turned into delicious small plates.
You might not remember the 1971 cult film that was shot in the St Paul’s Hotel and gives its name to the hotel’s restaurant, but you’ll recognise the quality of the modern-European cuisine on offer at a landmark Prince Albert-style building that also hosted Churchill’s meeting with generals Eisenhower and Montgomery en-route to D Day.
A high-quality menu is imaginative, well-sourced and seasonal, with the likes of Loire Valley Foie Gras, Smoked Red Miso Salmon, and corn-fed chicken beautifully presented in a classically stylish dining room. The bar here specialises in a – perhaps literally – giddying selection of superb whiskies, but the champagne afternoon teas are a lighter crowd pleaser.
This small but beautifully-formed, family-run Chai Naasto packs in customers looking for very authentic Indian street food in a quirky, funky environment.
It’s a favourite with students, but also foodies who know there’s more to Indian food than curry. There are plenty of those, but they’re complemented with a lively, piquant, sweet, sour and spicy set of street food classics fresh off a road-side snack cart.
Where to drink in Brook Green
This being the 21st century, you of course dine to a high standard at this classic pub in a lovely park-side spot.
Grab a pint of Fuller’s – which might come from their famous river-side brewery just down the road in Chiswick – and unwind under the bare beams and brick walls. A highly rated classic Sunday lunch, and a popular quiz night are among its calendar highlights.
You might have to elbow a bearded concert goer or two aside to get to the bar at this friendly, young-feeling bar with burgers close to the Hammersmith Apollo.
It’s got the atmosphere just right, with retro-futurist décor and lashings of quality craft beers from the world’s most exciting brewers including limited-edition specials that get the connoisseurs in a spin.
Where to play in Brook Green
The park at the centre of Brook Green is already a great place to spend time, particularly on a sunny day. There are a couple of great pubs overlooking the park, a café, and this tennis club, where it’s free to play at once you join.
With coaching and all-but round-the-clock play on floodlit, all-weather courses, this is a great amenity for the neighbourhood.
Just down the road is one of London’s – in fact the UK’s – biggest exhibition centres. It’s not open to the public every day, and some of its events are specialist, but having such a huge variety of public events – from food to weddings to fashion to tech in November 2018 alone – on your doorstep is a massive drawcard for the neighbourhood. Keep an eye out for occasional concerts by some genuinely legendary artists too.
Covering both food and drink, and doing so with great quality, the Brook Green Market and Kitchen is the perfect inner-city farmer’s market-cum-producer’s show.
The market regularly offers a great range of street food as well as local produce. Gyoza, tacos, raclette, pasta, and burgers are all readily available. Grab a craft beer to go with it, then work your way round the market with a fresh-ground coffee and a home-made muffin. Make sure you pick up something organic and free range to take home too. Live music, games, and other events bring a real community feel to a cook out that’s growing too fast in reputation to be a “hidden gem” any more.
Looking for home in this garden corner of London? Get in touch with our Brook Green branch today.
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