Walnut

As relatively decisive diners we always try to shop around in West Hampstead, but rebuffed by the 7th menu and getting a bit snappy we were about to head back to calamari heaven at Saracino when we noticed Walnut. At first we thought it was new but no, we just hadnt seen it before, perched as it is out of sight on the corner. A quick glance at the menu looked promising and we entered. The welcome was warm and friendly yet the place was strangely empty for a friday night (this always rings alarm bells with me, in the same way that a laminated menu always causes a slight shudder). But, our fears were unfounded, we thoroughly enjoyed the relaxed, chatty service and the unfussy, delicious food. We both (to my dismay) chose to start with the pigeon, which was excellently cooked although the cassis sauce wasnt really strong enough to do it justice. This was accompanied by lashings of fresh homemade bread and an interesting wine selection. For a main, my husband had the pork and his face beamed delight and silence reigned. I had an outrageous crayfish risotto and lemon balm pesto (something I will definitely be trying at home). The portion was enormous and once the pork had disappeared my husband was only too happy to help! Stuffed as we were we managed to fit in a very refreshing mixture of champagne and orange sorbet and then staggered, replete and beaming into the night. We will be back! My only regret is that there werent more people taking advantage of this little local treasure with its heart definitely in the right place.
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Just been to Walnut tonight and had the most amazing meal i have had in a long time, if not to date. As me and my partner are unable to meet tomorrow for Valentines, we decided to go out tonite instead. After reading the reviews of Walnut i was rather dubious about going there but having visited several of the local restaurants (which were all reasonably nice) i wanted to try somewhere new and decided to give it a try. The service was friendly,helpful, excellent and when we ordered our food we were not disappointed. I opted for the scallops and beef cheeks, while my usually boring (as regards food) boyfriend went all out ordering sardine starter and the usual steak. My starter was pleasant,cooked to perfection,with a lovely garnish but my main was out of this world. The beef fell apart on the fork and quite literally melted in the mouth, the mustard mash was delicious (proof is my boyfriend kept dipping in!). The only disappointment i felt was that i was unable to finish the more than adequate portion. My partner is a seafood convert after his sardine starter and commented that the steak was very tender and tasty. We plan to return here next week for my partners birthday and i recall mentioning that they will undoubtedly know my name in Walnut before we change address!
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Lisa
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, February 13, 2008

I fail to understand some of the more negative reviews of this restaurant. To give 0/10 for food is utterly ridiculous and, quite frankly, spoilt and bitter. I had 2 day-old, cold porridge without any sugar once at my grandmother's house and it registered a 1.

The ingredients are all sourced from organic and sustainable producers and the quality tells immediately. I had the most succulent, plump scallops i have ever eaten - roe included which is a rare treat - whilst my girlfriend had a smoked haddock souffle which i actually wished i'd had instead of the scallops. Breast of mallard was exciting and perfectly cooked whilst the baramundi my gf had for her main was delicately flaky and very, very good. I rarely eat puddings and so can't comment on those. The staff are really personable if a little scruffily attired - the only real fault i could find with the restaurant - and the attention paid to us was perfect probably on account of the place being two thirds full. I think perhaps they suffer a little from being tucked away slightly round the corner but i think more people should search this place out as the produce and cooking is spectacular. The pricing is slightly on the high side but i would rather pay more for the sustainable ingredients than not ave them.
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- View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Saturday, February 09, 2008

We ate in Walnut this Saturday. This was the second time I had been there, having enjoyed it immensely before, although I'm afraid it did not come up to scratch on a second visit.

We called up at about 7pm on Saturday to see whether they could accommdate us, and we were told not until 8.45. That was fine by us, although on arrival we couldn't work out why they'd insisted: it wasn't that busy, and many of the customers seemed to already be well through their main courses.

We opted for mains and dessert, which resulted in some agreeable enough meals, but only just. It's fortuitous that I like my meat very pink - the wood pigeon served to me was intensely red and bloody inside, clearly having just been brought up to the right temperature to cook the outer layers. One of my companions does not like pink meat, although was told that if she wanted dduck she really didn't havea choice. It was pink or nothing. The squash risotto was somewhat bland - dumping some pesto on the side didn't quite cover this fact - but the Brill seemed to meet with unequivocal approval.

The desserts were tasty enough, and the bill was £120 for four of us. Not going to lose any sleep over that, but I'm less eager to recommend it than I was.
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DVS
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Tuesday, November 27, 2007

After reading some of the reviews, we almost cancelled the booking we had made. I'm very glad we didn't.

The atmosphere was a little lacking, due simply to the lack of people. The food however was delicious. We had the halibut with sorrel rosti, and the barbury duck with armangnac and plum compote. Both were cooked to perfection. For dessert we both opted for the lime and passionfruit souffle, which was unfortunately a little lacking due to the slightly runny center in mine. However, the flavour was still there.

Well worth a visit.
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la - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Saturday, January 20, 2007

I ate at Walnut last Saturday and had a lovely meal. The quality of the meat was fantastic and my lamb was perfectly cooked - tender, pink and juicy. The desserts were perfect - not, thankfully, overpoweringly sweet but very flavoursome and incredibly rich! The menu contains more adventurous items than many similarly-priced restaurants so I would recommend discussing your meal choice with the waitresses if you are not 100% sure about what it is. A girl near our table really didn't enjoy her grouse but in the subsequent conversation it turned out that she thought it was a type of fish!
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, November 06, 2006

I do not normally bother to review resturants but in this case felt compelled to. I went there on my birthday as it was local, had excellent reviews (Time Out) and the menu sounded interesting. The starters were at best bland. The scallops undercooked and accompanied by limp lettuce, the crayfish terrine bitter. For main course we both had the roast grouse. It arrived complete with hair covered legs and mud covered claws. As soon as i cut into the barely cooked skin it became apparent that it was raw and bloody inside. I tried a mouthful and it was totally inedible. When i politely requested a change (even though i was willing to pay for it) the manageress bulied me into having it recooked. I had to endure dried out grouse under her watchful eye. My boyfriend did not want to rock the boat and managed to hide the bloody flesh under the carcass. Still hungry he thought we should try desert. Surely they can't go wrong with chocolate tart? After waiting 20 mins (to give the illusion it was freshly prepared) i was presented with a dry rock hard biscuit covered in unidentifible brown gunge. It most closely resembled the ground coffee at the bottom of the cafettiere. My boyfriend had the lemon creme brulee which was at least lemony (very sour lemon curd) but was mediocre. For this experience we paid over 100 pounds! Overall i would say to everyone who is thinking of going to walnut. "Stay away. This is a very bad resturant"
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L K
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Friday, September 29, 2006

I live locally and regularly eat at the Walnut - it is my favourite restaurant in the area, with a fantastic selection of starters and mains, not to mention the delicious desserts. On my last visit I had scallops (which I always have because they are cooked to perfection) and a special of Marlin, which again was incredible.

I am very surprised to read the negative views of this restaurant as I always find the food to be exceptional with very knowledgeable staff who are always on hand to help if needed.

I would highly recommend this restaurant and the lime and passionfruit souffle! I like the fact that whatever you choose, you know you won't be dissapointed
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Friday, July 07, 2006

What a shame! I regularly go tp Walnut and never have a bad meal, in fact, I have always had an above average meal! The aubergine sausages are some of my favourites (and I am not even a veggie) I have had the best ribeye I have come across. The lamb was great, very pink which is not to everyone's liking but just how I like, melting in the mouth. Not everyone's cup of tea so you may want to check first how the other meat is served. The passion fruit and lime souffle was amazing, not too sweet with a lovely sharp tangyness to it.

I think that it is well-priced, no more than any other restaurants in the area and unlike most other places in London you actually get a decent portion of food. The wine list is also exceptionally well priced (have seen some of the same wines in other London restaurants for double the price)

I have had the scallops loads of times and I thought they were supposed to be seared? I always ask for them cooked more as I do not like them too raw.

I think it is a real shame your experience was not good and I am not convinced you are not in cahoots with La Brocca?! (My opionion being very different on La Brocca but I will keep that for the La Brocca page)
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Friday, June 30, 2006

I’m amazed to see any positive reviews of Walnut. We went last night (23rd June) and had, to put it mildly, a shocker. My boyfriend started with the scallops with balsamic dressing, which arrived in suspiciously super-quick time. Presentation was unenterprising, the scallops dwarfed by a damp clump of lettuce that looked as if it had been scooped from a pre-washed salad bag. They turned out to be cold in the middle, so we sent them back only to have the same scallops returned, bite marks all present and correct. This is surely shoddy, if not rude, especially from a restaurant that sells itself as a cut above the usual West Hampstead cheap n’ cheerfuls. Nevertheless we soldiered on, nibbling morosely on day-old unwarmed walnut bread as we awaited our main courses (walnut lasagne for me, aubergine and sorrel sausages with chive mash for my boyfriend). These turned out to be so dreadful as to be almost laughable. The lasagne was a loose collection of indeterminate and tasteless vegetables that slithered from limp pasta into a morass of purplish-brown sauce. The entire dish had been drowned in what appeared to be single cream, in fact an exceptionally bland béchamel sauce. What might have been an ‘interesting’ walnut and sorrel flavour in an amuse bouche became sledgehammer-like in a main course. About twenty large walnuts had simply been dumped into the whole sorry concoction, and as I ploughed miserably through it the dish began to resemble nothing more that a mass of canine diarrhoea. My boyfriend was not faring much better. His aubergine and sorrel sausages (which had also been inundated with the signature walnut) turned out to be lumpen croquettes containing a greyish mix that did not taste recognizably like aubergine, sorrel, or indeed anything much. The mash was marginally better, but still had an unpleasantly sticky quality. We left the dishes half-eaten and called for the bill, a ludicrous £48 (we’d also had a half bottle of Sancerre). Whilst service was friendly and helpful, this restaurant is a gourmet disaster. Do not go here. You’d be much better off at nearby La Brocca, where prices reflect the decent and unpretentious Italian fare served in lively and relaxed surroundings.
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Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Saturday, June 24, 2006