Brook Green, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

This “comfortable and friendly gastropub” with a blue-tiled facade has been a staple foodie feature of the backstreets behind Olympia for three decades. Nowadays part of The Metropolitan Pub Company: “the menu doesn’t change as much as it used to”, but is very acceptable, with a focus on pies (e.g. confit duck or braised rabbit), alongside other deftly realised traditional classics (perhaps Steak Sandwich, or Chicken Kiev).

“A calm retreat” that comes as a “pleasant surprise”, just one minute’s walk from the tube gates of Hammersmith: this cosy cellar bar is found in the middle of the Broadway at the foot of Bradmore House: a grade II listed eighteenth-century property rebuilt as part of the area’s redevelopment. The basement forms the in-house eatery for the co-working space occupying the building and anyone else who knows about it, with a short and affordable menu: “I wasn’t expecting much, but this was great!”

On a tranquil Hammersmith corner, with a good-sized pavement terrace for the summer months, this attractive and affordable destination makes a useful rendezvous and has the looks of a smart neighbourhood bistro rather than a wine bar. Its neighbouring café, ‘La Cave’, is a popular weekend breakfast spot: “it has the best pastries and head barista Justin is a character”.

Worth knowing about near Hammersmith Broadway, this well-appointed pub is “highly recommended” for its convenient location a few minutes’ walk from the station, its characterful interior, cute outside terrace and – not least – its very decent Italian-leaning menu. “Dog-friendly” is another plus for some.

2021 Review: “In the heart of Walthamstow Village”, this “great neighbourhood spot” – a Spar supermarket with kitchen attached – wins praise for its “quality” cooking (“the 2019 Harden’s description of pub-type grub underplays its standard and originality”). “Very relaxed and welcoming for young children”, the venture’s best-known innovation is bacon jam, which you can buy by the jar in various flavours. Other branches have opened in Hackney and, most recently, Hammersmith (somewhat better-served areas, so these respective branches are somewhat less of a local lifeline).