293–295 Railton Road, Herne Hill, London SE24 0JP
Website: https://llewelyns-restaurant.co.uk/
Llewelyn’s has been through many iterations but is still going strong as shown by the clientele on Friday lunchtime. This was a business/pleasure luncheon, so we were prepared to do some serious eating and drinking. We ate inside as the weather was inclement and to cheer ourselves up had a cocktail. Both of us chose a blackberry martini which was small and sweet with hidden depths (no idea what they were but it was definitely alcoholic).
Despite the reviews about the speed of the service (too fast) ours wasn’t slow but was not at the breakneck speed others have commented on. It was also not too loud, but there were no big groups celebrating on Friday lunchtime. We were able to have a civilized conversation and swap gossip! The lunchtime menu is not long, which is a blessing. It has vegetarian options, but we are omnivores. We chose a couple of the nibbles to share – boquerones (anchovies in oil and vinegar) and coppa (dry cured pork neck fillet, similar to prosciutto but that comes from the hind leg). Given the relatively small offering, the coppa was expensive but delicious.
Then we missed the starter section which has three vegetarian offers as well as chicken livers and sardines and all looked interesting. There were five mains on the menu with one veggie option, two fish and two meat. Again, we headed into the carnivore section with pork belly (with boudin noir (black pudding), celeriac and apple sauce) and the roast mallard (with quince, water cress and bread sauce). We had a side order of crispy potatoes and aoli. The pork belly looked very inviting, crispy skin and a delicious centre. This dish had an additional part not mentioned on the menu – roasted red cabbage. Some was left on the plate as it was a little hard to cut and chew on.
I loved the accompaniments to the duck – the bread sauce and quince. I was warned about “shot” appearing in the mallard and to be careful when chewing. In the end shot was absent. I would have liked the duck to have been rested as blood ran out and it was a bit tough, but I almost finished it, so it was clearly tasty.
The crispy potatoes were crispy and the aoili delicious – we didn’t finish them all – a sacrilege but I was leaving room for pudding.
There are three desserts to choose from and I had the Clementine Choux bun with sea buckthorn. I still don’t really know what the sea buckthorn tastes of – I guess it is tart, but the orange flavour either overwhelmed or complimented the cream and the choux. Anyway, we were so engaged in our conversation that I ate it (with help) before we realised that we hadn’t taken a photo. I would order again as it was delicious and not too sweet. My lunch companion had a sweet wine to finish – Szlachetny Zbior which he reported was good. We think it is Polish.
We were both full and not hassled about the table (despite the information on their website), so had a leisurely lunch with alcohol. As well as the cocktail and the sweet wine, we also had a bottle of Bergerac rouge and a single small glass of Cauzon Tinto – neither were the most but certainly not the least expensive on the menu. This is not a cheap restaurant but we did spend £83 on alcohol so you could make the bill much lower – ours came to £211.39 including 12.5% service. The food only came to £105.00. We may go again when we have made our New Year resolutions and will try to stick to them.
EATINBRIXTON 