Wallace & Co (Bar, Restaurant)

The periodic table of vegetables proudly displayed on the wall, pastel desks and what look like reclaimed school chairs, take you back to junior school at Putney’s newest eatery. All day café/restaurant Wallace & Co is country farmhouse come classroom, with a deli table groaning under country loaves, wines and vegetables all set to draw in every SW Yummy Mummy walking past with her organically fed brood.

Masterchef judge Gregg Wallace is part owner, but was nowhere in sight -– no doubt sucking his fork gleefully, filming the new series – on Fluid’s visit. After this disappointing blow we were buoyed somewhat by the appearance of a decanter of tap water and bottle of house red.

Arriving for an evening meal, we found the menu to be a bit skewiff, which left us unsure whether what appeared to be the lunch offerings also doubled as starters (they did). The main dishes are standard café fair, albeit with Gregg’s loving fork cast over them. Meals like chicken and chips with coleslaw and a rib eye steak face off with a collection of traditional pies from steak and ale to Lancashire hot pot.

The starters, or alternatively, lunches, offer less common fair. The creamy celeriac remoulade balanced on locally sourced bresola, and the lip-smacking mackerel escabeshe are both highly recommended and a neat Scotch egg comes arranged on a wooden board. While being fairly common pub grub these days, it was far better than soggy balls I endured at school dinners.

A quick taste of the Lancashire hotpot had me ready to dive in and take a paddle but the focus on vegetables is also conspicuous. Even slightly out of season purple sprouting broccoli - insisted upon as this Fluid rep’s all time favourite vegetable - is delicious and the hot pot’s cabbage accompaniment produces a happy taste bud reaction I doubt many cabbages have previously managed.

Even occasional Masterchef viewers will know Wallace is a ‘big boy who likes to eat sweet things’, so the modest portion sizes come as a surprise and the safe nature of the desserts chosen would suit a primary audience. A better choice is the cheeseboard, which sees Alex (from Blur) James’s Blue Monday come in a creamy, blue second to the Award-winning Golden Cross Goat’s Cheese from East Sussex. However, Wallace’s soft spot for puddings is well demonstrated with fresh custard coating oaty rhubarb and worth dipping a toe in.

Well priced, particularly considering its SW postcode, Wallace & Co is in a great location and prepared to take in the area’s parents, with a kid’s menu and even crayons on offer. So you have been warned. However there is plenty of flavours here that will make your taste buds have a little boogie.
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