Restaurants James Pembroke
RESTAURANTS JAMES PEMBROKE ANNIE’S, STRAND-ON-THEGREEN, LONDON THE COVE, FALMOUTH, CORNWALL
Ramblers tend to gather and stray in the spring, but autumn is the best time of year for walking because the footpaths have dried out and the ramblers are at home with their blisters. It’s very difficult to find a good riverside pub in London that isn’t bursting at the seams, like the Dove at Hammersmith, or part of a chain like the rest. So, why not go one street within? Our New York friend explained this logic to us, and introduced us to Annie’s. We treated her suggestion as that of the upstart foreigner, but she’s not wrong. Stride out along the Thames path anywhere from Wandsworth to Richmond and finish at Annie’s, which sits conveniently behind the Bull’s Head at Strand-on-the-green. Annie’s was a corner shop that has been converted into an all-day café/restaurant. It serves the most rewarding Sunday lunch you could ever walk to. Even Brownlee Minor would cross the threshold unaided.
The portions of roast lamb or chicken for £15.95 are enormous – easily enough to fill you and your dog. The interior is a mad mishmash of wallpaper seconds and auction house bargains, but they also have tables outside, one of which is reserved by the same family every Sunday. It’s their kitchen table. The meat is tender and chaotically plonked on your plate; a bowl of roast tatties is followed by perfect vegetables. Not one bottle on the wine list is over £32, but head for Boutinot’s Les Six Rhone at £29.95. A bargain designed to keep you there until Happy Hour.
Cornwall, with its eight-week (plus Whitsun) season, is the restaurateur’s graveyard. There isn’t a London chef who, after a week’s holiday, hasn’t drawn up a plan to relocate and build a new life with the dream of a rammed Rick Stein sequel. The lucky ones stay put; the rest sadly sink. I was discussing this sad truth with Oldie wine columnist Bill Knott during his wedding weekend in early September. We were standing on the terrace at The Cove, looking out onto Maenporth Bay and Falmouth Bay. It’s not the setting which has seen Arty Williams’s café prosper prior to Poldark. Many have turned off their deep-fat fryers in prettier places. It’s that Arty and Net have realised they must adapt the menu to the season. So, at peak, there’s a high-end option but in November, it’s all geared to walkers. And they offer a very sound three-course lunch all year round for £24, which might include pulled lamb with tahini sour cream and cod with crab mayonnaise. And pray that it does. Again, the wine list isn’t daunting. Opt for I Muri’s Primitivo at £26.
The next day, the wedding was held at the Ferryboat Inn on the Helford River. Tania’s grandfather had been the landlord, and must have been pole-vaulting the bar in the sky at the sight of his granddaughter, the bride of the year, saying her vows in the pub hearth. The Wright Brothers, who are local oyster farmers and seafood merchants, have taken it over, so there’s plenty of fuel for us walkers yet.