Crocker's Folly in St. John's Wood is another rather classy gastropub with delicious food, a great…read morewine list by the glass and an absolutely excellent chocolate mousse dessert. But it all comes at the price of slightly uninspired music and maybe a little too much splendour.
After a complete revamp, Crocker's Folly on the border of St. John's Wood reopened in October 2014 as a classy gastropub. The interior is shiny and impressive, albeit a little bit overwhelming. Crocker's Folly is a grand place - but I thought that it all is probably a little bit over the top. For example, the tables are beautiful, dark wood, only maybe a little bit too shiny and too large. Perhaps it is just me who gets a little bit intimidated by these large polished surfaces.
The music did not add much to the atmosphere. I thought it was a little bit too loud, and I do not see how such a classy place on one side and standard lounge music on the other side go together. It just sounded wrong for this environment on a Sunday afternoon.
Browsing through the wine list, it becomes obvious that Crocker's Folly is a venture backed by Maroush Group, as it features quite a few Lebanese offerings. Overall, I think the wine list is really great with a good selection by the glass.
The service was very friendly and all service staff were very attentive. One of the staff was always walking around with a bread basket, ready to provide another slice of tasty bread to everyone who fancied. The bread comes with a circle of butter, sprinkled with salt - it looked beautiful, but I must admit that I missed salt and pepper mills on the table. The bread comes from Maroush Bakehouse at the moment, but they might start baking their own. My favourite bread was the slightly darker seeded bread, it was absolutely delicious.
Throughout my stay, my waitress continuously topped up my tap water, before I could even think of asking for more - that is service how I like it.
As I decided to leave the wine for another visit, I ordered a glass of fresh orange juice which tasted lovely and was strong in colour.
I ordered the onglet steak, medium-rare as recommended. The meat was relatively dark with a good flavour. However, the peppercorn sauce is not my most favourite interpretation of a peppercorn sauce - I found it too much like an onion-peppercorn sauce. More pepper and less onion, please.
When the waitress brought me the dish, she asked if I would like some pepper on it. Of course, and the freshly ground pepper made the already tasty onglet even better, but I would have preferred to have a little salt and a little pepper mill on my table to fine-tune my plate.
I enjoyed the thinly cut, perfectly salted skin-on fries and liked the home-made mayonnaise. It was perhaps slightly too heavy, but great in taste and a good complement to the ketchup.
After I had finished my main, I was tempted by the dessert menu. The chocolate mousse with, I think, mango sorbet, was outstanding. It was clearly the star of my late lunch. This dessert was a great combination of strong and deep chocolate flavour with a slightly stingy fruitiness from the sorbet. The flavour and texture sensation of chocolate glazing, creamy chocolate mouse and soft sorbet was completed by crunchy crumble sprinkled across the plate. It was without question one of the best desserts I have had recently.
I considered rounding my lunch off with a coffee, but when I was told they use Illy coffee, I decided to walk down the road and enjoy a nice cup extracted from Monmouth beans at D1 Coffee, just a minute away from Crocker's Folly, instead.
Overall, Crocker's Folly is another great option in the area. Facing strong competition in Maida Vale, it will be interesting to see how this new gastropub can establish itself in the neighbourhood. If they just would serve a different coffee and replace the dreadfully poppy soul and lounge tunes with classical music or some nice jazz, I might pop in more often - if my wallet allows...
