DB Eats: The Malt House

It all started with the Harwood Arms. Enthusiastic Antipodean Brett Graham of The Ledbury helped put not only gastropubs on the Michelin map but Fulham on the culinary map.

Spearheaded by the success of its venison Scotch eggs, Graham and his team proved Michelin starred cooking needn’t have to come from formal restaurants with starched tablecloths and equally buttoned-up staff, and that casual dining and exemplary cooking weren’t mutually exclusive. Claude Bosi, the tempestuous but brilliant head chef of Hibiscus in Mayfair is the latest Michelin starred chef to open a pub in Fulham with The Malt House, having popped his gastropub cherry with The Fox & Grapes in Wimbledon – a joint venture with his brother Cedric.

Malt vinegar pork scratchings

Just yards from quirky, Enomatic-focused indie merchant Vagabond, the handsome site in Vanston Place, which formerly served as an, erm, pub, also boasts a sextet of guests rooms named things like “Hops”, “Barley” and “The Kiln”, in case you have too good a time you’re either unable to get yourself home or forget where you live.

Interiors are cosy and welcoming, from the polished wooden floors, white panelled bar, Laura Ashley-esque floral wallpaper and racing green banquettes, to the cushions emblazoned with charging hounds and nonchalant mallards, the feel is very much country casual successfully conjured amid the relentless London bustle.

As you’d expect, classic British dishes are the order of the day, with Bosi using many of the same suppliers he works with at Hibiscus. In keeping with the zeitgeist, seasonality is key. It has become customary for pub-owning high flying chefs to flaunt their skills with signature bar snacks – from Graham’s Scotch eggs to Heston’s divine Devils on Horseback at The Hinds Head in Bray.

Beetroot, Berkswell and buttermilk

The Malt House’s head chef Marcus McGuinness meanwhile, has chosen to give the gourmet treatment to the humble pork scratching with the addition of malt vinegar that sears through the fat, adding a welcome tang to the thick, crunchy, salty shards. Also in his bar snack repertoire are beer sticks, serving to satiate hungry beer drinkers. Crafted from spicy meat (presumably not horse), the lithe sticks, which look like posh Peperamis, have a pleasing backbone of heat.

Standing out within the starters line up is a dish composed of warm beetroot, Berkswell cheese and buttermilk. Rather than opting for predictable goat’s cheese, the Berkswell alternative, an English hard cheese somewhere between Parmesan and Manchego, gives a savoury umami layer to the earthy beetroot and dollops of sweet buttermilk, making the trio far more than the sum of its parts.

Gravadlax of Scottish salmon also delights, the salmon’s clean, saline flavour lifted by aromatic dill and given added depth with cubes of bitter rhubarb. Lamb carpaccio however, is less sure of itself.

The main event – honey and barbeque glazed duck, wouldn’t have looked out of place at Royal China. Cut into enticing chunks with a roof of crispy skin, pink flesh on show and glistening in anticipation, the meat is juicy, tender and laced with the sweet trace of honey, further enhanced by a soy, sesame, garlic and coriander dipping sauce, with one chunk begging another until you’re fighting with your sticky-fingered buddy for the last bite.

Honey and barbeque glazed duck

And if that isn’t pleasure enough, the BBQ duck comes with a side trio of shredded duck in lettuce boats, the meat fatty, rich and moreish. While the triple cooked chips aren’t quite at Heston’s standard yet, they are some of the best you’ll find in London, boasting a crunchy golden coat of armour and light, fluffy innards.

Pudding proves a highlight in the form of a generous scoop of malted vanilla ice cream thoughtfully made from soya milk to keep the ladies who lunch happy, but then sprinkled with crumbled biscuits and chocolate shavings, and finished with a swoosh of salted caramel.

Recalling Heston’s brown bread ice cream at Dinner, sharing its Ovaltine-like flavour, jazzed up by the decadent caramel and given texture by the biscuit crumbs, this is sure to become The Malt House’s signature dessert and will hopefully stick around on the menu.

Malted vanilla ice cream

The wine list is small but thoughtfully formed, boasting the likes of Château Musar Jeune 2010 by the 500ml cafare, its warm, Port-like, prune-filled nose yelling of the scorched earth from which it came. Domanines les Chenêts Crozes Hermitage 2010 meanwhile, was silky, herbaceous and wild with red currents and a smoky bacon undercurrent.

Cocktails are exemplary, with Portuguese bartender Fernando mixing up a mean Daiquiri made of nothing more than rum, sugar and lime; how Hemingway liked his.

Bosi has clearly learnt the tricks of the gastropub trade at the Fox & Grapes and has successfully transplanted them to Fulham under the stewardship of head chef Marcus McGuinness. While the duck was £55 for two, many of the dishes are incredibly wallet-friendly, with starters starting from £7 and mains hovering around the £15 mark.

Locals are no doubt already flocking in for a taste of Michelin-starred pub grub, though the triple cooked chips and malted vanilla ice cream are worth the detour alone.

The Malt House, 17 Vanston Place, Fulham, London SW6 1AY