Restaurant Review: The Kerfield Arms

What's in a name?

There was a bit of a buzz when The Kerfield Arms opened in Camberwell a couple of months ago. Such a noisy buzz in fact, I couldn’t get a table. Business must be good for the team that has already had a success with the Baring in Islington, Adam Symonds and chef Rob Tecwyn alongside chef Jay Styler who is now head chef here. Anyway, enough of pretending I know about the gastropub business when all I’ve really done is cut and pasted some names from another website. On with the review.

I remember the Kerfield when it was the Kerfield pre-millennium. Back then it was a real pub and (almost) literally as well as metaphorically in the shadow of the most enduring SE5 pub, the Grove House Tavern. Then it became The Crooked Well and upped its food game and its culinary rival was probably the Camberwell Arms on Church Street. Now its got its old name back and raises the gastropub bar even higher.

We decided to go for a spontaneous Sunday lunch and phoned them around 1.45pm. Of course there were no tables left. But they said pop down and there was a decent chance of a walk-in. So we headed over pronto and when we arrived there were actually empty pavement tables but there were also threatening clouds, so we decided to sit and wait and hope…

Feeling impulsive I asked the waiter if I could have what the group who had just arrived on the next table was having. Which just happened to be a bloody mary (£12). Good call. With a stick of celery, some lemon to squeeze in and thick, juicy tomato it felt like a starter. If we ordered some bread we could’ve called it a vodka gazpacho and skipped the first course. We also had filtered, free water - pictured below.

The sun was doing its best to shine through the looming clouds so we decided to eat al fresco after all. Inside looked lovely and much brighter than it used to be, but there were maybe a few too many babies in arms for my tastes. I mean, I like babies, I was one myself, but I couldn’t eat a whole one, etc etc.

My partner ordered the grezzina and trombetta courgette, ajo blanco and smoked almonds (£12). I went for the raw sea bream, green olive gremolata and chicory (£14). Sensitive readers please look away now. A heated debate promptly broke out about which dish was better. The smoked almonds beneath the courgette ribbons gave the dish a barbecued, almost sausagey aroma, while the chicory turned the ultra light, fresh bream into something truly special too. There was only one solution. We called it a dead heat and switched plates halfway through.

The service was efficient and knowledgeable. There were so many different words on the menu, aster, mustia, biber, I started to wonder if they were making them up and taking the piss, but our waiter diligently explained everything to us and helped us to make our choices without ever upselling.

For mains I was sorely tempted by the salt marsh lamb, but stuck to my healthy eating guns and went for the wild nettle malfatti, fine beans, pine nuts and tomato buttermilk (£24). I didn’t really know what to expect, which was half the fun. What turned up were little gnocchi-like balls filled with spinach and ricotta – malfatti for this fatty – in an orange coloured pine-scented sauce/slash/gravy plus more greenery and ricotta. I was slightly wary of the wild nettle, having been stung by some nettles a few days early, but certainly no stings attached here.

My dining companion went traditional and chose the charcoal grilled Vendee chicken, spring greens and bread sauce (£25). Needless to say it was even better than the menu suggested. As if the tender, melt-in-mouth chicken and greens were not enough of a knockout, a side dish of roast potatoes and hispi cabbage was an added treat. It actually says they are included on the menu but we hadn’t even noticed that when we ordered. Another surprise. Oh what joy.

The food was faultless, and despite the predicted rain it even stayed dry outside. Given the climate I’d suggest they go for some awning so there is shelter for some of the tables for when it does drizzle, but we struck lucky, though as we paid the sky started to look increasingly moody. And sure enough, just as we got into our car parked next to the Grove House Tavern, the heavens opened and there was a truly biblical end-of-days storm. As we drove down Lordship Lane there was even a fallen tree resting on the roof of a Range Rover outside Joe and the Juice.

Suddenly lunch seemed a world away. By the time we left the outside tables had been packed with groups of hungry customers. I hope everyone made it through the deluge. They say the secret of comedy is timing and maybe that’s the secret of eating out too. We’d timed our lunch at the Kerfield perfectly and the food was perfect too.

The Kerfield Arms, 16 Grove Lane, London SE5 8SY