ONE of the merits of Harden's London Restaurants — just
published at £7.95 — is its breadth. It does not limit itself to recent- ly opened, fashionable restaurants serving modem, state-of-the-art cuisine, but also deals with tried and tested old favourites where the cooking is more traditional. It also offers appraisals which balance praise with criticism and, with its numbered rat- ings, includes restaurants where cooking, service, or both, may currently be mediocre' or `disappointing', in contrast to the 1998 Good Food Guide (Which? Books, £14.99), where, once a place is included, it benefits from an anodyne appraisal. Pomegranates and La Poule au Pot, both in Pimlico, have been doing business on their Mies for over 20 and 30 years respectively. Neither is to be found in the current Good Food Guide, but both are in Harden's, with cooking classifications of 'mediocre' yet with affectionate descriptions of their style, and with La Poule au Pot listed first equal in the guide for romantic environment. I started with Pomegranates, on the Embankment, just beside Dolphin Square, where the affable and welcoming Patrick Gwynn-Jones has been looking after appre- ciative customers for 23 years. Many are regulars and not a few are Members of Par- liament from just along the river, unsurpris- 'Ugly perhaps in view of the quality of fare set before them in their own House. In fact Pomegranates' menu offers one of the ear- liest examples of 'eclectic' cooking, which has now become all the rage but has changed little there over two decades. The art expert Lucy Beazer and I settled com- fortably in this rather club-like, intimate and gently lit semi-basement, and studied the interesting selection of dishes on the menu. To start, Lucy chose giant prawn satay with spicy peanut sauce (i.e. `satay') and I went for Mauritian spicy `racon'. The prawns were large and juicy, the satay sauce authentic in flavour, and my racon was a peppery soup with an underlying fruity flavour, not unlike the rasam that is sometimes offered in Indian restaurants. After these interesting Oriental starters, we both chose duck, and here our geography diverged, as Lucy stayed east of Suez with Cantonese roast duck with plum sauce, while I played closer to home with a breast of wild duck cooked Normandy style, with aPple and Calvados. Both were enjoyable, though my bird could have profited from tasting wilder. To end, Lucy chose a truly delicious English treacle tart, and I ate some excellent home-made honey and cognac ice-cream. This may not have been cooking of searing excitement, but it was entirely agreeable, professionally executed and charmingly served. The room purred with contentment and, with mineral water, a sound red wine and coffee, the bill came to an only slightly over-priced £91.60 with service included. A two-course lunch at Pomegranates is served for £10.95 and a three-course for £13.95 — prices rather better suited to use as the 'restaurant du quartier' which surely it is. I remember taking girls to La Poule au Pot at the top of Ebury Street on Pimlico Green in those dim and almost forgotten days when I was a law student in the Sixties. It is still there, and its decor of tobacco- stained walls and close-packed, candle-lit tables has scarcely changed. The head hunter and gastronome Shauna Cockburn and I both thought it rather too crowded and noisy to be a truly romantic venue, and the night we went it was packed out, with middle-aged 'suits' seemingly in the majori- ty. The menu certainly harked back to my youth, truly cuisine 'bourgeoise et tradi- tionelle', with dishes like escargots, raie au beurre noir, coq au yin and gigot aux fla- geolets. There is also a substantial list of plats du jour, unhelpfully not written on a blackboard with prices but rapidly recited by rather gormless waiters who knew nei- ther the price of the hare and venison, nor how they were cooked. The manager had to be summoned to explain. Despite such obstacles, Shauna managed to order moules marinieres, followed by bceuf bourguignon, and I chose the potage du jour and lapin a la moutarde. Shauna's moules were impeccable: nice fresh mussels `Is there a doctor and a homeopath in the house?' and an irreproachable mariniere broth, and my soup was a sturdy carrot one, served admirably hot. Shauna was also delighted with her beef, tender and juicy in a rich bourguignon sauce, and my rabbit was plump and fresh, covered in a commend- ably strongly flavoured mustard sauce. Both dishes were enhanced by the good mashed potato we had ordered to accom- pany them. Shauna's dessert of mousse au chocolat was disappointing: too frothy and airy, insufficiently dark and rich, and with an uncalled-for base of white chocolate. I did better with the very sound cheese board from which I selected some camembert and roquefort, having rejected the waiter's bright suggestion of 'tin cocktail' of cheese, without showing them to me. With a sound bottle of Crozes-Hermitage at £14.50, min- eral water and coffee, the bill came to £75.38, including 121/2 per cent service, a reasonable enough sum for a decently served, if slightly unexciting meal, in agree- able surroundings. I was not surprised that La Poule au Pot was packed out, and I expect it probably is at lunch-time too, when there is a three-course set lunch for £13.95.
Pomegranates, 94 Grosvenor Road, London SW1; tel: 0171 828 6560. Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday.
La Poule au Pot, 231 Ebury Street, London SW1; tel: 0171 730 7763. Open all week.
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