The Laughing Gravy, Southwark

The Laughing Gravy, 154 Blackfriars Road, Southwark

Its funny where this job takes you to. When you first set out to be a bar reviewer you envisage that your evenings will be spent at the West End’s finest establishments quaffing champagne with celebrities whom you regale with Oscar Wilde like witticisms and anecdotes. Your celebrity grows and you become a brand in your own right, off to live the life of a Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay.
The reality of course is that for every high profile event, bar and club you visit there you are asked too there are 10 to 20 places that you review simply because you are there. Some of them are even south of the river.

The Laughing Gravy (isn’t that the most brilliant name) is one such place where I ended up as part of a result of some research into a new business idea. I was accompanied by the Author and her partner the Wine Merchant whose brain I was picking, and as it happens, who supplies the aforementioned restaurant.

The Laughing Gravy occupies the ground floor of an original Foundry building. A cheeky little bar greets you with the 50-seater restaurant to the rear. Wooden tables and chairs, cream coloured walls and skylights instead of a roof, give the place a relaxed ambience.

The head chef Michael Facey has worked alongside the likes of John Torode and Mark Hix and their influence is apparent in the menu. The food on offer is an English take on Mediterranean fare. Our starters included Aubergine Gratin with Montgomery cheddar crust and olive, caper and cherry tomato salsa which the Wine Merchant declared delicious. The Author and I went for the Chicken Liver Pate with farmhouse crostini (lifted by strips of green pesto), red onion dressing and pea shoots. The pate itself was smooth and rich with a hint of a liqueur. Although the waitress said it was alcohol free. So much for my sophisticated palate.

For mains we opted for the Sea Trout special with spinach and fried potatoes which was flavoursome and cooked to perfection. The Author took on the salmon and smoked fishcake – large, meaty and rich – with herb pickled cucumber and a side of chips.

For desserts the Author and the Wine Merchant tried the Rhubarb crumble with pistachio ice cream. Sharp fruitiness offset by a flavoursome yet light ice-cream. I went for the Laughing Gravy chocolate fondant brownie with vanilla ice cream. The crumbly biscuit texture, deep chocolate flavours with a hint of mint was lovely if not a little sweet to my taste.

We washed it down with a beautiful bottle of Grand Caprice from France. Its a favourite of my dining companions and easy to see why. I didn’t think you could have a big but subtle wine, but Caprice proved me wrong.

The service is friendly if not a little uneven. The waitress was lovely but slightly off her game. Perhaps she was new. However Jon the owner who was out front-of-house was charm personified. You could imagine that he has quite a following.

The Laughing Gravy is out of the way, and this is from someone who lives in nearby Brixton. Its apparently equal walking distance from the Young and Old Vic. Equal but far then. This is one place I might never have found on my own, or driven past it if I had. However that would have been my loss. It just goes to show. Every so often it’s good to eat south of the river.