The Suprise in Chelsea

According to Wikipedia, London hosted the world’s first ‘gastropub’ back in 1991; a venue combining the feel of Ye Olde English public house with restaurant-esque dining thrown in for good measure. 

Rupert and Jo Clevely, founders of Geronimo Inns, have had a 15-year run with such venues, and have now opened their latest in the form of The Suprise in Chelsea.

Flanked with dark, flowery wallpaper, fireplaces and cutesy seating, downstairs it resembles a more traditional watering hole, serving a range of ales and the like, but venture upstairs and you will find a more formal dining area.

The menu is geared towards sharing a number of smaller plates of food, effectively summed up by the staff as ‘British tapas’, and with this they provide a well-stocked, reasonably priced wine list designed to tempt you away from your pint of bitter. Diving straight in, my companion and I chose a total of six main dishes to sample.

I began with the cockles and whelks (£2.95) which, although a little overdone, were alive with freshness and a lemon and olive oil flavour. Even better though was my cohort’s foie gras and chicken liver parfait (£5), which worked well with the neighbouring fruity chutney.

Our other four courses arrived as a mixed platter of Scotch egg (£2.95), stinking Bishop macaroni cheese (£2.95), shepherd’s pie (£4.95) and British cured meats with piccalilli (£6.00). The Scotch egg and cured meats were delicious, with a depth of flavour that was complemented by the sharp piccalilli. A minor gripe would be that the piccalilli wasn’t placed separately, allowing the liquid to flood the meat after a while which did look a bit messy. Unfortunately, the shepherd’s pie and the macaroni cheese were a little disappointing, packing little flavour, and the pasta was slightly overcooked.

The biggest surprise was definitely the desserts. I chose a Queen’s pudding (£4.50) – a very British and very tasty combination of fruity jam, spongy base and meringue top. However, the star of the whole show was the aptly named Eton Tidy; a DIY dessert where you assemble your own Eton Mess from scratch, enjoying not only some welcome quirkiness but some of the best meringue I have ever tasted. All of this was washed down with a 2009 Louis Latour Grande Ardèche Chardonnay (£22), dancing on the taste buds with a moreish medium sweet twang of vanilla.

As long as people approach The Surprise with the right attitude, it should be a big success. The food had some missteps, and is not going to have you bragging to your friends, but the prices are extremely low for what you get. Four dishes and half a bottle of wine will probably only set you back about £20, which is fantastic value.

Crucially, my recommendation would be to forego the dining area, which feels a bit too formal, and instead go for drinks downstairs, ordering plates of food to compliment your beverage of choice.

Only then, ladies and gentlemen, will you truly be at one with the gastropub.

The Surprise
6 Christchurch Terrace
Chelsea
SW3 4AJ

Tel: 0207 351 6954