The Dartmouth Arms
Area: Forest Hill
Category: Gastropubs
Address: 7 Dartmouth Rd, SE23 3HN
Phone: 020 8488 3117
Travel: Forest Hill rail or 122, 176, 312 bus
Hours: Open Mon-Sat 12noon-2.30pm, 6.30-10.30pm; Sun 12noon-9.30pm

Generally speaking, spending all evening round a table is my idea of nothing to do; when my son suggested celebrating his 40th birthday at a gastropub it sounded more promising than the West End rip-off joint where we’d been to honour his sister’s recent 41st.

The Dartmouth Arms is in Forest Hill, SE 23, and for those who don’t drive it is conveniently near the railway station. Once a gloomy local boozer, the inside has been divided into a cosy front bar with a selection of well-kept real ales such as ‘Breakspears’ and ‘Speckled Hen’, and a smart restaurant to the rear. Abstract paintings hang on the walls, suggestive of sun-drenched Mediterranean seascapes. The mood induced by a damp February evening in a fairly obscure corner of south London needs all the help it can get.

The menu was modest but inventive, with half a dozen starters, eight mains and five desserts. However, ordering two courses and finding out ten minutes later the starter was unavailable made a nonsense of trying to achieve a balance. It was only 8pm, and even though lunch as well as dinner is served seven days a week there’s no excuse for the waitress not to know about a shortage or for supplies to run so low.

My daughter reported that the Roscoff onion tart, in a beautiful shade of soft brown, had lots of soft buttery onions in a crisp shell and slipped down easily, followed by a well-cooked Duck Leg and Confit with earthy Barlotti beans. My Dorset Crab Beignets with Chilli jam were excellent . The subtle flavour and soft tender texture of the beignets, encased in a thin shell of light batter was admirable although the texture of the chilli jam was perhaps a little heavy and could have done with a hotter chilli taste to offset the sweetness. It was perhaps not the best choice with my main course, Pork Chop, Cavalo Nero and Baked apple with cider jus, but changing my order in a hurry hadn’t helped. The fair-sized chop was a little chewy but the plentiful dark jus achieved the right acid/sweet balance and the cavalo nero, a kind of cabbage on which the pork chop rested, had the flavour of a robust-textured spinach, an ideal contrast to the jus. The pork chop had a quarter-inch wide strip of fat with the rind, which would have been better removed and cooked separately as crackling. My husband’s fish stew with aioli was reported to be fine whilst my ex-husband enjoyed the flavours of his Black Pudding and Squid Risotto but not the texture of the calamari rings, which he likened to ‘rubber bands’.

I chose a black coffee instead of dessert and it was a pleasant surprise, served hot and flavoursome in a large porcelain bowl-shaped cup. The desserts included a crème brulee which I sampled – the topping was thin and crackly above a rich smooth cream. Other choices were Warm Brownie served with ice-cream, which came in a generous size, and Brinken, Colston Basset, Tillington with Quince preserve, which I would have ordered had I known the first three were cheeses. We had two bottles of wine and the men had double malts. The bill, at £152 for five, exclusive of a tip, seemed reasonable for the amount and quality of food. Service was prompt and good-natured without being over-obtrusive.

All in all, the value was good for the area, and I would go there again, given the necessity to eat out from time to time. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, on the evidence of raucous laughter, at which our waitress batted not an eyelid. As a French acquaintance tells me, ‘After all, Sheila, it is not about the food!’- something that is a good to bear in mind when dining out, in my opinion.

Star rating- 3/5