The Rosendale

65, Rosendale Rd
Dulwich SE21 8EZ

[Fanfare trumpets]….“and the winner of the 2007 Time Out Gastropub of the Year Award is….The Rosendale in Dulwich”. Gasp!

Yes, this is true. The once-dodgy drug den and general working men’s grubby hideaway is now officially (according to Time Out) the best tavern eatery in the entire Greater London area. What makes this such an exceptional accolade is that The Rosendale had only been open for three months prior to receiving the award. Clearly, there must’ve been a dearth of worthy candidates before June 2007. Maybe London needs more gastropubs after all?

The Rosendale’s Australian proprietor, Mark van der Goot, is a former Mayfair sommelier with a sturdy award-winning pedigree – The Greyhound in Battersea forms part of his growing portfolio. Peering through the large Georgian bay windows of Ocado country – aka, South East London – he saw a vision of the future, a vision of a land filled with hope, promise and Molton Brown. He invested large wads of cash in The Rosendale’s refurbishment; he gathered together a team from The Ivy and The Ritz; and he created a wine list that had more depth than those that were on the Titanic. Yet, even with all this swaggery, and the praise that has since come with it, The Rosendale has the makings of a royal bore.

Wikipedia’s definition of a ‘Gastropub’ is a “public house which specialises in high-quality food, a step above the more basic ‘pub grub’….usually [with] an atmosphere which is relaxed”. This sounds about right for The Rosendale. Posh nosh and subdued environs is all it really knows.

The expensive overhaul has been taken straight from the ‘borough council’ school of design as the interior’s gaping void is as welcoming as a municipal building. The walls have been painted with ‘hint of bleak’ white, the furniture is upholstered with authentic ‘vapid’ brown, whilst the chandeliers’ extreme level of illumination provide the perfect conditions for a photo shoot. This is not a pub, this is a library.

There are a variety of signals that provide this scholastic facade: the difficulty in finding it; the lack of music; the removal of viable loitering areas. You cant smoke in the garden; the wines are displayed on a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf; and, when ordering, you should expect to wait an age for it to arrive, even if it’s just a beer in the ‘bar’. Simply find a seat, keep quiet and don’t ask any questions.

HOWEVER, there are two aspects to The Rosendale’s patchwork repetoire that allow it to hitchhike on the road to Zeitgeist, thumbing for arbitrary kudos: that be the food and wine, see.

The chef is confident in his creations and his menu boasts an eclectic awareness. Salt and pepper are banned from the restaurant because, obviously, you cant better perfection. His South African arrogance is legitimate, though, as each dish is prepared with precision and care. The quality of his ingredients is so powerful it should be floated on the stock market: royal parks red-legged partridge, dukka-spiced Kenzie Farm ostrich fillet; citrus-rubbed swordfish with grilled squid. The man even smokes his own fish, bakes his own bread and churns his own butter. Sadly, though, being a South African, the word ‘vegetarian’ rarely appears in his vocabulary. But with some careful pillaging of the menu - al dente ricotta ravioli with aubergine purée, skip the main, head straight for the poached pear surprise dessert – all is not lost.

The wines are equally extravagant. The wine list - a book of MANY chapters - is 31 (!!!) pages long. It houses over 500 bins - some sensible, some wacky, some ‘boutique’ in their appeal – spanning several decades. There’s a page of wines by the glass, 13 of each colour on show. Champagne, page of. Sav Blanc, page of. Malbec, page of. Shiraz, page of. Chardonnays get two pages and Cabinet blends get four. New world, old world, it doesn’t matter, it’s all there.

And so, the definition of a Gastropub on Wikipedia is correct, up to a point. It omits the lack of service, the hideous attempts at style and the whiff of an ostentatious bottle brigade. Otherwise 10 out of 10 for the wine list, 9 out of 10 for the (restaurant) food, and 6 out of 10 for the (bar) food, the location, the service, the décor, the atmos, and so on.