And here is the news. Bong. Broadcaster Sunday lunch is our favourite this year with everything done right.
Another Sunday, another Sunday lunch, and for this one we’re schlepping all the way from Streatham to White City, a fairly long journey by bus and tube but armed with Sunday Papers it’s not so bad
White City is of course home to Westfields, but long before shopping was the area’s main claim to fame, there was the BBCTelevision Centre from 1960 to 2013. For people of a certain age, the big round building was iconic as a sturdy symbol of everything good and reliable about Britain; from the evening news to Dr Who. Now it is mostly flats, office space, a cinema and hotels, with just a few studios still operating.
Times change, and as blocks of giant flats sprout like eager mushrooms across the area, The Broadcaster has arrived just next to the BBC entrance. From the tube station we can see its glass box top bar and dining area glowing in the rain sodden air.
When we get there the nice manager reckons it’s probably a bit too chilly up in the box, and we can well believe it , and so he takes us into the ground floor bar/dining area.
It’s nice and cosy in here, if a trifle noisy from a table of six competing to see who can laugh the loudest and longest at nothing. That’s always the danger with having drinkers mixed in with diners, though. There is a very nice first floor dining-only room, but it’s not open at lunchtimes.
Anyway, wincing only slightly at the manic bursts of laughter, we check out the room. It’s very pleasant, a mix of high and low tables all pleasantly lit by daylight through large windows and gentle interior lights casting a soft glow.
The starter choice is much better than most places. Ham hock sausage roll, house piccalilli sounds alright, as does Cured Atlantic salmon, crushed avocado, toasted soda bread, but I’m tempted by St Ives monkfish scampi, curry tartare.
It arrives with lots of ‘scampi’ all perfectly golden fried and dense with fish. Delicious bites, but I would have preferred bog-standard tartare, I love its vinegary bite. Curry tartare doesn’t quite work for me.
P is shovelling down British burrata, girolles, Wiltshire truffle, toast. She loves it saying that the burrata is beautifully creamy. I try a bit and it’s indeed excellent, and the heady whiff of truffle is the icing on the top. Great sourcing at work here. Great starters
So what’s for mains? Well, you know there’s going to be beef and there’s going to be chicken and so it proves. Aged Dexter beef, or herb-fed chicken breast plus a mushroom and beetroot Wellington with portobello jus for the vegetarians, or the simply veg-curious. A 12-hour slow-roasted pork belly sharing for two is also available as is a short menu of non-roasts.
I have the beef and it’s very good indeed, although it might be just a bit too rare for some people I suspect. I like the gravy coming in a jug, because I hate a plate swimming in gravy with the mark of the server’s thumb in it, and the Yorky is the right size and not some silly overblown top hat.
Spuds are done right, not simply deep fried as so many places do, but steamed and roasted earlier and only put in the fryer for extra crunch. Excellent roasted heritage carrots, and I particularly like the parsnip which is not served whole but as a rough puree. I am stealing that idea for my own Sunday roasts, it’s a good one. Cabbage is cooked just right too, still with bite and well-drained. Another area where less diligent kitchens can fall down.
P has the same veg of course, but tries the mushroom and beetroot Wellington which she tells me is fabulous. A very simple idea, replace the beef with a beet but otherwise keep the recipe the same. Lovely buttery crispy croute crust and the rich mushrooms make it all come together. It even looks like a classic Wellington.
A bottle of Terre di Montelusa, Primitivo is decently priced and a good low entry wine and once it’s gone, we head for dessert. Christmas pudding with brandy custard won’t be on every week of course, but it’s our first of the season and cheerfully festive, while a classic sticky fig and toffee pudding with clotted cream is just a bit dry.
It’s a very good Sunday lunch at The Broadcaster, in fact we reckon it’s the best we’ve had this year, so put that on News at Ten and spread the word.
www.thebroadcaster.co.uk
89 Wood Lane London, W12 7FX