Dinner and drinks at Fulham Wine Rooms restaurant, or Christmas wine tasting

Fulham Wine Rooms has more than one branch in London, England, but the one I go to is near Parsons Green railway station.

I enjoy a private wine tasting with a club which meets in the room at the back.


Afterwards three or more of us stay on for some food.

The menu is not cheap, with main courses at about £17, and about £7 for dessert.

Wine Options
If you are just enjoying a meal, one of the main attractions is the wide variety of wines available by the glass, either ordered from the menu to go with your meal, or drunk in small sample sizes from the Enomatic machines in the main room where you see the bar at the back left.

Main Dish Choices
I tried the duck breast with gratin dauphinoise (cheese topped shredded potatoes) and red cabbage.

 I also sampled the hand-cut chips served with my companion's onglet steak.

Potatoes

I am a lover of potatoes - so hard to find nowadays, with many restaurants offering breads and pastas, and fewer offering two kinds of potato. Although I like something unusual, on balance I preferred the generous-sized pieces of real potato chips with the skins still on.


Service was unobtrusive but friendly and instant. Water is already on the table in heavy carafes. Un-needed wine glasses are whisked away. Cocktail sticks on request are immediately passed to me.

No room for dessert, alas.

Atmosphere
The atmosphere is jolly and relaxed. Tables are in nooky corners, so you have the warmth of company, yet plenty of privacy for private conversations and concentrating on your companions. The walls of full of amusing pictures, many on a wine theme. Lots to look at.

I particularly liked the puns on the pictures on the staircase, one of fish with the caption, Joined Up Whiting. The toilets are at the back and downstairs, a steep flight, but there's a solid rail for hands to hang onto if you already have half a hangover!

Walking Past Shops
You can walk back to the station, taking a shortcut through the houses, or the longer route via the interesting little shops, one showing special hiking shoes, another featuring little animated models, and yet more restaurants, full of animated, happy diners.

The Fulham branch is a wine bar, restaurant and wine shop.

EVENTS
Three Christmas wine tastings of red and sweet wines, each session lasting about an hour and costing £30:
Fulham Saturday 18 Nov at 17 h (5 pm)
Kensington Sat 25 Nov at 14 h (2 pm)
Brackenbury (near Hammersmith) 17 hr
Must book.
Fulham tel: 0207 042 9440,

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. 

Fulham wine rooms for meals, wine tasting, parties and groups

Fulham wine rooms, a restaurant with (Enotec) machines dispensing wines by the glass for tasting. You can go there just to taste wines, or wine taste first then have a meal with a vast selection of wines from which you can choose. The restaurant has two large rooms, with open tables for those who like to see and be seen, or alcove pew seating for those who like to be secluded with their own group.

A separate room is available for parties such as Christmas parties, or regular meetings such as a monthly wine society meeting, with a dinner. You can even bring your own wines for a wine tasting. Just book the room for a certain number of diners and pay the deposit.

Food Choices

I had the Christmas menu. I chose pumpkin soup, turkey main course, apple crumble dessert. 

The pumpkin soup was okay, and came with dry crisp bread.

 I preferred the bread which we ordered as an extra. I am not into toast and dried out food. I like moist food.

My turkey main course meat was wrapped in bacon. Tasty. Filling. Not much in the way of vegetables.

Others who had the calamari (seafood) seemed very happy with their choice.

Desserts

The desserts  were a mixed bunch, creme brûlée, xmas pudding, apple crumble and my favourite, chocolate fondant. I had had so much xmas pudding, which was abundantly available in shops to heat up in a microwave in a minute. So I opted for the apple crumble. This was a mistake. The apple was pureed and delicious. But the crumble was not melt in the mouth, but rock hard, looking like roasted almonds. When you bashed it with a fork, you could not flatten it. I thought, I can't suck it. I didn't want to risk breaking my teeth, nor scraping my insides. They were very nice and immediately changed it.  I opted for the chocolate fondant (french for melting) which was a dome of chocolate cake with a melting centre. It was served with ice cream. 

The extras we ordered were bread (brown bread which came with oil) and I had decaffeinated coffee after the meal. 

The decorations for Christmas were very jolly.

Price

The price worked out at twenty pounds something per person for a two or three course meal. For a group Christmas party, a three course meal, with service, coffee, and several white and red wines the event organiser had brought, came to about £40 per person.

Getting there

It's a bit of a walk from Parson's Green station on the circle/District line, so allow another ten minutes if you are meeting people for a timed event. But if you've checked out the postcode on your phone satnav, quite easy. We come out of the left exit from the station, up a short flight of steps into a wide alley, turn left and walk along the alley, down Lettuce Road past the houses out into the main road to the shops and you are already almost there.

Tables are outside for smokers and fresh air fiends.

Fulham Wine Rooms

871 Fulham Road, London SW6 5HP

Tel:0207 042 9440

wine rooms.london/fulham

This was my second or third visit and other members of my family have been here more often. I looked at their website and they have two other branches. Here's the Kensington one:

127-129 Kensington Church Street, London W8 7LP. Tel: +44 207 727 8142.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker.