Broadway House, a new members only club in Fulham, West London, open August 2011 completing the area’s first triple aspect venue.
Renowned operator Brenhan Magee has already successfully opened both The Broadway Bar and Grill and Brasa on the site. The first is a substantial 300 capacity brasserie bar and grill, perfect for enjoying a glass of wine and a bite to eat. The second is a stylish restaurant on the first floor with a New York loft-style vibe, offering a distinctly British menu.
Members of this exclusive new venue will enjoy 5,000 square feet of luxury, with stunning open-plan spaces offering views over the bustling Fulham Broadway. Broadway House will be a home from home for its members, the perfect place to relax, eat, drink and socialise with like-minded people. The members club will have an extensive cocktail bar and two secluded roof terraces – a feature unique to the Fulham area. An exquisite lounge area on the upstairs terrace will provide guests with a beautiful summer sanctuary. An adjacent barbeque adds to the ambiance, serving food during the warmer months. A selection of private function rooms will also be available, suitable for all occasions from meetings and conferences, though to parties and celebrations.
Broadway House will introduce a calendar of events available only to members. This will initially include wine tastings, screenings, themed parties and poker tournaments. Benefiting from a late licence every evening, the venue will serve drinks until 1am. It’s the perfect place to mix business with pleasure as Wi-Fi is available throughout and if members require a laptop, one will be provided.
Brasa’s Soulful Sundays offer a lesson in Cajun flavours
Member’s club Broadway House opened in September on Fulham Broadway. More excitingly its restaurant, Brasa, is fantastic, plain and simple. There are smart dishes like smoked eel and potato salad, hunky steaks, potted rabbit, and spatchcock baby chicken with harissa; the kitchen’s pride and joy is a grill imported from Spain which lends the food the unmistakable aroma of charcoal, and the dining room itself is a delight to eat in, light and airy with heaps of space between tables.
Initially Brasa was closed on a Sunday, but a new brunch and dinner concept revolving around Cajun cuisine has now been introduced. Between 11am and 4pm the brunch menu is available, while supper is offered between 6pm and 10pm. There is a small but suitable wine list - a crisp, refreshing Chablis for £34 is perfectly suited to Cajun flavours, often wrongly considered to be spicy rather than simply well-seasoned. Originating in the southern states of the US, Cajun food typically contains a mixture of paprika, cayenne pepper, onion, garlic powder, and various herbs; predominant foods are crayfish, okra, and grilled meats, hence Brasa have recruited Ashbell McElveen, a South Carolina native who knows a thing or two about cooking food on a barbecue, and whose credentials include a stint at the Serpentine’s Summer Café, and heading up his own restaurant, Soul Food, in Notting Hill.
McElveen’s Sunday brunch menu immediately looks like perfect hangover food – the Full Texas has a 250g sirloin steak, smoky bacon, eggs, baked beans and an onion and mushroom hash potato, another dish, called the “drunken turkey steak”, is cooked in a Jack Daniels-based sauce.
There is a slight delay with our order so we are brought two starter-sized dishes of gumbo while we wait; crayfish in a briny, fishy stock is paired with lovely, crispy grilled okra. The Full Cajun has a fried egg with a runny yolk, the chef’s very own bespoke piquant sausages, several rashers of smoked crispy bacon, and a leek and spiced potato hash which is not to be confused with a hash brownie, here crayfish, leeks, potato, onion and peppers are diced and fried with seasoning. In case this isn’t filling enough there is also a separate plate with thickly sliced toast and butter.
The Iberian pork has been grilled till crisp on the outside but is rare in the middle; a tad worrisome perhaps, but this is Pata Negra pork which has been fed on a diet of acorns and more usually cured to make Serrano ham, here served as an escalope covered in a flavoursome Cajun rub, with a side of fried onion and sweet potato.
Desserts include cheesecake, ice creams (smooth caramel, a sweet and creamy ginger with a spicy aftertaste, sherry which tastes like maraschino cherry) and the Southern pound cake, its slightly grainy texture suggesting polenta or semolina but it’s merely flour, sugar and butter that make these tasty, bready fingers, served with light clotted cream and strawberries.
More than comfort food, the meal has been a lesson in flavour. Brunch for two with dessert and wine is around £70.
Reviewed by Leila
Published on Nov 2, 2011
Faithfully British menu is a quality treat
Having once been regarded as the poor man’s Chelsea, today Fulham is one of London’s most expensive areas, home to Michelin-starred gastropub The Harwood Arms and the uber-exclusive Hurlingham Club, for which the waiting list is a lengthy eight years. Soon the neighbourhood’s discerning locals will find a new haunt to satisfy their needs. Broadway House, once complete, is aiming to be a home away from home for its members, boasting a restaurant, bar, children’s area, and two roof terraces that are sufficiently sheltered from the elements, but still manage a decent view over the city. There are plans to screen movies on Sundays, Wi-Fi is available throughout, and the club will close at 1 am every night of the week. It is scheduled to open at the beginning of August, but for now visitors to this 17th century building can contend with the lively Broadway Bar and Grill on the ground floor, and restaurant Brasa on the first floor, both of which operate under the same management.
Although we are the first to arrive we are not put off by Brasa’s empty dining room, as there is something about the gentle lighting and space between the tables that puts us at ease. A basket of herby focaccia and tomato wedges arrives at our table while we peruse the menu, which focuses on the grill, especially imported from the Basque country. Despite this the menu is faithfully, traditionally British, with steaks and bacon chops and ox heart on offer. The wine list is of a high standard featuring plenty of French and Italian wines; we even get to sup a fragrant orange Muscat with dessert.
We start with a plate of butter beans which have absorbed the smokiness of the chunks of ham hock that sit atop it, while another dish consists of delicious meaty chunks of smoked eel paired with a salad of sliced potato and bacon lardons. The potato is a tad undercooked, but otherwise it’s a delight.
The Galloway sirloin is a mammoth 10 ounces of flavoursome beef, which arrives on a metal tray straight from the grill. Its rich, smoky flavour is also present in the smaller rump steak; both have been cut into slithers in the kitchen and have juicy red centres and lightly charred exteriors. Sides include gnocchi, samphire and capers, and cucumber with foraged herbs, but we choose the plump chips in beef dripping, excellent comfort food. The same goes for dessert – the creamy pot of lemon posset and shortbread, the thin pastry crust topped with tangy lemon curd and creamy meringue, and the rich chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream are all sinfully good.
At around £100 for a three course meal for two with wine, dinner at Brasa is a treat, but a quality one. Membership for Broadway House is £300 annually, with £150 being credited back to founding members to spend in the bar or restaurant.
Reviewed by Leila
Published on Jul 22, 2011
I have recently hosted an event at the Broadway House. and cannot compliment the management and staff enough for their helpful,obliging and all round smiley attitudes.The great location coupled with the attentive and positive service make for a great night out and of course a great atmosphere.Thank you Broadway House.
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