Despite only being a brisk 30 minute walk away, I haven't visited Deptford in several years and it's had a bit of a facelift. The Northern part of Deptford High Street has a good mix of fancy looking new eateries & bars, which would have made it really difficult to choose had a table at The Winemaker's Club not already been booked. The Southern part still looks a bit tatty, but you can't have everything!
The restaurant is very bistro-y; candlelit & proximate tables, which I quite like, although we were early and only a couple other tables were taken. If it was busy, it may have been a bit too intimate! The menu is fairly short and quite Mediterranean, leaning a bit more towards Italy, but often with British ingredients. I had the barbecued Jerusalem artichokes with sheep's yoghurt, lamb, bacon & mint to start whilst the crab croquetas were ordered from the other side of the table.
The croquetas weren't bad, crispy on the outside and flavourful crab on the inside, but could have been served a bit hotter. My artichoke salad was a lovely mix of flavours and textures, although barbecued artichokes can never beat the fried version!
Mains consisted of cannellini beans with confit goose, prunes & radishes and a sea bream with salsify, watercress & hazelnuts. I also ordered a side of grilled hispi cabbage with breadcrumbs & anchovy butter.
The goosey cassoulet was great, with the prunes and radish offsetting the unctuous goose and beans with some bite & sweetness. The bream came whole and was as good as a barbecued fish could be, although there were some grumbles about not knowing the fish was coming whole & not filleted, but that didn't bother me at all.
I also enjoyed the cabbage, bitter, burnt barbecued bits, with crispy breadcrumbs and deepy savoury anchovy butter.
There weren't a huge amount of options for dessert, and none of these tickled the fancy of Ms R, so we called it quits and went to drink gin round the corner at the rather enjoyable and eponymous 'Gin & Beer'.
I really enjoyed the Winemakers Club and would happily go back. The wine is perhaps a bit pricier than I would expect, compared to the cost of the food, but they do have a decent, interesting range (we ended up selecting the Jousset Rose Petillant, a light to medium berry-ish sparkling). Worth a visit!
The Winemakers Club
209 Deptford High st
SE8 3NT
http://www.winemakersdeptford.co.uk/