The closer we get to Winemakers Deptford, the clearer it becomes that I’ve invited the wrong people to dinner. This south London high street, with its happy jumble of bike cafes, Vietnamese travel agents and serious boozers advertising rooms “by the night”, looks and feels as if it’s in the hipster stage of gentrification, and I don’t think my parents would mind me saying we ain’t no hipsters.
“Is this it?” Mum says doubtfully, peering into a brightly lit kebab shop. The dog gamely attempts entry, but I steer them both next door, where the music spilling on to the street confirms my worst fears. The raucous buzz from the fashionable young crowd inside doesn’t help with the noise levels, either.
“There are a couple of other old codgers here,” Dad announces cheerfully on his return from the loo at the back of the wood-panelled dining room (thankfully, they took one look at us and sat us in the quieter front section near the bar). “Well, maybe in their mid-50s?”
The walls are painted a wonderfully lugubrious shade of green (“I’d have gone for a nice magnolia”) that glows sage in the candlelight (though God knows what it will look like on a winter’s afternoon), while furniture is of the dark and sturdy interwar variety; everything has the comforting patina of use, although the Winemakers has been open only since February.
We are swiftly brought good bread and an unsolicited bowl of water for the terrier; even the noise seems to drop, though that might just be the softening effect of the first glass of wine. Not that it’s what you would call easy-drinking, exactly; the Winemakers partners with small producers who make “regional wines that reflect local flavours” – just as it does in its first location in Farringdon.
Our first round includes a startlingly tannic, nutty orange wine from Slovenia that the affable waiter and I agree puts us in mind of vermouth, as well as an unfashionably fuchsia‑hued Sicilian rosé that tastes of cherry drops. The staff are knowledgeable and chatty – a godsend on a list studded with so many obscure names – kindly bringing us a sample of a favourite inky grolleau, only for us to reject it in favour of a more classic, silky southern Rhône. (As I said, we’re cool with not being cool.)
I’m relieved to find no mention of “small plates” on the brief menu, although I would make the case for reclassifying the oozy, rich crab croquetas as bar snacks. As a starter, served only with a sprinkle of salt, they feel a bit naked, unlike a joyous Lincolnshire Poacher soufflé that comes with a helping of crunchy, mustardy piccalilli so lavish, it is more like a salad than a condiment. Best of all, however, are soused mussels with sweetcorn and smoked Tamworth lardo: it turns out that wafer-thin, melt-on-the-tongue rashers of milky fat are the perfect gilding for plump, vinegary bivalves.
Mains are equally generous in size and spirit: Mersea gurnard with a delicate tangle of leeks vinaigrette and crumbled egg is crisp on top and dense within, while my Swaledale lamb ragù with cannellini beans and green sauce (a Dales sheep would have no truck with anything calling itself salsa verde) is soft and deeply savoury, with an earthy sweetness from hefty chunks of carrot; that said, a few leaves would have been a welcome counterpoint to the unctuous broth.
Good as that lamb is, I can’t help coveting my mother’s poached Yorkshire partridge: juicy as you like, paired with a sweetly meaty, house-made cotechino sausage, for which I would happily travel south of the river, finished with fine slivers of sharp pickled fennel. This is seriously assured cooking.
Desserts – a pleasingly squidgy ivory meringue with plums and thick vanilla cream; a damp pistachio cake with creme fraiche and two slightly mean slivers of underripe fig – are enjoyable, but not the kitchen’s strongest suit. Yet we leave feeling just that little bit more hip, and wishing we had somewhere as relaxed but reliably poised just around the corner. Watch out, Deptford, the squares are coming.
• Winemakers Deptford 209 Deptford High Street, London SE8, 020-8305 6852. Open Tues-Thurs 5.30pm-11pm, Fri-Sat noon-12am, Sun noon-7pm. About £26 a head for three courses, plus drinks and service.
Food 8/10
Atmosphere 9/10
Value for money 8/10
