Beauberry House - Why?

[steveo]

A couple of questions: Why when you have a house called Belair would you change its name to Beauberry?

And why did we go there for a meal?

[Huguenot]

Acoording to the owner Ibi Issolah...

"Some people have been shocked at me changing the name of this restaurant," he says. "But I felt I had to in order to show that the food and service have completely changed compared with the past."

It explains

"The importance Issolah places on wine helps to explain his choice of name for the Dulwich restaurant, Beauberry being a small village in the Charolais region of Burgundy."

Hw may well have had a great career, but I did eat at Beauberry before departing to these waters, and I thought it wasn't worth returning to...

[jennyh]

Often wondered about this place, its just a bit of a non-place really. Never stepped foot inside but the outside looks lovely, I do get the impression though that they have no idea about how to make it a desirable place to have a meal or host a party or wedding. Shame as it has so much potential!

[Jah Lush]

I always though the name change was silly and pointless. The history of that house is wrapped up in its original name. I've not been back there for about five years. The two dining experiences I had there were pretty awful and I've not heard any good things about it since.

Did you dine there over the weekend Stevo? Would you care to tell us about it if you did?

[steveo]

Faded kitschy decor, alarming paint colours, bland Euro food, astronomic prices. They haven't got a clue.

Could you imagine it with an interior appropriate to a Grade II listed building? A country house in the middle of London with oak panelling, log fires, Chesterfields, oil paintings, massive Sunday lunches.

It would be unique and it would be rammed. There were just three tables booked on Sunday.

[womanofdulwich]

They need that Palozzi woman on the case.

[Carbonara]

The wine list is ridiculous!

Ridiculously long, and starting way too high in price.

[Annette Curtain]

Sadly it suffers from a classic design flaw. Not as a house but as a venue, so it feels more like it's suited to functions than for drinking or dining.

The bar & restaurant spaces are carved up by a central stair space (if my memory serves me right) So it feels bereft of intimacy. Don't get me wrong; it's impressive but that "Oooo" factor soon wore off and I felt slightly trapped by it's isolation when I was last there.

( I do imagine myself doing a 'Laura Ashley' down that stair case )

Also the pitch doesn't feel quite right, Stevo cites the "bland Euro food" but I think they miss widely on the other fronts, like the local demography. Sure Issolah's Kennsington Gloster Road restaurant does well, but who's it serving, not locals I think. It's Hotel Bland-o-rama up there and tourists galore. Dulwich central it ain't.

Actually thinking about it more; it feels like a Euro-Hotel but without the rooms. And it's got a menu to match.

There is not one local or seasonal ingredient on there. Nothing, nitto and we're on the border of "The Garden of England".

Kent alone is bursting with amazing food producers. Saltmarsh lamb from the Isle of Sheepy. Goats cheese from near Leeds castle. Apples from Brogdale, and the most superb fish & Oysters from Whitstable.

We've also got some top notch bakers in this area, but nothing, not a bun to be seen that menu.

In short, it's frikkin laudable.

Lastly, the website is duuuuull as dishwater & I glazed over in seconds.(even the events look slightly 'pampas grassy' odd)

Still, it looks pretty on the outside and that counts for something.

NETTE:-S

[Jeremy]

The interior is really, really bad. Had a Sunday roast there once, and it was below average.

steveo, you're right - if the interior was nice/trad, and the food was vaguely decent, it would be a runaway success.

[maxxi]

"Saltmarsh lamb from the Isle of Sheepy" and Charolais Beef from Rumpsden : Rumsden charolais

[Annette Curtain]

maxxi Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> "Saltmarsh lamb from the Isle of Sheepy" and

> Charolais Beef from Rumpsden : Rumsden charolais

Did I overlook something maxxi?

Boy that beef cow looks mighty fine.

:)

[maxxi]

don't play the selectively dyslexic with me lady - or was 'sheepy' a (Clement) Freudian slip?

ETA: right about the menu tho' - the entr?es look like a cross between a backstreet Birmingham brasserie and a Chinese takeaway in Inverness

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

If you take away four and twenty Chinese from Inverness, what do you get?

[maxxi]

Prawn Borrs?

eta - http://blogs-images.forbes.com/raykwong/files/2011/08/chinese-menu2.jpg

[ibilly99]

Why not !

[Jah Lush]

Why bother.

[Annette Curtain]

maxxi Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> don't play the selectively dyslexic with me lady -

> or was 'sheepy' a (Clement) Freudian slip?

>

> ETA: right about the menu tho' - the entr?es look

> like a cross between a backstreet Birmingham

> brasserie and a Chinese takeaway in Inverness

Ah yes maxxi the ol'Sheepy gag

Of course I meant to throw another E in Sheepey, just looks so weird though, no?

NETTE:-$

[pk]

Annette Curtain Wrote:

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> it feels more like it's suited to functions than for drinking or

> dining.

>

and i think that's where they make their money (and i am sure that it's pretty good money once all the wedding premiums are added)

[El Pibe]

I went to a wedding there and it was really good, most of it was upstairs and finger food and shampoo on the lawn on a lovely summers day was just perfect.

It's really not viable as a restaurant though is it.

And the downstairs bar....that decor.....

[maxxi]

Annette Curtain Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

> Ah yes maxxi the ol'Sheepy gag

>

> Of course I meant to throw another E in Sheepey,

> just looks so weird though, no?

>

> NETTE:-$

Now you're being deliberately perverse. Your island-permit is hereby revoked.

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_04_2009/post-2272-1239358372.jpg

[Annette Curtain]

Oh maxxi

Where did you find that, it's 'brill'

Did you know a what Sheppey is ?

A measure of distance equal to about 7⁄8 of a mile (1.4 km), defined as the closest distance at which sheep remain picturesque. The Sheppey is the creation of Douglas Adams and John Lloyd, included in The Meaning of Liff, their dictionary of putative meanings for words that are actually just place names.[6] It is named after the Isle of Sheppey in the UK.

[Dr De Soto]

It's galling that a restaurant that so consistently gets bad reviews has stayed in business for so long. I can only assume that they coin it from their wedding business, and that there's a regular supply of guests nostalgically returning to "that lovely place where we went to the wedding" (only to be disappointed and never go back again).

[maxxi]

Annette Curtain Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Oh maxxi

>

> Where did you find that, it's 'brill'

>

> Did you know a what Sheppey is ?

>

> A measure of distance equal to about 7⁄8 of

> a mile (1.4 km), defined as the closest distance

> at which sheep remain picturesque. The Sheppey is

> the creation of Douglas Adams and John Lloyd,

> included in The Meaning of Liff, their dictionary

> of putative meanings for words that are actually

> just place names.[6] It is named after the Isle of

> Sheppey in the UK.

I always loved:

SYMOND'S YAT (n.)

The little spoonful inside the lid of a recently opened boiled egg.

and possibly

WIMBLEDON (n.)

That last drop which, no matter how much you shake it, always goes down

your trouser leg.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Can't be bothered to start a new thread so I'll use this.

Came across this today from WWII account of Preston Hurman (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/32/a2057032.shtml?oo=41648141&askid=a79af40c-71bf-490e-b025-011f8989e87d-0-uk_gsb)

A driving school HQ had been established in Dulwich in a large house called ?Bellair?. By coincidence, this was not far from the Croxted Road home of the Galitzine family, where I had stayed for several years.

My job now was to teach the young recruits to drive. There was an old Austin Seven chassis for them to learn engine maintenance and dual-drive 30-hundredweight trucks for driving lessons. A hundred fully qualified RASC drivers passed out of the course every month.

At camp, the major, the captain and the lieutenant had separate offices and were not particularly friendly with each other. One night I was very tired and, falling asleep on guard duty, failed to ensure that a guard was on the gate when the lieutenant came in. He roused me and ordered me to report to his office at 9am (for punishment).

Half an hour later the captain came in and found me asleep again. I did not tell him that the lieutenant had already caught me and he too ordered me to report at 9am. Believe it or not, the major came in at midnight and it all happened again. So - three calls at 9am and grim punishment to contemplate.

At eight forty-five the next morning I called at the lieutenant?s office and told him how awful it was: the captain had caught me as well. ?You are a fool? he thundered. ?I?ll let you off, as no doubt you?ll be for the high-jump when you see the captain, but don?t let it happen again?. Off I slipped to the captain and confessed that I had been caught later by the major. Much the same conversation ensued; he would let me off , as the major would no doubt punish me severely. Finally, I faced the major at nine o?clock and confessed that the captain had also caught me asleep on duty. Believe it or not I escaped punishment from all three. It?s unbelievable, but absolutely true.