The Six Bells, Brentford High Street

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Italian Chef produces imaginative menu as well as excellent standards

The Six Bells was relaunched last year having been turned from a scruffy and sometimes smelly pub into a beautifully decorated wallpapered, carpeted venue with some wonderful larged size prints of Brentford in times gone past.

Then the floods came and a lot of the refurbishment, including the more vital aspect down in the cellar had to be redone.

But as long as Thames Water doesn't burst any more pipes the Six Bells will continue its transformed existence. It has had more than one chef but hopefully its current Italian chef Luigi will stay.

There are two menus: a permanent one with burgers, steaks and pizzas and one for specials which changes fairly regularly, although not on a daily basis.

We shared our starters having Antipasto with mixed Italian meats, cheeses, bruschetta and olives (in a creamy Italian dressing rather than lashings of oil) and Caprino Arrosto which was yummy baked goats cheese, crispy on the outside and completely runny inside.

For the main course we both had meaty specials. Luigi visits Spitalfields market twice a week to hand pick his slabs of meat which he then slices as required. The beef tastes of beef. Both speicals constituted unusual but interesting ways of cooking beef. I firmly associate breadcrumbs with veal but it worked spectularly with sirloin. So spectacularly that I forgot to take a photo. Equally white wine sauce is associated with chicken or white meat rather than beef but both dishes were excellent.

They were: Scaloppina al Vino Bianco: top side beef cooked in white wine and served with rocket and parmesan salad and Bistecca alla Palermitana which is prime beef sirloin steak battered in seasoned breadcrumb and grilled, served with mixed leaves salad and chips or roast potatoes.

Tiramisu is offered for dessert but we were comfortably full so stuck to coffee. The Honey Dew in the Six Bells is perfect and tastes markedly better than in other pubs.

For those who don't want a heavy meat dish I have over the Christmas holidays sampled various pizzas, which are a bit small but are also very cheap starting at £5.50. The dough is nicely crispy and the toppings are generous. I can also highly commend the burgers.

We paid just over £42 for two courses and drinks which is very reasonable for the quality.

 

Kath Richardson

February 3, 2011