Ploussard | An Intimate South London Date Spot
Here’s an experiment.
If you take someone to Ploussard – a cosy little wine-driven bistro that’s just cut the ribbon on the ever-rising Battersea Rise – while you’re sitting at one its candlelit tables, ask your companion to take a stab at guessing what the first restaurant this team opened was.
And if they guess ‘fried chicken shop’ …ask them about lottery numbers next.
Because that’s precisely the unlikely operation that the show-runners here (Matt Harris and Tommy Kempton) cut their teeth on, with Other Side Fried in Brixton. This is their sophomore effort, and if they continue on this trajectory in elegance then their third restaurant will make Versailles look shabby.
The space itself is decently sized sleeve with dark wooden booths running down one side of the room and coffee-coloured banquettes down the other. The all-wood ceilings & walls make it feel almost Scandinavian, but the jazzy soundtrack and the low-slung globe lighting fill it with warming Parisian vibes, while the bustling atmosphere of the open kitchen at the back spills out into the dining area.
Of course, that’s not all the kitchen is putting out. There’s food too. And good food at that. It’s all small plates, swinging from a wonderfully tasty Lilliputian saucer of crispy chicken skin carrying a heap of smoked scallop roe & pickled onion; to a handsome row of asparagus spears draped in brown-butter hollandaise & walnuts; and a fat, house-made crumpet topped with a delectably salty, herbaceous crown of lamb & anchovy. If you fancy something slightly larger, there’s a hearty Mangalitza pork chop sided by mustard green, and a rainbow trout with brown shrimp & butter sauce.
But the main focus here is really on the wine, which is all low-intervention and almost exclusively French. In fact, the name of the restaurant itself is a type of grape typically grown in the eastern-French region of Jura, which finds its way into half a dozen bottles here. And if you think the word ploussard sounds good coming out of your mouth…
…it’s even better going in.
NOTE: Ploussard is open now, Tuesday to Sunday. You can find out more, and make a booking at the website right here.
Ploussard | 97 St Johns Road, SW11 1QY
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