What: A relaxed but slickly run food-led pub in the south London neighbourhood of Camberwell. The Kerfield Arms is from the same stable as The Baring, which launched in Islington in 2022 and has been well received, chalking up a glowing review from The Guardian‘s Grace Dent, who describes it as a “benchmark of where pub dining is heading”. On top of this, it went into the Top 50 Gastropubs list as the highest new entry in 2023 and has since climbed to 17 in the latest list.
Who: The Baring founder Adam Symonds – who is not to be confused with high-profile chef Adam Simmonds – and chef Rob Tecwyn are partnering with Jay Styler, who has been cooking at the Baring since launch. He will lead The Kerfield as head chef and as a partner in the business. Symonds and Tecwyn met at top Highgate gastropub the Bull and Last over a decade ago. Symonds’s CV includes senior management roles at Six Portland Road and Orasay, while Tecwyn’s CV includes Kerridge’s Bar and Grill, Moro and a head chef post at now-closed Fitzrovia restaurant Dabbous.
The food: With support from Tecwyn, Styler has penned a menu that ‘continues the team’s ethos of simple yet considered cooking, promoting humble ingredients and seasonal produce across a line-up of brand-new dishes’. Dishes include cuttlefish and lardo shish, pul biber chilli; fried pig’s head, smoked eel and warm tartare sauce; Yorkshire hogget, violet artichokes, bagna cauda and pine nuts; grilled monkfish, fregola and shrimp bisque; and gariguette strawberry and chamomile custard doughnut. As at The Baring, bums will be put on seats midweek by an astonishingly good value lunch menu that gives Wetherspoon a run for its money, offering a weekly changing main dish for either £12 or £15 with a pint or glass of wine thrown in for good measure.
To drink: The beer offer is focused on small independent breweries including Lost & Grounded, which is brewing The Kerfield’s house lager. The wine list is big on small producers that broadly sit within the natural bracket. The majority of the wines will be sourced from the Old World, with an emphasis on France, Italy and England. A ‘short, sharp’ cocktail list offers classics like the Gimlet, Last Word and Martini, as well as taking some ‘trashy favourites’ like the Pina Colada and the Appletini ‘for a modern spin’.
The vibe: Much like The Baring, the pub has been comprehensively decluttered and freshened up. Located on Grove Lane, a quiet residential street just off Camberwell Church Street, The Kerfield Arms occupies a grand corner site. Inside, there’s a large bar area to accommodate drinkers and walk-in diners, as well as a dining room which is available to book for both lunch and dinner. Upstairs, there’s a first-floor private dining room for up to 25 guests.
And another thing: The pub most recently traded as The Crooked Well but the trio have opted to relaunch the pub under its original name.
16 Grove Lane, London SE5 8SY