Crocker’s Folly

FREAKING AMAZING ! That’s as good as it gets. We had dinner here waayyy too late and the staff was simply adorable. I asked if we could grab a bite (at 22:30) and rather than just giving us the bar’s menu, the barman gave us the restaurant menu and asked us to just tell them if we wanted to have a full meal so that he could make the kitchen wait just for us.
We had a simple course, not to annoy them too much and it was truly wonderful. We gave a try to French specialities which could have been tricky, the beef Bourguignon and the lamb Navarrin. And that was truly amazing, just thinking about it makes me want to go back. The prices were reasonable for the quality of the dishes. The staff really great. And to top it all, the décor is really nice, polished and classy with a soft touch of Jazz music to add to the intimate atmosphere.
Definitely not your typical pub, I only regret not having time to check out the cocktails.

Wonderful newly renovated restaurant/​pub hidden deep within St. John’s Wood. I never would have even known about this place had it not been for a group dinner I attended.
We were greeted at the door and promptly addressed by the hostess once inside. He sat us at a lovely booth in the bar. The inside of the restaurant felt very warm and spacious. The waiters were quick and pleasant with serving us.
While a bit on the pricy side, the food was delicious and I will definitely be back. The waiters kept mentioning the Michelin starred desserts and that they will start serving tea very soon featuring these award winning desserts. The desserts we had were quite good but didn’t seem to be over the top. I might venture out to try their tea.
One last note, I would not bring children here. I’m not sure if there are high chairs but the atmosphere is screaming «no kids». What a great excuse for a date night!

I know this place is supposed to be a pub, but it’s so not your average dunking hole. It’s a beautiful cocktail bar disguised as a pub but you only need to step inside to see the truth.
The décor is polished and beautiful and the cocktail menu extensive with lots of choice. The bar staff are quite friendly but it’s definitely the sort environment you’d expect in an upmarket speakeasy cocktail bar with artisan drinks. My opinion is that that’s because of the area.
However, all the drinks were amazing so I’m glad I have this place very near my flat. It’s like a little secret that I’m very happy is not known to everyone. I’ll definitely be coming back for more!

Excellently prepared cocktails. Upscale setting and prices. Gorgeous interior and décor. Did not dine, only sat at the bar.

Lovely neighborhood pub but so much more. Every detail was perfect. The décor, table setting and service. Then dinner came. Beautifully presented and yummy. Not to be missed

Located in St Johns Wood, just north of Edgware, Crockers Folly is a newly refurbished restaurant inside a former Grade II listed Victorian gin palace, the interior was nothing but stunning with large open spaces, plenty of luxury decoration and paintings, something that you would expect to see inside a classic 5 star hotel. The menu at Crockers Folly is developed by chef consultant Damian Wawrzyniak, the cooking is British in principle with some unusual contemporary touches, unlike any other places that I’ve come across which was very interesting. I visited on a press/​blogger evening and was given a special 10 course tasting menu that the restaurant put together specially for the Zomato event. Crockers folly normally serves a la carte, bar and Josper menu as well as Sunday family roast Lunch.
Pork and chocolate was a very strange flavour combination and the richness and bitterness of the coco completely dominated the pork and every other garnish on the plate. Both lamb cannon and the crab cannelloni were perhaps the best dishes on the night, the lamb was cooked to perfection, seriously tender and moist with a silkily smooth creamy mash. The crab cannelloni was light and fresh with a lovely soft grassy aroma, it was one of those dishes that won’t look out of place in a Michelin starred restaurant. Pork terrine was all very well and pleasant with good depth of bold flavours and richness, but it makes no sense at all, at least for me, to serve a cold terrine as the final savoury course in a tasting menu.
The cooking was at some of the most ambitious levels I have ever encountered and some dishes were very questionable as well as some highly polished, that really lived up my taste buds. There is always a degree of risk when a restaurant decides to push the boundaries to try to be different and unique, and an even greater risk in such a long tasting menu format. Even very accomplished and highly regarded chefs such as Simon Rogan faced similar issues when he launched Fera at Claridges, the tasting menu was reduced greatly to a 6 course instead of a 15 course when it was newly opened last year. Personally I think Crockers Folly’s one off experimental tasting menu has a great potential if it narrows down to just the popular dishes and adds a touch more refinement and delicacy, but for now it is not planning to roll out any tasting menu format to the public any time soon.
*I was invited as a guest of the restaurant

This review is for a cocktail only as we weren’t there for dinner. But it fully earned its 5 star rating for what we had. They recently renovated it and they did an amazing job. It’s beautiful and classy and just a lovely place to be for a while. I had a lovely Vieux Carre’, an old school drink invented in New Orleans, which was amazing. They put a sprig of Rosemary in it and it really made the aroma intoxicating, in addition to the drink being very intoxicating.
The service in particular was amazing. It could have been really snooty, given the craft cocktail there’re but the barmen were friendly and quick to help.
I can’t wait to come back and try the rest of the drinks.

Beautiful food. Great selection of wines and food. Definitely worth trying mushroom side… Ze bessst

Ok the place is stunningly beautiful
But th service is aweful.
Food is pretty pricey and that is not really justified
Now yes again venue is fantastic

Crocker’s Folly in St. John’s Wood is another rather classy gastropub with delicious food, a great wine list by the glass and an absolutely excellent chocolate mousse dessert. But it all comes at the price of slightly uninspired music and maybe a little too much splendour.
After a complete revamp, Crocker’s Folly on the border of St. John’s Wood reopened in October 2014 as a classy gastropub. The interior is shiny and impressive, albeit a little bit overwhelming. Crocker’s Folly is a grand place — but I thought that it all is probably a little bit over the top. For example, the tables are beautiful, dark wood, only maybe a little bit too shiny and too large. Perhaps it is just me who gets a little bit intimidated by these large polished surfaces.
The music did not add much to the atmosphere. I thought it was a little bit too loud, and I do not see how such a classy place on one side and standard lounge music on the other side go together. It just sounded wrong for this environment on a Sunday afternoon.
Browsing through the wine list, it becomes obvious that Crocker’s Folly is a venture backed by Maroush Group, as it features quite a few Lebanese offerings. Overall, I think the wine list is really great with a good selection by the glass.
The service was very friendly and all service staff were very attentive. One of the staff was always walking around with a bread basket, ready to provide another slice of tasty bread to everyone who fancied. The bread comes with a circle of butter, sprinkled with salt — it looked beautiful, but I must admit that I missed salt and pepper mills on the table. The bread comes from Maroush Bakehouse at the moment, but they might start baking their own. My favourite bread was the slightly darker seeded bread, it was absolutely delicious.
Throughout my stay, my waitress continuously topped up my tap water, before I could even think of asking for more — that is service how I like it.
As I decided to leave the wine for another visit, I ordered a glass of fresh orange juice which tasted lovely and was strong in colour.
I ordered the onglet steak, medium-​rare as recommended. The meat was relatively dark with a good flavour. However, the peppercorn sauce is not my most favourite interpretation of a peppercorn sauce — I found it too much like an onion-​peppercorn sauce. More pepper and less onion, please.
When the waitress brought me the dish, she asked if I would like some pepper on it. Of course, and the freshly ground pepper made the already tasty onglet even better, but I would have preferred to have a little salt and a little pepper mill on my table to fine-​tune my plate.
I enjoyed the thinly cut, perfectly salted skin-​on fries and liked the home-​made mayonnaise. It was perhaps slightly too heavy, but great in taste and a good complement to the ketchup.
After I had finished my main, I was tempted by the dessert menu. The chocolate mousse with, I think, mango sorbet, was outstanding. It was clearly the star of my late lunch. This dessert was a great combination of strong and deep chocolate flavour with a slightly stingy fruitiness from the sorbet. The flavour and texture sensation of chocolate glazing, creamy chocolate mouse and soft sorbet was completed by crunchy crumble sprinkled across the plate. It was without question one of the best desserts I have had recently.
I considered rounding my lunch off with a coffee, but when I was told they use Illy coffee, I decided to walk down the road and enjoy a nice cup extracted from Monmouth beans at D1 Coffee, just a minute away from Crocker’s Folly, instead.
Overall, Crocker’s Folly is another great option in the area. Facing strong competition in Maida Vale, it will be interesting to see how this new gastropub can establish itself in the neighbourhood. If they just would serve a different coffee and replace the dreadfully poppy soul and lounge tunes with classical music or some nice jazz, I might pop in more often — if my wallet allows…