A boozer with The Blues

Chelsea Football Club fans form a broad church. No team in Britain today, surely, count as many Bufton-Tuftons and perma-tanned lounge lizards in Gucci loafers among their active supporters. Further evidence that football is no longer the preserve of the working classes is found at The Butcher's Hook on that part of Fulham Road just by Stamford Bridge, right opposite the bit of the Chelsea ground with hotels and (what looks like) a CFC Harvester.

With its battalion of fizzy lager pumps, this pub caters for the sort of fans who think that the serving of oysters and a glass of bone-dry Sauvignon in a pub with duck-egg blue walls is quite normal. Alongside its everyman lagers are Greene King ales and a respectable if unexciting wine list.

We sat at a long breakfast bar made of a chunky slice of cathedral oak. Papers and magazines were scattered about, adding to a more delicate and formal brasserie feel. The decor does not scream the usual gastropub cliches, for which my eyeballs were truly thankful.

Wrapped up in Diane von Furstenberg, my friend Antonia looked the proper lady. So I ordered some pre-starter oysters. Slightly dry and tepid are not how I like my Irish Rocks, but this is how I found them. I can't love oysters unless they are sparkling in cool briny juices.

I always like to feel the clear, summery quality of a gazpacho's fresh ingredients - the fruity vegetables, the spiky garlic, the grassiness of the olive oil. There are as many ways of making and liking gazpacho as there are families in Spain, and this one will suit some tastes, but for me it was too characterised by the sweet and sour of vinegar. Lady A's terrine had wild boar and chicken liver among other things in it, and we both liked the balance of its various meaty flavours.

A real favourite of mine, gravadlax and potato cake, was horribly spoilt by adding a thick layer of vinaigrette-dressed salad between the fish and the (much-too-soggy) pancake. None of the textures or flavours could muscle through the leaves. Lady A said her steak was a fantastic bit of meat, and cooked perfectly.

The service is great, the atmosphere warm and mellow. However, the dishes were either bull's-eye hit (Lady A's steak) or near miss (the soggy potato pancake). To compete with the top-end gastros in the SW region, The Butcher's Hook needs to be much more consistent.

The Butchers Hook
477 Fulham Road, SW6 1HL