The Yum Interview: Number Three
I meet and chat British, seasonal food with local restauranteur and fellow foodie fanatic, Joe Lambert of Lamberts, Balham
Welcome Joe! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how the restaurant came to be?
I started off my career in the catering industry as a bouncer in Glasgow. Then I eventually got an Assistant Manager position there. I moved to a post in Edinburgh and worked at an outfit who wanted to open another restaurant in London, so they invited me to run it for a few years. Sadly the building was sold, so I then worked at an upmarket Irish Bar and Restaurant in Mayfair, the kitchen was run by Richard Corrigan. From there I decided to go travelling to South East Asia and finally settled back in the UK. I was lucky enough to join forces with my brother, so opened up a restaurant in Balham. Lamberts was born in 2002.
Why did you choose to locate in Balham?
At the time, I was living in Balham and I ate in all of the local eateries (but there weren’t really many!) and I remember thinking that there wasn’t anything exactly like this in the area at the time. The venue used to be a Greek Cypriot restaurant. It was the perfect size and location but there was just no one eating in it. We took that as an opportunity to take it over.
Tell me a little about your menu and where you get your dish inspiration…
From the very beginning, my passion has always been for seasonal and British food. Even back in the day when it wasn’t really that ‘fashionable’ like it is now. I loved really good food, but I hated the stuffiness sand formality of those type of restaurants. My aim has always been to serve delicious affordable seasonal food in a relaxed and comfortable environment.
Where do you source your produce?
We have a produce driven menu and we always stipulate that we want British. We use a selection of different suppliers for different things. Our wagu-cross beef and turkeys come from Surrey. Sometimes we head up to New Covent Garden at Nine Elms after service to select our own fruit and vegetables. Buying British is always at the forefront.
Tell us a little about your wine selection. Do you have any English wines?
We have a wine list of over 100 wines. We do have a couple of English wines from two vineyards in East Sussex- Bluebell and Hidden Spring. The owners of Hidden Spring are local residents of Balham!
We also sell Chateau Tooting. It is a great local story. It’s a wine made from a network of urban grape growers across Wandsworth and produced in East Sussex. They are called The Urban Wine Company.
Do you get involved in any events in the local community?
We like to join in with two of the local food events here; the Ritherton Road Street Party in June and the Balham Food Festival in September. In the past we have offered up pulled pork baps or brisket of beef.
I have also advised the kitchens in some of our local schools, the best ways to negotiate better deals when buying in their produce for school dinners. I do also like to volunteer the be Head BBQ Chef at my kids school events too!
What can kids enjoy from the kitchen? Are there any kids activities on offer?
We do family lunches on the weekends, with a specific kids menu or kids can eat half portions of anything we have on the regular menu. We do Sunday roasts too which the kids love. We bring out toys for the littles ones to play with and there is a colouring competition that they can enter.
Are you currently running an offer, deals, special menus?
We change our A La Carte dinner menu monthly. We also run a Mid-Week Market Menu from Tuesdays too Thursdays, which changes weekly: two courses at £19 and three courses at £22. It is fantastic value.
To book a table at Lamberts and enjoy their delicious British Seasonal cooking, visit them at lambertsrestaurant.com. Or Follow them here for lots of delicious food chat:
Twitter @lamberts_balham
Facebook @lambertsbalham
Instagram @lamberts_balham
