It was time for a trip into the countryside…well…Chiswick, but I do live in Croydon. And a roast dinner at neighbourhood restaurant, Annie’s.
And the last roast dinner before the all the excitement of wondering how the world’s greatest man-baby will react when a decision doesn’t go his way this week.

No, not you, Ronaldo. For any Americans reading, this is Cristiano Ronaldo, he is a football player, he loves a sulk and a strop when things don’t go his way. He’s a twat, but half of the world seems to love him and believes he was cheated our of the Ballon D’or again this year.
Not sure what I’m hinting at.
America will vote for a woman president, right? A black woman president…right? A black woman with some previous leanings towards communism…as president…right?

Also why do all the MAGA crowd wear masks…almost as if they wouldn’t want to be seen at a Hitler Trump Musk presidential rally? I mean, MAGA aren’t afraid of a fake virus spread by Bill Giles, are they? I meant Bill Gates…but Bill Giles probably did control the weather back when he was on the BBC.
Slip of the tongue, but one of my dining partners who is currently switched off from politics did ask me if it was the final US election so soon. Aha, but when Donald Trump dies at least we might get one of his children that he wasn’t at all creepy towards, as president.
Hey, Hi, Hello
Annie’s is a fairly independent restaurant in Chiswick – I say fairly independent as the owner also owns the Rock & Rose in Chiswick, and one of the same in Richmond. There is also an Annie’s in Finchley – a rough looking Irish pub selling Carlsberg and, no doubt, craic, but I’m going to suggest that isn’t part of this mini chain.
Likewise I doubt Annie’s Ibiza on Carnaby is any relation either – where you can buy a Medieval mini dress for more money than I’ve spent on every single roast dinner adventure combined this year.

Yours for just £3,250.00. Horses for courses…though I’m not imagining anyone wearing it without a horse, and a lance.
Let’s assume I spend £60.00 each time I go for a roast dinner, this is the 34th roast dinner of the year…nah fuck it, let’s bung in the 3 from Roast Dinners Around The World and the flights too – that’s still notably less in total than that dress. Yes I do spend thousands every year on this blog. Yes I do appreciate my £1 a month I get from my Patreon subscriber. I’m not sure that I’ve even spent £300 on clothes this year.
Anyway, the Annie’s you are here about is a small restaurant in Strand-On-The-Green (I think it needs the hyphens), which is part of Chiswick just near the river – one of my secret London spots for an almost guaranteed spot in a beer garden on a sunny afternoon.
Annie’s actually has some outdoor seating – though the UK’s quota of sunshine is fulfilled for the year, it being November (though our annual quota is often seemingly filled by July) and we were sat upstairs. Which had a homely vibe to it – very much take your mother for dinner kind of vibe.


I had a better photo of inside, but damn those mirrors and my anonymity.
Chase The Fade
Annie’s was one of those places were I didn’t especially expect to be challenged upwards, so it proved with the beer list of Heineken, Moretti and Meantime – a total yawnathon, but the wine was more interesting, and a large Merlot at £10.25 feels like a steal in 2024 – plus it was nice, had a slight warming twang and worked nicely with the roast. The Meantime…meh. To think there was a time that meantime was all the rage. Meantime was cool before Trump was doing YMCA on stage.

Two week’s in a row I’ve had a menu where the cut of meat has been ignored, and the waitress had to check. Is the cut not at least slightly helpful to choice?
Lamb was leg of lamb at £23.95, pork was pork belly at £22.95, chicken was chicken breast on the bone at £21.95, nut roast was…erm…dried stuff at £20.95.
I chose the lamb, mostly because I thought it maybe it might be quite soft and tender…maybe.

Starting with the…hmmm…what shall we start with?
How about a hot Spanish woman?

Except she has suspiciously long fingers and I’d be scared of that ending up my bum.
Wicked Speed
Fine, starting with the carrots, which were quite tender and juicy, with some charring around the edges. One was quite tough – too tough for my current dental predicament.
Next we had parsnips – soft, nutty and full of joy. Again a little charring, I assume they were briefly added to a grill at some point.
Broccoli is broccoli in more of a way than Brexit means Brexit (I’m gearing up for a Brexit special soon…behold the excitement as you can bet £40bn that I ain’t forgotten). A good chance between soft and crunch levels, but there’s nothing else you can say about steamed/boiled broccoli.
Finally for the vegetables, we had a little pot of cauliflower cheese – the cauliflower was soft, and it was more creamy than cheesy. Pleasant, as was everything so far.

Of course, the irony of spending 6 months waiting for my jaw to recover so I can have my implants, means I shall be getting crispy roast potatoes every week for the next 6 months, before we go back to soggy, and hell, new potatoes.
Annie’s continued the trend – two were too crispy in a slightly old and meh way. Edible, if you have some top teeth. But one was delightful, with crispiness that melts in your mouth.
The Old Grey Whistle Test

One of my accomplices was disappointed with the small size of the Yorkshire pudding, but I said to him, “trust me, small is better”. Indeed, it tasted like a Yorkshire pudding instead of a dried lump of batter, there was some softness in the middle, some crisp at top – though too crispy on the bottom where I guess it had burnt a tad.
My lamb was really nice – for some reason I didn’t eat the watercress it came with, but the lamb was charred on the outside, medium-ish in the middle, some complimentary bits of fat but mostly some hearty, flavoursome lamb.
Other meats around the table were chicken…well…that was the only other meat, and a nut roast.


The chicken was highly complimented, “very flavoursome”, the nut roast wasn’t.
Finally, the gravy was pretty good – a decent consistency, quite savoury and plenty of meaty action in the vibes.
Annie’s. I like Annie’s.
I didn’t expect to be challenged by Annie’s, and this was indeed the case.
It was a hearty, take your mother to kind of restaurant. My mother would indeed have been happy…well…bar the staircase to get upstairs.
Mostly I thought this roast was good – two of the roasties were a bit too crispy and not especially great inside, but otherwise there’s nothing much to moan about, except Brexit and having to listen to Trump groan on about an election being stolen come Wednesday…no you are just a fucking loser. Well, there is a chance he’ll win. I might moan about that too.
Also little wowed me, the lamb was really good, some of the best parsnips I’ve had this year too – but nothing was pushing the boat out into excellence, into being OMG you have to come to Annie’s. But if you live in the area, even a couple of tube/train stops away…it probably is a must.
Scores around the table were an 8.30 from the vegan, who didn’t like the nut roast itself (they do have a quite extensive vegan main menu). Also a 9.00 from a lesser-spotted accomplice, who I hope wouldn’t mind me suggesting that he prefers safe and predictable roast dinners, and a 7.90 from my regular accomplice.
I’m also a 7.90 out of 10 – one of those roasts where the more I thought about it, the more I appreciated it. It was very good.
I’ll be back next week – the plan looks to be a central London pub, though still to be confirmed. And I’ll leave you with one desire – MAKE AMERICAN GREAT BRITAIN AGAIN.

Please.
Summary:
Annie’s, Chiswick
Station: Chiswick
Tube Lines: National Rail
Fare Zone: Zone 3
Price: £23.95
Rating: 7.90
Loved & Loathed
Loved: A take your mum to kind of restaurant, lamb was really hearty, gravy was good.
Loathed: Beer choice was soooo 2011, two of the roasties were too crispy and meh.
Where now, sailor?
Random roast review: The Cat & Mutton, Hackney
