Chapters All Day Dining

Paid this place another visit last weekend (lunchtime, but a la carte menu) and was the food was very good. The starters were very imaginative (e.g. grilled mackerel and some Scotch egg variation), which led to a taste experience you don’t get every day. My main course, roasted lamb was also very tender and tasty. The charcoal taste was evident in all the meats, but wasn’t overbearing. I do have to knock one star off the maximum, though, as the lamb came medium, even though it was ordered medium-​rare.
All in all, I am happy to see things have improved. Clearly the chefs have a good imagination, which becomes apparent when you treat yourself to more than just a simple steak here.

It maybe expensive but it is worth it. Lovely staff, delicious food, wonderful vibe.
I was there for brunch. Loved the food.
The bar has a lovely selection of drinks.
And after you have had your main course, do check out the desserts menu. You will not regret.
I think this place is perfect for a date.
Very upmarket feel.

Not a good restaurant to eat fish.
I had scottish salmon and got food poisoning out of it. Stomach cramps for so far 2 days and various toilet visits.
The fish was a bit on the raw side inside but did not think much of it as there is also fresh tuna that it is eaten in this way.
God knows what is happening behind the curtins…

I would very much like to recommend this place, as good steakhouses are hard to find, and it’s certainly good for Blackheath to have an establishment like this with a Josper grill/​oven.
Unfortunately, in my experience, it took three visits to get my rib-​eye steak done right. On my first visit it was undercooked — I understand that peoples’ definitions of «medium rare» can vary, but it didn’t match the waiter’s description when taking my order, although he took the steak back with no fuss. On my second visit, I ordered it medium, it was done just right, but it smelled and tasted burnt, even though the meat wasn’t visibly burnt — presumably the grill either needed cleaning or the meat had been exposed to the charcoal smoke for too long. I wasn’t in the mood for complaining, even though I’m sure the restaurant would have taken it back if I had done so.
Finally, on my third visit, the steak came back OK, although I was a little underwhelmed — would have expected a better crust on the outside of the meat.
The other dishes (e.g. spatchcock chicken) always came out well, it’s a shame that the steaks weren’t consistently good.

Great restaurant, food and service.

I really want to hate Chapters All Day Dining. I want to hate it because of its mass self-​publicisation in the local free glossies. I want to hate it because on a Saturday evening it is full of fake tans, big zirconas and bleached hair posies who manage to make champagne look tacky.
I nearly really did hate it, because of its really unjust bread policy. Everyone around us was offered warm baked bread except for us. And this is not the first time. We cannot work out why we consistently fail to meet the deserving to be given bread when we have ordered.
So the food has yet to come, but I am well on track to achieve hatred of Chapters (with the exception of a good glass of grapefruit juice), and all my plans collapse into failure after the first chip. The first chip was undercooked glee! But the burger was brilliant, really really burgery, and so were the rest of the chips and rocket and parmesan salad.
Full review is here:

Chapters is a great place to have traditional English food. Their Josper grill makes their steaks and Sunday roast second to none. I would definitely recommend this to anyone! Great for vegetarians and even better for meat eaters. Great menu with a wide variety of choices. They have and upstairs and a downstairs which are both cosy and intimate.
Overall, chapters all day dining is a great place to eat for either lunch or dinner (and sometimes brunch)

I really want to hate Chapters All Day Dining.
I was well on track to achieve hatred of Chapters (with the exception of a good glass of grapefruit juice), and all my plans collapsed into failure after the first chip. The first chip was undercooked… glee! But the burger was brilliant, really really burgery, and so were the rest of the chips and rocket and parmesan salad.
The dessert list is irresistible. Yes, the place is expensive and full of itself, but you do get what you pay for.
Read the full review here

Came here for some local eats.
Great menu, with lots to choose from.
Wine list is acceptable, but no first growths.
Only gripe is the frowny server, who almost declined to take our picture cause she was unable to maneuver past an empty corner table.
Smile girl, if you keep at it, your turn into the stuck up spinster.

Always delicious, always good value and always friendly service, particularly from the French (Belgian?) owner. The atmosphere is excellent, although invariably ruined by at least one misbehaving child, which sadly is par for the course in beautiful Blackheath nowadays.
Breakfast is particularly recommended, the food here rivals any of the other top breakfast destinations in London, and in a nicer setting as well. Sitting out on the pavement tables in the summer is one of life’s joys.

I often go to Chapters on a Saturday lunchtime and I have never had anything but excellent food. Always a good atmosphere better upstairs than down and service excellent

We had lunch here about a year ago. It was fine: nothing especially special but perfectly decent for burgers, risotto, pasta, etc. Nice, friendly, good for meeting up with friends.
More recently we went in just for pudding. I badly needed a warm chocolate brownie and ice cream. I hadn’t slept for about 40 hours and what I really needed was lasagne, chips, salad, and then a warm chocolate brownie with ice cream. They couldn’t manage the savoury part of this menu (there were many alternatives but lasagne was what I needed) so we went down the road for that and then came back for pudding. Not only did they have a w. choc. b but it came in ‘sundae’ form. Normally I wouldn’t really want to consume that much pudding (or that many calories) but in my sleep deprived state this fabulous sundae glass of delight was heaven sent. Big chunks of brownie, chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream, and whipped cream on top. One tired but euphoric lady toddling off home to bed.
Oh, and they weren’t at all snooty about two people taking up a table and only eating one pudding (my husband is gluten and dairy free so pudding’s not really an option for him in most places). On the contrary, they were charming.

i had never been to blackheath before and had no concept of where it was until today. i had a proper sunday lunch w/​some friends who live in greenwich, b/​c they said the heath is beautiful. however, when i got there, the entire place was covered in fog and was freezing.
thank goodness for our lunch. i got the fish of the day which was a cod w/​butternut squash purée, broccolini, and some smashed new potatoes. the cod was perfectly cooked. my friends each got the roast, which looked divine, and they said the yorkshire pudding was done just right.
for dessert, we shared the warm banana bread pudding and a tart of some sort, which was more of a cake. both were good w/​o being cloyingly sweet. the food here is clean and delicious and is done simply but the way it should be done.
by the time we finished lunch, it cleared up a bit so we were able to walk around and enjoy a nice sunday.

Delicious, simple and fresh food. We had the lamb special and the skate. The lamb was especially good.

As a Nanny sometimes going into restaurant you feel that their don’t want your children in their place, that Damian 666 child is going to cause a world war 4 in their restaurant… BUT Chapters are great for children.
Great food, great services… recommended full breakfast. Beautiful.

Chapters is the best kind of efficient, good food, no fuss restaurant. Clean lines, no frills décor. very attentive staff and gorgeous food. I had a Sunday roast, and i love a roast, so the criticism was ready to come. But i couldn’t fault it. The beef was so juicy and tender and the Yorkshire pudding, YUM YUMMY YUM YUM. The dessert was gorgeous too. A warm brownie and ice-​cream. There’s nothing revolutionary here, but it really is the best of British and i will return time and time again because of the fabulous food.
SECRET TIP: Get the smoothie special. It changes daily and has enough fruit in it that you can get 3 of your 5 a day in quite easily and so offset all the naughtiness you’re bound to pick of their wonderful menu.

Josper Grilling at Chapters All Day Dining — Pics at The London Foodie (
) Over the last few years, Blackheath has become a foodie destination and a hub for some excellent dining. Places like Friday Food Club (one of my favourite London underground restaurants), the micro brewery Zero Degrees, Boulangerie Jade, and more recently Chapters All Day Dining are leading the way and showing sceptical North Londoners how expertly it can be done down South. I am always surprised when I meet Londoners who haven’t heard of Blackheath despite it being only 12 minutes by train from London Bridge and one of the most picturesque spots in London. So when I was recently invited by Douglas Blyde of Intoxicating Prose to a Bloggers Dinner at Chapters in Blackheath with The Wine Sleuth, Greedy Diva, Eat Like a Girl, and London Eater, it didn’t take much persuasion for me to accept the invitation. Sister to the Michelin starred restaurant Chapter One, Chapters All Day Dining is a more informal, brasserie style eatery, with an understated, casual feel about it the décor is well thought out with exposed brickwork, wood flooring, large mirrors along its walls, and unobtrusive lighting. I enjoyed the informality of the dining rooms and felt instantly at ease in them. Chapters All Day Dining is one of the 9 London restaurants, including Chapter One, to use a Josper oven for grilling all its steaks, some of the fish and seafood starters, and also desserts. An impressive piece of machinery invented in Spain over 35 years ago, the Josper (pronounced Hosper) is both an oven and grill, a closed barbeque made of insulating materials capable of withstanding temperatures of up to 1,000C. This dual functionality helps the food to be cooked much faster than in traditional barbeques by allowing the unit to maintain high cooking temperatures for extended periods of time. It also greatly enhances the flavour of the foods being cooked by searing them on the outside, keeping the juices locked inside whilst giving an intense barbeque/​smoky taste. On this occasion, we had the pleasure of meeting the head chef Trevor Tobin and the restaurant manager Philip Urasala who accompanied us throughout the meal and introduced the wines being matched to each course. To kick off proceedings, we were served an assortment of delicious starters from the restaurant’s new summer menu including: Josper baked mackerel, spiced puy lentils and aubergine, apple purée £5.25 and Baked scallops & chorizo, sweet chilli dressing, baby herb salad £9.95 — these were both sensational; the fatty mackerel and scallops had a delicious and very noticeable smoky/​barbecue flavour from the Josper Serrano ham, salad of rocket and goats cheese, grilled sour dough £6.50 and Terrine of potted ham hock and black pudding, Piccalilli, grilled sour dough £5.95 the terrine was deliciously spicy with hints of mace and nutmeg, and having the grilled sour dough served already buttered was also a nice touch. Salad of warm Kentish asparagus, poached egg & Hollandaise sauce @ £6.50 and Salad of chicory, pear, walnuts and blue cheese £4.95 both salads were very good but the combination of asparagus, poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce was my favourite. Risotto of wild garlic and crème fraiche @ £5.25 deliciously creamy, the rice had been perfectly cooked, remaining still slightly al dente. This was one of the best starters, and a real steal at this price. The starters were sensational, and I suspect that the main courses on the menu, priced between £8.95 and £12.95, would have been equally good. But this restaurant’s raison d’être is its Josper grilled steaks, and to show us what Chapters is all about, Trevor served us a variety of different cuts of beef. Our first was an 18-​day dry aged Cumbrian Black Angus fillet steak, sourced from W. G Butchers in Smithfields. Beef fillet, despite being one of the tenderest cuts, is one I hardly ever cook or order being the leanest part, it is also one of the least flavoursome. The meat had been cooked medium rare — it was also surprisingly tasty, and with a delicate seared crust on the outside. The Josper grilling had, as expected, given the meat an intense charcoal flavour. This is the most expensive meat item on the menu, priced at £23.95 for a 200g fillet steak. The Australian, 40-​day, dry aged Hereford rib-​eye steak was served next. A much fattier cut, good quality rib-​eye steaks usually show a good amount of marbling which also helps to make it one of the tastiest. Trevor cooked the rib-​eye medium, caramelizing the outside whilst keeping the meat pink and succulent inside. At £19.95 for a 320g rib-​eye steak (minimum 30-​day wet age), this is the second most expensive cut on the menu. The next meat being served was the English hanger steak, also known as skirt or onglet. Skirt steak is the animal’s diaphragm, a working muscle and therefore with a tendency for toughness

Decent, if slightly generic and characterless local restaurant. Not exactly ambitious — in fact slightly pretentious and lacking in identity — but a satisfactory proposition if dining in groups or with work colleagues where consistency and reliability are more important than quality or creativity.

From the moment we walked in we received exceptional service. Our waitress was very friendly and attentive and definitely added to the dining experience.
The food was full of flavour and a real treat. I definitely recommend this restaurant — you will not be disappointed. I will certainly go back.”

Good place for a first date. In my case first meeting with boyfriend’s motherGood lighting, eg darkish, but not too dark. Excellent service through out. My only complaint would be the food — ordered the fillet steak medium rare and got it medium /​well done. The bernaise sauce was bland. For pudding I chose chocolate mousse, but rather than being light and fluffy, it came rather in a compact state. My other companions had no complaints though, so maybe I was just unlucky.

My first lunch time experience at Chapters and apart from having to book (and it was full up) the upstairs lunch experience is as good as an evening meal there. The service was superb and the waitress friendly and attentive. when required. The food was a delight to the palate, the combinations might give you a double take but the flavours work so well together, so do not be afraid to give different dishes a try. I love the Treacle Tart and cream for dessert.
All in all a lunch time dining experience to recommend and to go back to.
I have just noticed I have not written an evening review, so will add to the above.
Add excellent to this experience and that is an evening at Chapter 2. Smallish portions, but so tasty you don’t need more and that allows for one to have a 3 course meal, drinks and coffee and not groan when wanting to leave.

Very nice for a treat. The food is top quality and the service excellent. they do a three course special. For a special occassion this place come highly recommended, you really feel like you’ve eaten well and been well looked after. The wine list is excellent and the waiter is very good at helping you choose wines that go best with what you are having to eat. The food is very rich and you do feel very full at the end, but it’s a nice feeling. They have another branch called chapter one in locksbottom, kent.