Butcher and Grill - Wimbledon Village

Why did nobody think of this before? A happy union between the ability to do your butcher shopping, have coffee and patisserie or breakfast, or both, enjoy a high quality meal at lunch or dinner, with wine, of course - I mean when you stop to think about it the whole thing is all so blindingly obvious. Little wonder that B & G has a sibling not far away in SW11.

I suppose if there are two suppliers who are really missed from the High Street in these times are the traditional baker, and the butcher, who knew by the look on your face what you were going to order as you came through the door.

Breakfast is on from 8.30am till noon and even though this is a butcher's you can get smoked salmon with your scrambled eggs, and whole lot of other things besides, crowned by the renowned Full English. A good range of beverages includes coffees and teas of all sorts, Cox and Bramley apple juice and many more.

Lunch clicks in at 12pm until 3.30pm, a set 2 choice, three course menu that starts typically with, Welsh rarebit and fried duck egg, roast salmon, samphire and hollandaise, finishing with rhubarb and apple crumble.

Dinner fields around a dozen starters, with pea soup and crême fraiche, potted old spot and green tomato chutney, crab on toast with mayonnaise, or grilled calf's heart with chicory, snails and mustard dressing all represented. Eating alongside the shop means you can call upon almost anything you want from the counter so lovers of sweetbreads who spend fruitless effort trying to persuade their butcher to produce some sweetbreads, find their el Dorado at B & G, served with asparagus, broad beans and girolles. Seabass, chicken breast, new season lamb and risotto are there for your pleasure, and when the menu starts talking about cider battered onion rings, buttered spinach and field mushrooms with garlic you know somebody is firmly on message.

Grills - well what can I say? I could say Highfields lamb cutlets, veal t-bone, a Highfields Barnsley chop, before you even begin to consider the more conventional, but you might think I was exaggerating. The whole set-up is an absolute delight. Vegetarians, I love you dearly, some of your dishes can be really attractive, but when the chips are down it really comes to presentation, which happily is improving all the time. And vegetable curry can make a terrific meal.

Apart from the chips, in  the view of many an essential adjunct to a good steak, there is a range of  "stuff on the side", over a dozen in number, that includes horseradish, Hollandaise, honey, soy and sesame, or anchovy and Worcestershire butter, all with the compliments of the house.

Desserts hover round the exotic, and depending on the time of year expect to find English strawberries with champagne sorbet, and fine selection of British cheeses, quince and crackers.

A wine list of around 70 should meet the needs of any reasonable person. But again I return to the sense of vision in this sensible, down to earth operation which supplies what people want, not what the supplier thinks they ought to have. How many times must one say this before it percolates through?

Their Website will tell you much of what there is no room for here.