The Old Nun's Head becomes Brockley's Rive Gauche

Photo: Pubology

It's a pre-Hallowe'en miracle! A local restaurant is going from strength-to-strength. The Old Nun's Head have hired the former head chef of The French House in Soho, a place we've never eaten in, but which is one of our favourite drinking haunts.

The owners say:

The Old Nun’s Head on Nunhead Green today announces that Roger Clarke, formerly of The French House in Soho, is now this local pub’s Head Chef. The pub’s Landlords, Daniel Rowntree and Louise Lawler have brought Clarke on board to breathe new life into the menu and to help make the Old Nun’s Head the pub for quality, seasonal food in South East London.

During his 20 years as a chef, Clarke has worked in the kitchens of some of London’s best-loved restaurants, including the Ivy and Simpsons on the Strand. But his real passion is for the great British pub and he joins now following five years as Head Chef at The French House in Soho – widely regarded as one of Soho’s most iconic pubs.

Clarke has already devised a brand new lunch and dinner menu for the Nunhead local, featuring amongst others pub classics such as fish and chips, bangers and mash and of course the Sunday roasts.

“We are seriously excited about Roger joining us. We want The Old Nun’s Head to be somewhere people in the local area see as theirs to hang out in, enjoy a drink in and now eat great food in. Having tried everything on Roger’s new menu, we know he’s the right person to help us do just that,” says Daniel Rowntree, Landlord of The Old Nun’s Head.

“The Old Nun’s Head is a cracking pub and I am very happy to be part of the team here. My aim is to create exciting but unpretentious plates of food using only the best seasonal produce, whether it is for a great pub classic or something a little different. I really hope people will come down, give the new menu a go and want to keep coming back,” says Roger Clarke, the new Head Chef at The Old Nun’s Head.

The menu will be updated regularly, with the focus always being on quality produce, cooked to Clarke’s exacting standards at a price that is right for a neighbourhood pub restaurant. What’s more, fish is supplied by the popular local Nunhead fish mongers FC Soper or ‘Sopers’ as it’s more affectionately known, as well as seasonal produce from Rowntree’s family small holding in Lincolnshire.

The pub’s team has also been working hard to make sure that the local ale drinkers are well catered for, as in September this year the pub was awarded a Cask Marque. The Cask Marque is a sign of quality from the independent body, the Cask Marque Trust, and is only awarded to those pubs where all their cask ales have reached the high standards required by the Trust.

As well as improving the quality of the drinks and food on offer, Daniel and Louise have given the pub’s decor a complete overhaul. The interiors now have a cozy, eclectic country lodge feel with worn retro leather sofas, comfy armchairs, booths and more original oak paneling than you can shake stick at. The courtyard garden is perfect summers hang out and now, as the nights draw in, the two huge log fires will be lit to give a truly welcoming and homely feel.