Hello boys! Well, you’d have loved the Hollywood Arms in Chelsea the night I was there… Lots of tall, blonde and beautiful girls wearing short dresses and sipping champagne! And all this glitz and glamour on a dull and rainy Thursday in November.
The Hollywood Arms gastropub has recently undergone an extreme makeover and shed its dark colours for white, azure and pastel shades of blue, grey and light brown.
The space downstairs is bright and cheerful with lots of mirrors, shiny surfaces and small tables for drinkers and diners, while the Aviary Room offers a conservatory-style dining space.
The Blanchard Room upstairs resembles a very fashionable modern lady’s lounge and can be hired for private events. The Big Table sits a family size of ten and is perfect for Sunday lunches and birthday dinners in a comfortable sitting room styled space.
The new menu at The Hollywood Arms offers an array of sharing plates with a traditional twist, such as Grey Goose vodka cured salmon (£6.20) and potted Wiltshire rabbit with sourdough bread (£7.50).
You can also share some enticing shots – the house special is called the Darcy’s Lady and consists of six shots of Belvedere Bloody Mary, each topped with a floating oyster (£18).
My friend Dianne and I were seated at a cosy table for two, overlooking the bar and its ornate mirrors and glass shelves. It was the perfect spot for people watching as the evening’s buzz of activity unfolded.
The waiters were running around, the barmen mixing drinks for thirsty punters, men downing pints and sequin-wearing girls schmoozing all over the place.
Dianne chose to start her meal at The Hollywood Arms with a glass of Prosecco (£5.05) and the oysters Kilpatrick – smoked bacon, Worcester sauce and breadcrumbs (£7.20). Once again, I couldn’t resist the scallops.
The Diver caught scallop gratin served in its original shell (£9) was nice, but could have been served slightly hotter. Dianne, who is Australian, was a bit disappointed that the oysters Kilpatrick were prepared differently to what she has had in Oz.
Having started our meal with seafood, we both ordered the Elm Farm rib eye steak with triple cooked chips, roasted tomatoes, Portobello mushroom and béarnaise sauce (£16.50) for our mains, accompanied by a lovely glass of Malbec (£7.65/250ml). The meat was juicy, soft and delicious and the triple cooked chips were simply divine.
But even after this huge meal we didn’t have the power to resist the temptation of bread & butter pudding with drunken prunes (£5.80), which was definitely worth the sin.
Not wanting to inflict further damage to our waistlines we chose “Skinnytails” to finish off our feast. Dianne had Rose Martini – Stolichnaya vodka, lychee liqueur and ginger syrup with fresh rose petals (£6.95 and only 95 calories!), and I treated myself to an even leaner (85 calories) Hollywood Star – Ketel One vodka with fresh passion fruit, passion fruit purée and vanilla sugar, served with a Prosecco chaser.
We met the lovely pub manager Tracey Coles on our way out and being Australian herself she promised Dianne that she would do something about those oysters Kilpatrick, but overall, this was very good value for money and an enjoyable night out at The Hollywood Arms.
Address: The Hollywood Arms, 45 Hollywood Road, Chelsea, SW10 9HX
Telephone: 020 7349 7840
Read our reviews of Novikov London, Michael Nadra Primrose Hill or 34 Restaurant.
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