Faber Wine & Seafood Restaurant - Review - Hammersmith - London - The Infatuation

"Almost everything on the menu at this glossy Hammersmith restaurant once knew how to swim. Or, because we don’t want any crabs reading this to feel left out, side-crawl. Come evening, Hammersmith locals wander into Faber to submerge sourdough in the zippy white wine sauce that comes with hefty piles of mussels and people who work nearby grab the wine list before they’ve even shrugged off their blazers. The herringbone floors, Missoni-esque cushions, and steady supply of oysters that are trotted out of the kitchen all politely hint at the kind of beachy summer home born of generational wealth and double-barrelled surnames. Given the quiet hum and the marble tables, Faber is ideal for daintily nibbling croquettes with your in-laws. Translation: it’s a touch boring but a safe option for inoffensive dining. Anything on the menu with a sea air whiff will likely please, but if its ancestors touched grass, skip it. It’s seafood or nothing (see: sad, dry duck pasta) at Faber. Food Rundown Cuttlefish & Spring Onion Croquettes Cuttlefish isn’t renowned for big, punchy flavours and it makes for a pretty mellow, one-note croquette protagonist. Our favourite crumb redeemer, panko, does its best to add a little pizzazz but we wouldn’t order these again. photo credit: Heidi Lauth Beasley River Teign Mussels, Lemon Thyme Mariniere The marinière sauce that comes with these textbook meaty moules has the spirit of a summer bop. It’s all lemon zest, earthy thyme, and subtle creaminess. We're not ashamed to admit that we forgot about the mussels' existence while dipping Faber’s chips into this sauce. photo credit: Heidi Lauth Beasley Hand Cut Chips The best chips, like eyebrows, are sisters not twins. Each chip at Faber has a different shape, size, and fluff factor but they’re all flawless in their own right. An essential for marinière-dipping purposes. photo credit: Heidi Lauth Beasley Duck Leg Ragu, Pacchon Pasta More bland than our personalities when we’ve only had three hours of sleep. It’s dry, lacking in ragu, almost bizarrely flavourless, and we barely touched it. In Faber’s defence, land-dwelling creatures are not their speciality so ordering something that once had feathers was a rogue decision. photo credit: Heidi Lauth Beasley" - Heidi Lauth Beasley