The Crossing, Barnes, SW13

Nice warm pub/rest with an open fire No real ale but Meantime -pale and Maxim -Swedish Blond on keg which after warming up was a good beer.Loads of outside seating at he rear with a thatched style roof with fairy lights. Mishmash but nice garden furniture. Strange stickman toilet signs but you have a 50/0 chance of getting it right. All it needs is a good real ale.

Yes this is definitely not a pub, but more a restaurant with a bar, although it is difficult to spot the branding that says this from the outside and even when you venture in as all the original pub layout and central bar remain. No real ales and quite a limited drinks selection so normally I wouldn’t have bothered, but we were famished after walking the Thames from Putney so decided to stay as, although quite expensive, the food looked decent after a quick glance around the other tables, and there didn’t seem to be a lot of nearby choice. The decor is a bit rustic, with heavy wooden tables and chairs, and some of the tables and in fact the bar top have troughs in covered by glass tops and as Steve mentions below the one on the bar has dried fruit in. There is a large outside seating area at the back with a plastic roof which is well hidden by a bamboo screen. Here again the rustic / bohemian theme is carried on in that the assortment of tables and chairs look like they’ve been purchased at a second hand car boot sale. And to cement the fact that this is definitely a restaurant there was a large table of families with several small children who seemed to have thrown more food on the floor than they had actually eaten who fortunately were in the process of moving out when we moved in.. Anyway for the benefit of others I will report that the Sunday roasts we had were superb and although more Gastro style than I am used to, were very well cooked and with serious meat portions which went a long way to justifying the £14.95 wallet hurting tag. On the beer front, there was the Meantime brewery London Pale Ale on chrome tap. The jury is still out for beers from this brewery for me and although I fully applaud their efforts to give normal Lager drinkers a less sterile alternative, like other times I’ve had it, it was served so cold that the glass needed to be hand cradled for 10 minutes before I managed to get it up to a temperature where I could taste something. So in conclusion, if you are after a restaurant, then the Treehouse is an interesting venue with decent food. If you are after a pub / bar then only bother if you are drinking wine. Otherwise make for Ye White Heart up the road.