Gastropub

The Barley Mow: Upstairs and downstairs

The Barley Mow: Upstairs and downstairs

There is little more comforting than a proper pub, especially on a bitterly cold day in early January. Since its reopening in late 2022, Mayfair’s The Barley Mow – a venue with  history dating back more than two centuries – has, once again, become a firm favourite among locals. Rightly so. Both the downstairs pub and the more formal dining room above deserve a visit.

The Devonshire: Welcome home

The Devonshire: Welcome home

It was hard not to enter or leave the Devonshire without a broad smile. Open for only four weeks, it has become one of the hottest tickets in town. Even early on a Monday lunchtime, the front of house told us that she had already had to turn away six parties. Your reviewer felt justly smug, having booked when the Devonshire first opened. Two happy hours later, our group of three all left well sated and could comfortably have stayed for longer, had the real world not intervened.

Three Falcons: Flying high

Three Falcons: Flying high

Diners would perhaps be surprised to know that “the ultimate destination for the best Indian food in London” is tucked away on an unprepossessing side street in what could only generously be described as St John’s Wood. The hyperbole does speak to the ambition of the Three Falcons. If not quite an ultimate destination, the venue has certainly hit upon a winning formula that deservedly should be repeated elsewhere in London.

The Gunton Arms: A taste of Norfolk

The Gunton Arms: A taste of Norfolk

When visiting a part of England not known to your reviewer, the natural response is to do some research beforehand. On this occasion, it involved asking several friends and colleagues who hailed from/ had visited the area. All were unequivocal in their approbation of the Gunton Arms, a view echoed by the local taxi driver who drove us to this destination. Fortunately, the advice paid off. If on the north Norfolk coast near Cromer, then this is the place to go.

The Pig and Butcher: Beyond meat

The Pig and Butcher: Beyond meat

A name such as the Pig and Butcher leaves little to the imagination; you know what you’re likely to get. We were impressed therefore to see not only an elevation and execution of all things meaty, but also delivery on dishes beyond the obvious. That the Pig and Butcher, an Islington gastropub, has been operating for a decade and was packed on the recent weeknight evening when we visited is testament to its success.

The Waterway: Room for improvement

The Waterway: Room for improvement

The Waterway is a marked improvement on its predecessor, a grim pub called The Paddington Stop. It benefits from wonderful canalside views (assuming you don’t look the other way at the housing estate) but its food and drink experience was quite mixed. There’s a lot of potential. but also clear room for improvement.

The Clifton: NW8’s best kept secret

The Clifton: NW8’s best kept secret

Walk roughly ten minutes north west from St John’s Wood station and you reach a quiet and leafy residential street that speaks of prosperity. Nestled on one side – blink and you might almost miss it – is the Clifton. When my comrade and I visited on a recent weekday lunchtime, every table was occupied, and service was perhaps correspondingly somewhat slower than we might have hoped for. Sure, a minor irritation, but the Clifton is the sort of venue where it would be easy to while away an afternoon or longer.

The Peasant: More chic than rustic (November 2017)

The word peasant conjures up somewhat bucolic images of the English past; labourers and farmhands toiling away in the fields and the like. It perhaps, therefore, seems a strange name with which to adorn a pub, particularly in the trendy London district of Clerkenwell. There is nothing rustic about the venue and its prices would probably turn even many modern-day peasants away. Nonetheless, the venue is cool and offers a good range of beers and competently executed dishes.

The Elgin: Trying too hard (June 2017)

The Elgin, a seemingly on-trend gastropub, has come a long way from its existence as a boozer for old soaks - the format in which I first visited this venue some twenty years ago. Sure, it has improved in many ways and is much loved by the yummy mummies of Maida Vale (babyccino, anyone?), but a group of us who recently visited on a Sunday lunchtime couldn't help but feel singularly disappointed.

The Sportsman: Good, but maybe not worth its star (December 2014)

What does a restaurant or pub need to do in order to get a Michelin star? This was the question I mused as a group of five us set out for a recent lunch at the one-starred Sportsman near Whitstable. Since the Sportsman has had this accolade since 2008, it clearly must be doing something right.

Crocker’s Folly: Not worth the wait (December 2014)

When I first moved to London 16 years’ ago, I was lucky to have as my local boozer Crocker’s Folly, a quite remarkable pub, decorated in a high Victorian style with much marble and mirrors. The ales were great, they had a lovely weekly pub quiz and average pub grub (for the late 90’s). 

The Wells: Underwhelming (June 2014)

Green and leafy Hampstead feels as if it could be part of the countryside rather than just a few tube stops north of Euston or Camden. Being a world removed from the London we all probably know better may have its charms, but what the Wells gains in terms of location, our group of five dining there recently on a weekday evening felt it lost in terms of atmosphere and service.