HEREFORD ROAD (REDUX)

While the music played you worked by candlelight
Those San Francisco nights (2008 style)

As we had visited St. John the other day I thought it would be a good idea to check out one of its progeny to see how the stout yeoman school of cooking was doing. By chance I went for Hereford Road in Notting Hill and blow me I only realised afterwards that I’d visited almost exactly one year ago. In fact, and no surprise here, I was the first paying customer through the door (though only after being told to walk around the block a few times as they were hoovering).

So what’s changed ? Very little really. Wine’s gone up a few quid - you used to be able to get a glass for £2.40 – the food has gone up a bit and side dishes are extra, but Crab with Mayonnaise is still a tenner. The upper and lower rooms still look the same, service is still pretty much on the money.

As for the food, well, it’s not bad. I wasn’t as wowed as I was the first time around but I suppose a year is a long time in eating out and I’ve had a lot of good meals since then.

Crispy Pork, Chicory and Mustard was a good plate that certainly delivered on the Crispy Pork component and the dressing and little chopped cornichons added the necessary piquancy.

Red-legged Partridge with Lentils didn’t work quite so well. Partridge should be cooked so that it’s slightly pink but this was over. Not a disaster as they’d manage to keep the flesh moist. The bird could have done with a bit more hanging.

I couldn’t taste the Girolles that were mixed in with the Lentils and there was too much liquid. The whole was underseasoned and a bit relentless to eat. It cried out for something like lardons to lift it. And what would have been so wrong with some bread sauce and game chips ? Best by test as they say.

I thought it a bit mean that I only got two scoops of the Caramel ice cream especially as it was so good. Rich and bitter it was some of the best I’ve had recently. A wafer wouldn’t have gone amiss either but that’s probably me being greedy (what me?).

With this style of cooking there’s nowhere to hide if the ingredients aren’t of a decent quality and the cooking itsn’t spot-on. Hereford Road almost gets it right and given the reasonable (for London) prices that makes it a decent local bet.

Happy First Birthday !

HEREFORD ROAD

While the music played you worked by candlelight
Those San Francisco nights

Well it had to happen. The Stout Yeoman school of cooking has finally made its way to the West of the capital. The alumni of St John have mostly based themselves in the East of the capital with an occasional foray into the swamp (South, Fish Club) and the West End (Gomorrah, Great Queen Street) but this is the first time the John Bull style of cooking has ended up in DH’s least favourite burb, Notting Hill. And goddammit but it’s one of the best places I’ve been to in recent weeks.

As usual I was too early for the opening: last minute touches, hoovering, rubbish to move but after a walk around the block and a very unpleasant trip to somewhere called the Elbow Room (expensive drinks and the smell of rancid fat) I was welcomed in as the first paying customer with several glasses of champagne and a plate of good meaty terrine, excellent terrine de foie gras and some lightly pickled chicory. This was food I would happily have paid for but I didn’t have to - so I liked the place already. I was expecting some downside but to be honest there wasn’t. Tom Pemberton is turning out some terrific food.

The first of my two starters proper: deep fried sand eels with aioli showed a light touch in the frying department and went well with a pugent aioli (a must-have for all you garlic-lovers out there). Grilled Lambs Tongues was a revelation. Usually a bit tasteless and of strange texture, this came as thickish slabs of the organ, perfectly grilled with a nice meaty taste and the slightest whisper of offal. The green bean accompaniment was good if lacking a bit in the promised anchovy component.

Veal chop was cooked well and had a good ratio of meat to fat although the taste wasn’t quite up to similar chops I’d had at StJ B&W. Still a decent hunk of meat and the Celeriac Dauphinoise that came with it was fantastic – I could have eaten a whole dish of it.

The Ox Tail merits a mention. Although down on the menu a dish for one, it is in fact a dish for two. This caught out a number of customers who found themselves with the whole tail, just for themselves. Lucky so-and-sos.

Desserts were mostly of the of the carby/sticky variety save the ice cream option I went for which had melted a bit but hit the spot completely.

For an opening night I thought the service was pretty good and there was an air of people enjoying themselves even though the denizens of NH seemed a bit non-plussed with the lingua franca of new English dining (“What’s Mallard ?”). For this level of cooking the prices are absurdly reasonable, yet another reason to visit ASAP and get a taste of what people in the real part of London have been enjoying for several years.