The year trundles on, yet summer still doesn’t seem any closer to arriving. Today I emerged from Notting Hill tube station bare legged and optimistic into driving rain and a rather chilly wind. Can it really be almost June? Luckily my spirits were soon lifted at the thought of what lay ahead – lunch at The Princess Royal with my friend Sarah, who I recently met on a press trip to Sicily.
So it’s relevant that we met in Sicily because while we were there, we started to talk about a mutual favourite chef, Ben Tish. He headed up Norma in London’s Charlotte Street, which I visited several times, serving up the flavours of Sicily with its Moorish influences. And delicious they were too. He has also written four books about this magical island (the fourth one is being published next month). In January 2022, Ben moved on from Norma to join the executive team at Cubitt House, a group of central London pubs. He’s now creating his magical menus there, inspired by the Mediterranean lifestyle while also focusing on seasonal British produce. Inspired by Ben’s food, we had the perfect excuse to catch up…and in a pub. So we did, of course.
Princess Royal is a pub in a different sort of league. It’s beautifully stylish and welcoming with a lovely courtyard and pavement-side tables. And it has a fabulous menu offering us a chance to escape to the Med on an inclement London May day. In our heads anyway.
What’s on the menu
Today we decided we’d try a selection of the small plates – under the headings Snacks, Starters, From the raw bar, Salads and Sides. We didn’t even get as far as perusing the big plates as we had already found everything we desired. As it happens, we ended up with an incredibly healthy selection of mainly vegetarian dishes. Well, except for the smoked anchovies and who can resist those? Have you noticed the menus in London now have calories listed alongside each dish? Way to ruin a meal! I must admit it is affecting my choices, and I’m not loving it. I need to devise a way for my brain to ignore it.
We treated ourselves to a couple of French oysters to start. Served with a zesty marsala dressing that perfectly matched their seaside saltiness. My oyster love continues.
Padron peppers from the Snacks section were as satisfying as ever, perfectly grilled and salted, juicy, sweet and slightly spicy.
And this is a fabulous combo. Creamy, luscious English burrata (yes, they’re making burrata in England, yippee) served with blood orange, radicchio and toasted coriander seeds.
Salads come in small and large sizes – a great idea that. We opted for a small portion of the grilled artichokes, wild rocket, pomegranate, smoked anchovies and spelt.
Our final two dishes came from the Sides section. Some of the tastiest purple sprouting broccoli I’ve ever enjoyed, crunchy and served with more of those smoked anchovies. And josper-grilled spring cabbage with Aleppo pepper (which we both forgot to take a picture of, apologies. We were much too engrossed in our conversation by this stage).
I’ve just discovered a load more pubs in the Cubitt House group, spread all over London. Right, that’s a challenge to take on…perhaps I should try them all out. Especially when the sun chooses to come out…if it ever does.
Today’s price point
Today’s lunch cost £104 for two, including service, water, coffee and a beautiful bottle of Greek white wine. My recent visit to Greece has prompted me to notice it more on the menu and order it more when it is there…great decision.
The Princess Royal is at 47 Hereford Road, W2. Notting Hill Gate is the closest tube station.
