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Gastropubs: London’s Top 10 Best Foodie Pubs. Gone are the days of going to the pub to tuck into a microwaved carbonara or a soggy egg on fried chips with your pint. Now more and more pubs in London are upping their stakes and serving delicious gourmet food to accompany their fine range of worldly wines and beers.
The gastropub has made its mark on our city, so Fluid has chosen the Top 10 for slice of gastro inspiration.
Bull & Last
Kentish Town / Bar / Restaurant / Cuisine: Gastro
More serious about the gastro than the pub, The Bull and Last has a huge restaurant following with diners reserving way in advance to sample the delights of the menu, including the made-on-the-premises charcuterie and triple fried chips (not for the slimmer-hearted). If you manage to secure a table, the portions are huge and certainly worth sharing. If you don't, the bar downstairs is the perfect place to chill out with the Sunday papers whilst waiting.
The Spread Eagle
Camden / Bar / Cuisine: Pub
This Camden pub on Parkway is one of the most inexpensive top quality gastropubs in the whole of London. Seasonal produce is used to create an exciting menu that takes standard pub favourites such as burgers, steaks and fish and chips and gives them an extra level of intrigue. The famous Camden Burger is a feat to be attempted only by the most ravenous. The wine list is extensive and is mostly below £30 per bottle. There are board games and doggy treats available (Regent's Park nearby) plus an upstairs area that works well for private dining. Craft beers abound too.
Canary Wharf / Bar / Restaurant / Cuisine: British
The exceedingly indulgent gastropub menu, high quality ingredients and Michelin-level standard of service should be enough to warrant a trip out to this secluded part of town. But in case you still need convincing, just check out that view! This pub is at the water's edge and the private dining rooms can really provide something very special if need be. The cosy, fireplace pub section of the venue has plenty of ye olde character too; if only you could smoke a pipe in one of those Chesterfields and bring your hound in as well!
London Bridge & Bermondsey / Bar / Cuisine: European
Michelin-recommended gastropub The Garrison is a hidden gem concealed between Bermondsey and Borough. Packed full of families and friends catching up over lunch at the weekend, it is best to book ahead to guarantee a table. Traditional pub grub is served with a sophisticated twist and an added selection of specials that change daily. After gorging on lunch head downstairs to The Garrison Cinema Room to watch the latest movie offering or take along friends for a private party.
The Coach and Horses
Clerkenwell / Bar / Cuisine: Gastro
Based next to the River Fleet, The Coach and Horses serves fresh and seasonal modern British food, and plenty of it. With dishes such as octopus carpaccio, confit duck leg and rabbit and pistachio available, it's a pub for those with a love for meat. However, it's not just the food where the pub excels: the Harpers Drinking Out Excellence Awards honoured The Coach and Horses with the Best Wine Pub in 2010 accolade, and this will come as no surprise with over 90 wines on the menu.
Chelsea / Bar / Restaurant / Cuisine: Gastro
Fresh game is prominent on The Harwood Arms menu, no surprise as co-owner (and TV personality) Mike Robinson is a keen hunter and game enthusiast. This gastropub isn't vegetarian-friendly with only a few options to choose from, but for meat eaters the menu is ambitious with grilled salted ox tongue and roast wood pigeon making any carnivore's mouth water. Most people venture far and wide to sample the gastro, but the pub is just as popular with a vast selection of real ales and fine wines.
The Old Crown Public House
Bloomsbury / Bar / Cuisine: Burgers
The Old Crown is a West End gastropub that combines chic styling with a friendly, local atmosphere. In the winter, the home-from-home feeling is popular (see open fireplace and snuggling on comfortable Chesterfields). In the summer, many people flock there for the alfresco drinking. The extensive lunchtime menu gives way to mezze-style bar snacks and sharing platters in the evenings. Two beautiful and spacious rooms are available for private hire upstairs too.
Wandsworth / Bar / Restaurant / Cuisine: Gastro
Tucked away on the Thames in Wandsworth, The Ship is more of a day out than just a gastropub, including an outdoor bar, barbeque, huge decked area, conservatory, inside bar and the restaurant that serves the classics but with an ultra refined and ultra delicious twist to them. It gets really busy in the summer when hundreds of people flock to the Ship to soak up the rays outside, the likes of Dannii Minogue, England rubgy team and Piers Morgan who have been spotted there.
The Duke of Cambridge
Angel & Islington / Bar / Restaurant / Cuisine: Organic
Winning 'Dining Pub of the Year' in the Good Pub Guide and short listed for Best Sustainable Restaurant, The Duke of Cambridge is one of a kind in London. Using local, fresh and seasonal produce, the homely gastropub only uses organic food on their menu which is changed twice daily by the chefs who use ingredients that are at the peak of freshness and flavour. There are also plenty of organic wines and ales to accompany the British fare.
City of London / Bar / Cuisine: Pub
The pioneer of the gastropub, opening as a fine eating establishment in 1991, The Eagle keeps its roots firmly as a pub that just so happens to serve delicious food as well. The shabby-chic pub is welcoming and unpretentious with a relaxed ambience amongst its punters. The menu is influenced by the Mediterranean with risottos and fresh fish featuring heavily. After dinner, pick up a copy of their Gastropub Classic recipe book available for £18.
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