Ben Tish.
He’s more than just a man whose name sounds like a snappy drumbeat.
He’s also the chef behind the excellent Norma, and the culinary driving force behind places like The Game Bird at The Stafford and Salt Yard. And now he’s put together the menu at the newly refurbished & reimagined Princess Royal in Notting Hill.
The pub itself is an old Victorian boozer which, unsurprisingly, dates back to the Victorian era. Over the centuries it’s been a pub, an oyster house, and most recently, a Californian restaurant called Pomonas. Now, it’s been taken over by the Cubitt House Group (the Grazing Goat, The Orange, etc.) whose specialist subject is turning things that aren’t fancy gastropubs into fancy gastropubs, and they’ve done what they do best right here.
Inside, The Princess Royal is all plush seating, moodily dark paintwork, and colourfully abstract artwork dotting the walls. The elegant horseshoe bar makes way to a large dining room, and beyond that, an extremely pretty Mediterranean-style walled garden chock full of greenery. All told, the place manages to somehow feel both quaintly old fashioned and thoroughly modern at the same time.
Ben Tish is obsessed with Sicilian food, and it certainly shows on the menu – you can get starters like whipped ‘nduja with fennel biscuits, or a whole English burrata cut through with blood orange & radicchio. The raw bar is stuffed with Cornish crabs (which themselves are stuffed with chilli & lemon), plus red prawn crudo, which is dressed with rosemary & orange. And finally, there’s a Josper oven putting out larger dishes like grilled monkfish with salsa verde, or Florentina-style flat iron steaks with with dandelion, grape must, rosemary & garlic fries.
Obviously there’s a decent selection of beers to go with all of this – it’s a pub after all – and a well-curated wine list, but there are also cocktails including a couple on tap. And sitting above it all, there are four smartly appointed bedrooms…
…just in case you really want the royal treatment.
NOTE: The Princess Royal opened on 1st April 2022. You can find out more, and make a booking at their website right here.
The Princess Royal | 47 Hereford Road, W2 5AH
Looking for boozers in West London? Check out the best pubs in Notting Hill