The Guardian
Grace Dent acknowledged that the launch gambit of this “hidden” upstairs pub – opening by invitation only to celebs and Notting Hill trustafarians – was a red rag to the Guardian readership, and she joined in the class war by taking a pop at her fellow diners as “huddles of posh, thin, joyless women discussing society wedding calendars”.
She also noted with wry amusement the emergence of a new breed of London pubs – the Hero at Maida Vale, the Devonshire, the Knave of Clubs and now the Fat Badger – that are “selling gen Y the concept of ‘going to the pub’ as if it were a deliciously edgy, new thing. People mill around, drink booze and talk! In real life! All the glorious grot that was once so commonplace is being rebranded as the epitome of decadence.”
Having got these gripes merrily off her chest, Grace thoroughly enjoyed her £85 set four-course dinner from an ex-River Café chef. “If the Fat Badger has gained an early reputation as something of a party palace for the Notting Hill set, that sells the cooking here very short. The scallop was seared yet still yieldingly soft and the peas tasted as if they’d only just left their pods. Produce here clearly comes first.”
Grace Dent - 2025-05-18The Times
Charlotte Ivers checked out the latest opening from the Public House Group (the outfit behind the Hero, the Pelican and Canteen), whose kitchen is led by George Williams, “for my money one of the best chefs of his generation”.
The set meal started promisingly, with clever little tacos made from thin-sliced celeriac followed by crunchy nuggets of veal sweetbread that made Charlotte “gasp with joy”, then tiny slivers of pigeon on toast with a burnt apple relish – “like sweet, rich, delicately burnt toast: charcoally and full of childhood memories”.
Her main dish of fillet steak with morels, hasselback potatoes and salad summed up what she liked about the cooking. The salad was “seemingly made up of everything left in the fridge: flame-grilled asparagus, pickled radish, beetroot, courgette, a selection of leaves. It works so well. At heart this is just steak, potatoes and salad. The genius of this place is that it all seems so simple. It isn’t: all the ingredients are so cleverly balanced, so frequently surprising.”
Charlotte Ivers - 2025-07-01
Drinks
Extras
