Bars & Pubs

In the decade since the Duke of Cambridge opened, demand has soared both for organic food and for houses in these increasingly rarefied Islington backstreets. But aside from the 2005 conversion of the garden into a conservatory (a calm contrast to the loud and busy front room), this all-organic gastropub remains largely unchanged. Prices range from the acceptable to the stratospheric (five quid for Sam Smith’s Organic Lager!). Likewise, the food persists in lurching from the excellent to the ordinary, perhaps as a result of the ever-changing menu. For starters, yellow split-pea, cauliflower and bacon soup was hearty but not overwhelming, while a slightly dry confit of duck leg came with an appetising salad of apple, beetroot, fennel and hazelnut. Though the rich shortcrust pastry exterior was a treat, the innards of the beef and gorgonzola pie were too ordinary for its £13.75 price tag. Considerably better was a substantial whole trout, roasted and then served with a perfectly pitched potato gratin. The ranges of beers and wines are very good. Service is generally efficient and friendly, though there’s usually one member of staff who flunked out of charm school before the first semester was over.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008