Restaurants

With flowery wallpaper, linen tea towels as napkins and mismatched china, Bumpkin’s take on a funky farmhouse kitchen is charming. It’s buzzy, fun and one up from a gastropub, with a jolly wine list, farmhouse ciders and a guest ale on draught – hurrah! The emphasis on cocktails is telling; Bumpkin belongs to the bar group that includes Prince Harry’s hangout Boujis. Notting Hill’s ex-boarding-school crowd appreciates this British comfort food, and the more sedate upstairs dining room should be ideal for entertaining guests from abroad. But visitors might be baffled by the seemingly cheddar-less cauliflower cheese, or miss the point of a dull fish cake. For pudding they might wonder if the crumble topping should be so crunchy, but enjoy the proper vanilla custard. We couldn’t fault starters of butternut squash soup with thyme and almonds, and a glorious spring vegetable salad of baby roots, beans, peas, cherry tomatoes and pea shoots plus bosworth ash goat’s cheese. Full marks too for the heritage tomato salad. Weirdly there was no bread available. Service was friendly: too familiar in the case of the waitress who sat at the next table to recount her life story while we waited for our bill.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2009