Restaurants

By Jenni Muir

This is exactly the sort of pub and dining room you want near King’s Cross – trouble is everyone else wants it too. The Fellow is so full and noisy in the hours just after work that chatting to friends while you relax with a pint or glass of wine becomes something of a challenge, and booking dinner tables is already essential.

That’s despite the fact that the food is simply okay. We were tempted straight off by a sample menu featuring dishes of wood pigeon, braised cuttlefish, confit rabbit leg and pheasant, only to find on arrival that the wood pigeon was off and the rest simply absent: the actual menu read like any modern boozer hoping to strike a safe gastro pose. Things brightened when an amateurishly presented salad of honey-roast parsnips, poached pear and black pudding tasted super-delicious, but quickly dimmed when the wholegrain mustard that featured in the dressing made a heavy-handed reappearance in a main course of herb-stuffed poussin with watercress and duck fat potatoes. Steak and ale pie came with mash that was excellent, if a little tepid, but the pie itself disappointed: a leathery square of uniformly flat pastry welded on to a bowl of stew so that it sat a good inch above the meat as though it were Tupperware holding leftovers ready for the fridge. Desserts (date and ginger pudding with lemon cream, a high-rise chocolate and pistachio brownie) had a decent balance of flavours but if they’d been bought-in from Booker we might not have known the difference.

Staff diligently circled the room all night and did well to be efficient in such a closely-packed space. We liked the wine list, which sensibly categorises options by style and even delivered a bottle of Garnacha Vinas Viejas a year older than listed. Nutty tasting HSB in good condition was a pleasant surprise – and a relief given that the only other real ale (Young’s bitter) was off. Upstairs is a cocktail bar with a heated walled garden.

In all, this useful spot is very welcome and its immediate popularity is hopefully a sign that King’s Cross will continue its upward trajectory.

Time Out issue 2000