The Devonshire

Are Oisín Rogers, Charlie Carroll and Ashley Palmer-Watts champions of a new era in pubs? The Devonshire is certainly one of the most enjoyable places to eat in the capital – if you can get in (far too many people want to eat here). Yet it looks set to become an institution – and long may it continue, for this is no ordinary pub. Ingredients are impeccable and the strong meat-focused menu serves the kind of dishes you want to eat, especially in the lively environment of a central London watering hole where drinkers have their own space and staff are noted for their relaxed expertise. Dining rooms are divided between the first and second floors where, under the direction of Ashley Palmer-Watts (formerly executive chef at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal), the kitchen applies a certain simplicity and accuracy of cooking to impeccable ingredients. Flames are at the heart of the operation, with wood-fired Ibérico pork chops, lamb cutlets, fillet, ribeye and T-bone steaks (plus lobsters) keeping company with the likes of lamb hotpot or beef and Guinness suet pudding on the hand-scrawled menu. Three wonderfully meaty scallops, lightly roasted, served in the shell with nothing more than a buttery, vinegary sauce and strips of crisp bacon, is a terrific opener that hammers home the kitchen’s modus operandi – namely sourcing prime ingredients and treating them with the utmost simplicity. And there’s something deeply comforting about a fixed price, no-choice lunch that can deliver real quality and value in the shape of prawn and langoustine cocktail, skirt steak with excellent chips and béarnaise sauce, and light, luscious sticky toffee pudding – all for £29. Sunday's roast ribs of beef carved from a silver-domed trolley are terrific value too and have helped restore the tradition in this part of town. To drink, everyone orders Guinness – it’s fast achieving cult status here – and you can drink well without breaking the bank from the mainly European wine list. The pub now has its own 40-cover rooftop terrace for fine-weather dining (note that you can't book this separately).

Few new openings have managed to create as much buzz as Ashley Palmer-Watts, Charlie Carroll, and Oisin Rogers’ Soho pub and restaurant, which quickly became one of the hottest tables in town when it launched at the end of 2023. But then few ventures can boast such a partnership that includes a former right hand man to Heston Blumenthal, a self-certified meat geek and Flat Iron founder, and a pub landlord extraordinaire. With The Devonshire the trio have managed to achieve something almost unthinkable in the capital - a pub that is both bustling (and by bustling we mean almost constantly rammed) and an upstairs restaurant that has won countless praise for its superb cooking. How does it achieve this? Rogers’ unrivalled understanding of the London pub scene and an unswerving desire to serve the best Guinness anywhere in the world plays a crucial role, as does Carroll’s restaurant know-how and Palmer-Watts' expertise in the kitchen. Other factors include using super hight quality ingredients - butchery is done in house by head butcher George Donnelly - and having perfected the dark art of cooking over embers. Despite such efforts behind the scenes the team have kept prices incredibly competitive with a £29 set lunch for three courses of prawn and langoustine cocktail, steak and chips, and sticky toffee pudding one of the best value meals in the capital. On the ground floor of the multi-storey venue gilet-clad Londoners jostle for a peerless pint of Guinness, but climb the stairs to The Devonshire’s various dining rooms - including its delightful roof terrace - and the experience is altogether more serene.