As the wise and good man who distributes our guides is fond of observing: there is a very thin line between creating a smash hit and a dead loss. This observation pops into my head as I eat at this new City-fringe gastropub (a summer opening from the team behind Exmouth market’s well-regarded Easton).
Though I’m on the late side for lunch, I’ve just passed two humming places on my way through trendy “SoSho” (SOuth of SHOrdeditch). As I enter The Princess, though, I register that the bar is pretty empty. I clamber up the iron spiral staircase to the first-floor dining room. Only one other table is occupied (and they’re about to finish).
The room is sparsely decorated (aside from the increasingly obligatory patch of eye-catching wallpaper) and teeters between elegant understatement and blandness. A banquette and chairs with white-leather seats inject a comfortable note, though, and an impressive array of wine stacked down one wall implies a certain level of culinary ambition.
The Italian/Mediterranean menu does indeed aim higher than your typical gastropub. Though prepared with evident care, however, the food stops short of delivering 100%. Interesting bread is served warm, but dried-out. Pork cheeks sit in a delicious sauce, but the flavour of the meat has a coarse edge. A passionfruit tart has textbook pastry and consistency, but lacks pizazz. All-in-all the food is pretty good, but only with reservations.
The waitress says things aren’t busy this week. They have only been open for a couple of months, and it could just be end-of-summer doldrums. She doesn’t know whether she should worry or not. I’m not sure either.
