The Daily Telegraph
William Sitwell confessed to having a “crush” on the “overwhelmingly fabulous” latest addition to the Public House Group (joining The Pelican in Notting Hill, The Hero in Maida Vale and The Bull in Charlbury).
“The Hart is so fiendishly cosy and so full to the brim of wintry respite you feel like you’re on a theatrical set. At this posh pub the owners know what they’re doing. They feel they are the bee’s knees, the dog’s you-know-whats – and, quite frankly, they are.”
As for the food, he enjoyed “gorgeous British morsels” including mince roll, beef tartare, kedgeree and a bun that was a “fat sandwich of chocolate, cream, brittles and nuts” and “blissful, great-value, extravagance”.
William Sitwell - 2026-02-01The Times
Giles Coren also urged readers to “use it or lose it” at a difficult time for the beleaguered hospitality industry, kicking off his review with a £10-a-head greasy-spoon fry-up at Workman’s Café & Restaurant in Archway and a £30 scoff at the Highgate branch of Pizza Express to support his contention that eating out is “one of the great gifts of modern times”.
He also splashed out £120 at the latest from the Public House group (The Pelican, The Hero, Canteen, Fat Badger etc), who “can’t stop opening winners” – this one a “multistorey gastropub that is a little bit 18th-century Dick Turpin slash Henry Fielding picaresque road novel coaching stop, a little bit Noble Rot and a little bit 1990s Soho House”.
The “pre-Victorian, ur-British minimalist vibe” extends to the food, with excellent beef tartare, crispy lamb breast, cod with salsify, and a freestanding short rib suet pudding with gravy that is “every bit the showstopper you’re hoping for”. Among the puds, even banoffee pie – “silliest dessert on the block” – is “fabulously done here”.
Giles Coren - 2026-02-22
