Anchor & Hope

It's so disappointing to see a good place go bad.
I've been to this place countless times over the last few years and have many great memories of the food here…slow cooked lamb that collapses in your mouth in heap of sticky flavour, deep black risotto laced with pearly strips of cuttlefish, perfectly cooked rib of beef, oozing reddy pink juices into a slick of bearnaise sauce…i could go on and on. But i won't. After years of consistently great dining experiences here, Saturday night came as a real shock. The starters were ok – the risotto was over salted – but this could be forgiven. It was the main course chaos that followed that was a disaster. 3 of us ordered the English Lop “cooked like boar” and were promptly delivered 3 hunks of luke warm, dry, stringy old sow languishing in a puddle of mash. The Hereford beef was also a disappointment – the dried blood on its surface revealing it had been left out too long before serving, chewy to the point of being difficult to cut with a steak knife, it was served with a potato concoction that looked like it had been chiselled out of the bottom of a burnt cooking pot.

So we complained. The waitress called over the manager who, going into a routine that looked a little too well practiced, quickly whisked our dishes away and thrust menus back at us, commanding us to choose again. No choice of a replacement (of the same) dish, or of simply not charging for the main and proceeding to desert. I don't recall hearing any apology. The paltry food and the manager's poor attitude prompted us to call… More

I had heard fantastic things about the Anchor and Hope but the few times we had passed by, it was heaving, or the menu looked a bit too eclectic for my tastes. We came upon an empty restaurant on a Saturday for once so decided to take our chances.

I passed on the starters and went straight for the braised lamb neck as my main – very fatty (though this wasnt a bad thing) but probably not the ideal Saturday lunch before a day walking in the sun. It was quite big, bit fatty but tasty, a very hearty meal. Partner had roast chicken caesars salad which looked ok – again, nothing really special. I, of course, had pudding which was the pistachio-est pistachio cake id ever had, delicious, and a bit of a work of art for an obsessive baker like me!

The Anchor and Hope is hugely popular, despite me thinking it was just ‘nice’ – ive also had mixed experiences with their sister place Great Queen Street, once having a fantastic mindblowing roast chicken to share, then having a bland rump steak on another trip. The Anchor and Hope takes no bookings and if you are a fussy sort, id say come early, check the day's menu and have a backup just in case (Tas is over the road and ALWAYS heaving). Or else come on a Saturday lunchtime, i doubt you'd be disappointed, i just didnt see what the huge fuss was about…

I’d actually never heard of the Anchor & Hope before I went there the other day. Luckily in a way, it wasn’t as packed as it says here in the Squaremeal review and our party of five only had to wait 5 minutes before our table. The atmosphere was definitely very pubby with rickety tables and slightly worn-down interiors. In fact, just the way a proper pub should be in my view.

I understand why people go here for the food. Everything is presented very simply, but tastes great and fresh. We shared the crab on toast and some small fish (whose proper name I can’t remember), which were both very good. I followed up with a sizable portion of rump steak with vegetables and a tasteful potato cake. It’s maybe not the most difficult dish, but it’s always a joy when they manage to make one properly, which they did.

I thought it was a really nice place to hang out at with a few friends. On the negative side, I found the usually very helpful staff, quite slow. For us it didn’t mean that much since we weren’t really in any rush. But then again, you wouldn’t go to a place like this if you were.