Bumpkin

I like Bumpkin. I have visited there several time in the past 12 months the food has always been delicious, homely and exactly what I expect for a ‘country restaurant in the city’.

I love the sharing dishes, the very reasonable wine selection and perfectly cooked veg.

My only critasisum is that at times, it often feels like they are short of staff as they are all rushing around off their feet and not really getting a chance to really engage with the customer. Small potatoes however.

Looking forward to my next visit

I arrived late, but my companion was already seated with a large glass of red, so seemed quite happy!

The staff were stressed, it was busy but not packed for a Sunday. Several other diners complained about the service, although we did wait a while for our roasts, we were busy chatting so didn't really notice.
Bumpkin seems to be pitched between chain restaurant and gastro pub, the menu has something to suit everyone. The interior is warming and friendly, especially on a cold December Sunday.

Our roasts were good, but I wasn't blown away. However, for the price and location it was good value and certainly ticked all the boxes on that day.

Had a small party at bumpkin with some friends from out of town, I had heard some good things about the place and i am very pleased to say that the experience surpassed any expectations I had.
From the moment i made the booking, with helen who by the way was unbelievably helpful, she made me confident that my event was going to be smooth running and I was inspired by her her enjoyment to make my catch up the best it could be. To the moment i left the place, after 1st meeting with Helen feeling looked after, assured and cared about. all in all a wonderful place to hold my party.
It turned out I had amazing canapes, great staff and a smooth, no stress catch up with my friends.

I strongly recommend helen and her team

cant thank you enough

C
xx
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Bumpkin has recently had a small revamp and looks clean, fresh and inviting. We were given the new Spring menu and I must say it had fabulous dishes on it. Sharing boards and pudding platters a nice touch if your table wants to sample a few things. Our waiter was lovely, I have been to Bumpkin before and find the service personal and prompt which is something I like. I really like the decor and love the wall paper, rustic feel.
Bumpkin do excellent cocktails.
I had the cheese souffle which was soft and delicious and then the pollock in the bag, beautiful and the aroma was to die for.
Looking forward to my next outing and thumbs up to Bumpkin who are part of the Sustainable Restaurant Association and use Pollock instead of cod.

I've visited this place three times in the last four weeks and so they must be doing something right. And yes they are, making this place a regular favourite whenever I am in the market for some simple comfort food, whether in the evening or weekend brunch. My fave really is the full English breakfast Saturday and Sunday lunchtimes — tho for some reason the restaurant has stopped providing any jams or marmalades (please can we have them back) — but everything else is really good too whether you go for the burger or fish and chips or the roasts. I also love the macaroni cheese and have been known to demand a takeaway from there of it when feeling a bit less than tiptop. Portions are huge, the cocktails are delicious — try their bloody martini — and the service always comes with a smile. One gripe might be no loo roll in the gents on my last visit.

I am writing this review, just after hearing that Mr Ramsay has lost his one Michelin Star at Claridges and The Harwood Arms in Fulham has received its first. It has got me thinking as to the sort of food and restaurant atmosphere people want these days?

This leads on to my rare culinary venture to Notting Hill to go out for dinner. Despite the fact that there are a numbr of great restaurants, this now trendy home to the hedge funders has never been on my culinary radar.
I have heard great things about Bumpkin and we decided to go last Thursday night. I was surprised by how quiet the downstairs bar and restaurant was at 8pm, despite the fact when we tried to book online it claimed it the place was fully booked?

A warm greeting from the receptionist and we were led to the upstairs restaurant where there were a few other tables occupied. Service from the beginning was friendly and on the whole efficient, apart from a little delay in the starters arriving.

The four of us all agree that the menu read well with half a dozen starters, half a dozen fish mains and half a dozen meat mains with some of the mains doubling up as starter options. The menu's ingedient works with the seasons, so being winter, lots of hearty dishes. There were a few select specials as well.

Our starters included mussells cooked in white wine, the seasonal soup and a fish pie. The mussells were superb with the slightly acidic white wine sauce, although the portion was a little on the small side. The crust of the pie was not too stodgy and broke off nicely to reveal creamy chunks of fish.

To follow, I had the special of tuscan sausage with white beans and black pudding stew. For £12.50 this dish was a steal and was a fine effort of recreating a classic tuscan dish. My only problem was with the sausages. It was a shame the kitchen opted for the sort of sausages you expect in a local caf's fry up and instead did not opt for some nice Italian sausages which would have worked far better. The haunch of venison steak with the thyme and juniper berries hit just the right spot and the venision was cooked to perfection. The pork belly at £15.50 was clearly from a well fed pig as it was huge. Again though, the dish was liked. The final main was the burger. I find a burger tells you two things about a restaurant. Firstly, if they can cook it to your preference. Bumpkin did this and to be fair it was a half decent burger but for £13.50 if think a little steep in price! Secondly,if a restaurant serves a burger, the sort of restaurant it is trying to be. The Wolseley and The Ivy both have the option of a burger, probably to please the American tourists more than anything else but this is the problem with Bumpkin. I think it has an identitly crisis. It is neither a gastropub or restaurant…it is somewhere in between trying to find its true image. There was just that something missing. When I go in to a restaurant, just as important as the food is the atmosphere. The food, the wine, the company were all top notch but I just had an urge to transport it all to a different place…

What an absolute pleasure of a place. Throroughly decent, simple, homey food, beautiful decor and amazingly attentive, friendly and focused staff. Perfect kind of fare for a cold winters night. My best dining out experience in quite a long time – in no small part due to the high level of customer service as much as anything else.

Bumpkin gets so many rave reviews – so i really wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Partner ordered some sort of potato soup for starter whilst i ordered sheep's feet on toast. Before any sheep reading this reclines in horror, they are mushrooms. Rock and roll! He raved about the soup giving it a 10 but my starter wasn't wonderful – it felt overseasoned and tangy, but perhaps i'm just used to creamy Nigella style mushrooms on toast hence a heathen of sorts. For my main, i ordered the famed Charter Pie – in short, chicken, leek and mushroom pie – with sides. Again, nice and warming but not amazing. I would have preferred a nice indulgent pie with a flaky pastry crust rather than the slightly tougher crust this one had. Partner had haddock with some sort of creamy side and enjoyed his but still was salivating over his starter. We were both stuffed so avoided the dessert (cheesecake, fondant etc etc). Overally the bill came to approx £50, 2 courses each plus non alc drinks, so not hugely extortionate…

In short, I felt a bit ‘Emperors New Clothes’ as there has been so many great reviews about the place. I'd say, Bumpkin is somewhere you should try if in the area but i wouldnt go out of my way to visit – its a lovely designed place, homely food, fantastic apple mojitos but i wouldnt say it lives up to the reviews. I did go away thinking that was ok and how can i recreate that apple mojito?…But giving them the benefit of the doubt, perhaps it was me, picking the wrong menu choice that day and it may turn out to be pretty perfect next time.