The Pelican

If You Book One Pub Table in London This Season, Make It Here

The Pelican, at 45 All Saints Road, sits firmly and deliberately in the second category, and that positioning is exactly what makes it worth the forward planning. This is a Victorian pub doing what Victorian pubs were built to do: serve serious food and serious drink to the people who live nearby, with prices that don't require a second mortgage. The Pelican has earned four awards.

The Wine Program: Where the Pelican Punches Above Its Weight

For a neighbourhood pub operating at the ££ price tier, the wine program here is an outlier. The list carries 95 selections backed by a cellar inventory of 1,150 bottles, figures that place it well above what most London gastropubs hold. The general markup falls into a mid-range bracket, with a spread of price points that accommodates a weeknight glass and a longer, more considered bottle order equally well. California features as a notable strength, which is an unusual emphasis for a British-hearted pub kitchen and signals deliberate curation rather than default European sourcing.

Wine Director Mitchie Kanda oversees that curation, and the list reads like a program designed to work with gutsy, produce-forward cooking rather than against it. At £35 for corkage, the policy is realistic for guests who want to bring something specific to match the kitchen's plates. In a city where wine lists at this price tier often read like distributor catalogs, that depth and California lean gives the restaurant a distinct point of difference among its W11 peers. For context on how London pub wine culture has shifted, compare this program against the more conventional lists at The Clarence Tavern or The Hero.

The Kitchen: British Heart, Quality Produce

London's gastropub conversation in the past decade has moved away from aspirational tasting-menu formats toward a more direct idiom: quality sourcing, confident technique, and dishes that read as food rather than performance. Chef Thierry Renou's kitchen at the restaurant operates clearly inside that idiom. Whole roasted turbot and tomahawk steak are the signpost dishes, and both reflect a philosophy of restraint at the sourcing and preparation end rather than at the plating end. This is not minimalist food in the Nordic sense; it is generously portioned, flavour-forward cooking where the produce carries the argument.

The menu runs across lunch and dinner, which gives it flexibility that a dinner-only format wouldn't allow. All Saints Road at lunchtime on a midweek day has a different crowd than a Friday evening, and a menu that works for both sittings is a structural decision as much as a culinary one. The Bib Gourmand recognition in consecutive years suggests consistent execution rather than a one-season spike.

For comparison, the Bib Gourmand tier in London is awarded to places offering good cooking at moderate prices, distinct from the full-star tier where CORE by Clare Smyth and peers operate. The restaurant earns its badge by being genuinely good at what it does, not by approximating a different category.

The Room: A Victorian Pub Done Properly

The broader tendency in London pub renovation has gone one of two ways: strip everything back to raw brick and Edison bulbs, or preserve the Victorian bones and work with them. The restaurant is in the second camp. A large Victorian boozer redone with sense and confidence reads differently from a blank-canvas bar fit-out. The fabric of the room, when treated well, carries its own authority.

General Manager Natali Ellingboe runs the floor under the broader Landry's Inc. ownership structure. That group context matters for understanding how a place like this maintains its consistency: there is an operational infrastructure behind what looks and feels like a local pub, which is not a contradiction but an explanation of how the kitchen delivers Bib Gourmand-level cooking without the erratic swings that owner-operated neighbourhood spots can sometimes produce.

Notting Hill as a Dining Context

All Saints Road sits in the western part of Notting Hill, a neighbourhood that draws both serious local eating and destination visitors. The street itself has a concentration of independent food and drink that makes the restaurant part of a wider argument for the area rather than an isolated find.

Notting Hill's gastropub tier is well populated, and the restaurant's competition includes The French House and others with strong kitchen programs. What separates the restaurant from most of that peer group is the wine list depth, the consecutive Bib Gourmand endorsement, and the format flexibility across lunch and dinner services.

The restaurant's value is that it does something structurally different: serious produce, a serious cellar, and prices that keep both accessible on a regular basis.

Cloth is worth considering for those interested in this tier of cooking.

Planning Your Visit

The restaurant is at 45 All Saints Road, London W11 1HE. Booking ahead is recommended, particularly on weekends. The ££ pricing means a full meal with wine sits in the mid-range bracket for London dining, well below the £££ and ££££ tier where most of the city's starred rooms operate. Corkage is available at £35 for those wanting to bring a bottle.