Piece by Kate Antoni, FG London Correspondent
A few days after returning from our Italian getaway, when we were suitably sad about no longer being sprawled out on the Venice lido, man friend and I were invited to a preview dinner at the newly refurbished King’s Arms. A gorgeous pub with fine dining restaurant that uses carefully curated and locally sourced ingredients. With updates on British classics and interesting takes on old favourites, I was really excited to sink my teeth into a three course meal and expertly mixed drink.
I’d spent the day ensconced in holiday blues, lamenting my gondola trips and excessive pasta consumption. Why oh why had I lost my cardigan in Venice airport and why hadn’t I bought more chocolate? Man friend hid his sadness and opted to meet me at the tube station. I was dragging my feet and running late after rushing into Oliver Bonas on search for another cardigan (that I did not find). Eventually, we were ready to start our journey. After hopping on to two trains, we arrived at Hampton court station. I let man friend navigate the ten-minute walk across the river, which if you’re visiting and you really ought to, is a gorgeous meander through Hampton and past Bushy park. On arriving we enjoyed a few drinks in the garden, alongside a leafy wall and wooden furniture with delicate pastel colour flowers, in big wooden barrels.
Inside the pub we were warmly greeted and shown to our room for the night. The newly renovated ensuite rooms are decked out with Nespresso machines, plush bedding, mini fridges and beautiful views. Sweet little touches, like small glass bottles of milk were left in the fridge and a selection of tea pigs tea bags filled a small ceramic bowl next to the tea kettle and cups. I spent a while looking at the minor details that make this place so wonderful, beautiful shower gels and fluffy white towels and then headed downstairs and met up with manfriend and the manager, Kate, of Chelsea pub fame. She knows a thing or two about a perfect pint and a perfect pub.
After meandering through the outside space, we were seated and looked at the menu. Absolutely delicious – seriously yummy. How does a person choose between potted chicken livers, smoked eel on toast or English burrata? I would not pick the eel (though they looked delicious!!!) Then throw spiced crispy whitebait into the mix alongside, crispy hamhock or a garden salad – that is actually picked from Hampton Court Palace Gardens?
Manfriend and I always pick separately so that I can photograph as much as possible – we opted to share the whitebait and the hamhock croquette – although in retrospect I should have also picked the chicken livers and the burrata, but it is not socially acceptable to order four starters because you are judged. My whitebait arrived, crispy morsels of mini fish, deep fried and served alongside pickled cucumber and a creamy sumptuous aioli. Manfriend kept finagling my fish, which angered me. We then swapped and I tasted the other hammock croquette which was literally the most delicious mouthful of joy. Forget about padding out the ham with potato, this croquette was above that – a hammy, jammy deeply toothsome bite – probably about 30% potato and the rest smokey ham hock, then rolled in breadcrumbs and deep fried. You couldn’t not like this, it would be impossible. I could eat ten of them right now, but sadly today’s lunch doesn’t look as promising.
After devouring the starter, it was main time. We did as we never do and ordered the same main – it was Dexter steak. My excuse was that I craved it, man friend’s excuse was that he is over six feet tall – they were not convincing arguments, but we ordered all the same. I will outright admit that I am a meat fat lover – to me, there is nothing better than crispy juicy, oily, fatty meat goodness. If you’re the type that cuts the fat off of your ribeye then, I’m afraid we can’t be friends, unless you give it to me. Which the blonde usually does.
The steak choice was an interesting one, Dexter beef breed that produces rich tasting dense meat and is usually favoured by men apparently – though we’re all about equal opportunities at Food Goblin and nothing would stop me sinking my chops around this glistening piece of joy. I asked the head chef at Sheen Falls Lodge in Ireland about this, former sous chef at the Ritz and all around a pretty talented bloke. He explained that “Dexter cattle are a much hardier cow which means they don’t need to be put in a shed in the winter – they can stay out and graze all year round and they’re not fed processed grains in the winter, which cuts carbon footprint and helps the environment and are also fully organic. I find when I eat a normal sirloin now (compared to a Dexter) it doesn’t have the same flavour – it’s weird to say it but it tastes so much beef-ier.” I will definitely agree with this statement. The steak came with crispy chips and because, we have zero self-control and make poor food choices, we also ordered a garden salad and sautéed spinach.
I loved the steak – charred on the outside and pink in the middle, rich and satiating, slathered in a peppercorn sauce that I mopped up using my chips and the drowned my spinach in. I was so full that the garden salad served as a palette cleanser, although this dietary logic probably explains why I am prone to overeating. The fish looked beautiful and the token vegetarian ordered an impressive looking tart.
We got through the two courses with relative grace. Manfriend declared that he was too full for dessert, so he ordered a cheese plate. I am never too full for dessert. I ordered creme brulee and I ate it slowly, savouring the velvety creamy texture and the burnt sugar on top. I followed this with another amaretto sour and then we decided that it was time to call it a night and walked up the white wooden staircase, past the view of the Hampton Court maze and into our cloudy like bed, falling into a dreamy, food induced, contented post-holiday slumber. Only to wake up and be treated to hot coffee, warm buttery croissants, artisanal cured meats and soft cheeses. Maybe being back isn’t so bad!
2 Lion Gate, Hampton Ct Rd, Molesey, East Molesey KT8 9DD, United Kingdom
