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<\/p>\nWell, it\u2019s a dream team at The Devonshire, no doubt about that. Ashley Palmer-Watts, former head chef of the Fat Duck, behind the stoves \u2013 or, in this case, beside the vast open grill. Ois\u00edn Rogers \u2013 last seen at the Guinea Grill and one of London\u2019s great landlords \u2013 takes his place by the beer pumps. While Charlie Carroll, founder\u00a0of Flat Iron (14 branches, with the quality and value still as fine as ever), completes this hospitality supergroup.<\/p>\n
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Iberico pork chop, grilled over wood embers<\/p>\n
Situated in an old Jamie\u2019s Italian, just behind Piccadilly, the downstairs pub is all floral carpets, hidden snugs and \u00a32 sausages on a stick. A proper, old-fashioned boozer, the place for a swift pint or a serious session, with some of the best Guinness you\u2019ll find in the land. Upstairs in the Grill Room things get a touch more formal \u2013 menus are handwritten and tables wear both linen and paper. Meat (all butchered in the basement) plays a starring role: lamb, beef, Iberico pork (from the Ledbury\u2019s Brett Graham), either grilled over those coals or slow- cooked in puddings and stews.<\/p>\n
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The pub area, where Guinness is a popular piz<\/p>\n
\u2018It is an old-fashioned City chop house brought to the West End,\u2019 says my friend Matthew, his eyes agleam with greedy glee. Scallops, vast, pert and pearlescent, arrive grilled in their shell. The sauce, spiked with a dash of barrel-aged malt vinegar, has a sly acidity, and takes the dish from good to great. A pile of langoustines in garlic butter still carries that delicately fleeting whisper of the sea. Carapaces are picked, claws crunched, our faces slathered with delight.<\/p>\n
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Langoustines for starters<\/p>\n
Iberico ribs offer two bites of tight-textured, sweetly piggy joy, while both rib-eye steak and lamb chops are hewn from superior beasts, lovingly charred, satisfyingly chewy and cooked just the right side of rare. By contrast, beef-cheek and Guinness-suet pudding is a symphony of savoury, soft, exalted nursery food, and far too good to share.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/06\/11\/78637295-12831869-Beef_cheek_and_Guiness_suet_pudding-a-3_1701861800595.jpg\")
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Beef-cheek and Guinness suet pudding<\/p>\n
This may be chop-house grub, but with Palmer-Watts at the helm, dishes have an extra level of finesse. There\u2019s a subtle art to everything here, and a quiet attention to every detail that makes the service such a joy. It\u2019s the pub and grillhouse that you never knew you dreamed of. Go for a pint, stay for a sausage, linger for the steak and chips.<\/p>\n