Published: 15 March, 2012
by LOTTIE MOGGACH
The Stag in Fleet Road is testament to the power of a good beer garden.
Its location, in the hinterland between Gospel Oak and Hampstead, isn?t great and the pub itself is small and awkwardly shaped.
But phwooar, what a backyard!
In summer it can feel that every north Londoner in the 18-34 demographic has piled in, safe in the knowledge that, so vast is the space, they?ll find a spot to balance their pints and Pimm?s and someone they fancy to ask for a light.
Now, having secured the youth crowd, the pub is turning its attention to those like to sit down to consume with a new first-floor restaurant.
G Wadley?s Meat Room is named after the Stag?s first landlord from 1874, and the room?s d?cor pays homage to its Victorian roots with lots of dark wood, dim, mellow lighting, tin serving dishes, wine tumblers, net curtains and old-fashioned fonts.
I also detect the influence of restaurateur Russell Norman, whose Prohibition-esque eateries are all the rage in the West End (as the kind of people who like to sit down in pubs might say).
The soundtrack is more bluesy jazz than Champagne Charlie and the menu has a dash of America in its details, with sides of macaroni cheese and creamed spinach.
I rather liked this mid-Atlantic styling; my companion, however, felt it was a bit incoherent.
But then, he didn?t notice the not-terribly-good acoustics in the room, whereas I did.
Wouldn?t it be dull if we were all the same?
The Meat Room?s menu is short and, as you?d expect, flesh-centred. Our cheery, helpful waitress brought us a tin tray displaying the various cuts of beef available ? fillet, sirloin, hanger and, to share, a fore rib.
Again, we clashed over this touch: me thinking it unnecessary; my friend liking it ? but then he is such a carnivore he could have happily wolfed down the raw meat then and there.
He chose the sirloin, and I went for a whole lemon sole with hollandaise.
?
Starters were smoked salmon for him, smoked mozzarella and beetroot salad for me.
Here, I felt I was the clear winner. His salmon was perfectly decent but rather petite in portion, even with the very good rye bread it came with (all the bread here is excellent).
Meanwhile, my salad was a glorious combination of purple and yellow beetroot in a perfectly tart, creamy dressing, arranged around a hunk of silky cheese.
That salad was as fancy as it got, presentation wise.
Our mains consisted of a generous slab of unadorned flesh, sauce on the side ? and, for me, half a lemon.
For accompaniments we had a salad and a mini portion of macaroni cheese, which came in a metal ice cream dish.
Everything was well-cooked and tasty: not out-of-this-world memorable, but certainly commensurate with the reasonable prices (the sirloin cost ?17, the sole ?11 and side dishes ?3 a piece).
Desserts are in similarly unpretentious mould ? trifle, treacle pudding, profiteroles and a scoop from a wheel of Stilton.
I liked the Meat Room a lot, not least for the eager-to-please service and the music ? Dinah Washington, Bessie Smith and Ella Fitzgerald may not have been known to the original G Wadley, but they?re always welcome at dinner.
My real-life companion, recently moved to NW5 from the badlands of SE16, was more circumspect about its prospects: ?If this place was in Rotherhithe I?d go every week, but there?s so much competition around here.?
That?s true, but it can only be a mat?ter of time before the youth thronging the garden wake up to the charms of a seat and a nice scoop of Stilton.
Summary: Unpretentious and affordable carnivore fare, around ?35 a head.
G Wadley?s Meat Room
The Stag, 67 Fleet Road, NW3 2QU
020 7722 2646
www.thestaghampstead.com
hook troy miracle andy whitfield kennedy demi moore roy oswalt
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