The dining half of the downstairs pup - where you can see some of that striking ceiling
What can you tell us about The Prince Arthur?
We first learned about this new pub late last year, when we broke the news of the very ambitious opening in Belgravia. It's taken over the space that was once No. 11 Pimlico Road, which was more of a very brightly decorated cafe/restaurant. Before that, it was another pub called The Ebury and now in its new guise as The Prince Arthur, we're firmly back in pub territory. However, the food here is significantly different from your average pub grub with a distinct emphasis on Basque cuisine and quite a lot of caviar.
Where is it?
It's in Belgravia, taking over the corner where Pimlico Road and Ranelagh Grove meet, and as such it's pretty easy to spot. If you're coming by tube, either Sloane Square or Victoria are your nearest stations.
The Prince Arthur takes up this whole corner, so is fairly easy to find.
Is it really a pub?
A big question about many food-led pubs is often "is this really a pub or is it a restaurant in pub garb"? We'd say that this is firmly in the "both" territory, much like other recent prominent openings like The Hero or The Devonshire. There's a clear (and pretty large) space that's devoted to drinking as you come into the main pub (and they do have screens for big matches). Pass through that and you'll find the dining space at the rear, and another separate restaurant space upstairs (still to open when we visited).
Also, compared to the stripped-back bright look from before, this simply looks more like a traditional pub (albeit a very nicely decked-out one). There's good use of dark wood throughout and generally a more traditional pub design, albeit one with a few interesting touches like a seafood counter. We have to give a quick shout-out to the beautifully designed ceiling too.
The drinking part of the pub is actually pretty sizable - there's clearly been an effort to make this a good drinking spot in the area.
Where should we meet for a drink first?
Given the answer to the question above, either before or after a meal. you'll be able to just have a drink here if you fancy. It's not your average pub crowd though - we saw a fair few bottles of Ruinart working their way through the pub to punters (but there are plenty of beers on offer, including Jeremy Clarkson's Hawkstone). If the pub area's a bit busy (and it was certainly very busy on the Thursday night when we visited), we'd strongly recommend the upstairs wine bar at Wildflowers as an alternative. That's about a two-minute walk down Pimlico Road (it's a little more affordable on the wine front too).
Where should we sit?
We've seen the plans for the restaurant upstairs, and when that's finished it'll be a great option, particularly if you want a break from the naturally louder pub side of things. However, if you're eating downstairs, there are a few decent tables for larger groups although we'd say the best space is tucked away to the side of the bar, beside the open fire (if you look at the photo at the top of the page, it's behind where we're taking that pic from). That's also the area to head for if you want a more private chat.
The upstairs dining room - not in use when we visited, but starting up soon.
Tell us about this Basque menu, then.
The food here is by Basque-born chef Adam Iglesias who not only has experience at the Michelin-starred Alameda in San Sebastián, but has also been at BRAT, Barrafina, and Sessions Arts Club in London. So there's real talent in the kitchen.
As for the menu itself, despite the Spanish influence, it's more of a standard three-course affair mainly split into small plates as starters and a "wood-grilled" section for mains. Although the section that showcases that we're really not in standard pub-food territory is the "in-house caviar" section.
20g Royal Imperial caviar with turbot dripping potatoes (£25)
The caviar happens to be their own brand which they've sourced from the London Caviar Company. It's a little indication of how they're going a little bit above and beyond (another being their personalized Ciroc vodka bottles). It's fairly standard pricing for the caviar and those turbot-dripping potatoes are the perfect receptible for it - just the right level of crispiness. They're so good that we had to have them again:
Tuna, caviar, urchin, turbot dripping potatoes (£25) - another excellent snack. That's about as much sea urchin as we can take, mind.
Caviar and sea urchin (if you can handle it) are a recurring theme of the small plates section of the menu. An example being this fantastic devilled egg:
Devilled egg, 5g Siberian Baerii caviar (£10) - the devilled yolk is all whisked up and piped back inside the egg. It's something else and just the sort of thing we'd never have the patience to create ourselves.
As for the wood-grilled part of the menu, there are larger British ex-dairy 35 Txuleta beef cuts (£60/£120) as well as whole turbot with pilpil sauce (market price). We ended up going for some of the smaller dishes and we can easily recommend the following:
Lobster rice, saffron aioli (£35) - deeply-flavoured lobster rice in this one. It's a shallow dish so you could easily have this as a main course if you're sharing-averse.
Presa Ibérica (£27) - beautifully cooked presa, but we could have done with a slightly bigger portion.
Carabinero (£25) - We missed that this didn't have an "s" on it, so it's £25 per carabinero. That's steep (a couple of quid more than at Brat for example) but the quality is excellent.
As for the sides, we saw some great-looking salt-crusted potatoes doing the rounds, but we went for the less carby wood-grilled peppers - silky smooth and with a hint of smoke, these are a must-have.
After all that - dessert?
As you might have guessed, this being a Basque-inspired menu, there is a burnt Basque cheesecake on the menu. Given the chef's credentials, you should expect great things from this and you won't be disappointed.
Basque Cheesecake (£12) - this has that just-set creaminess that you get from the best Basque cheesecakes in San Sebastian. It was easily one of the best examples we've had for a long time.
Is there a menu for the bar?
There is a short menu of snacks (and you can order these in the restaurant too, if you fancy). On there, you'll find oysters, gildas, pickles mussels & crisps and pigs' ears, so again it's not your standard bar food menu. There is a chorizo scotch egg on there too (£10).
And what about drinks?
On the pub side of things, it's a pretty standard affair. Beers on tap include Guinness, Beavertown and the aforementioned Clarkson's Hawkstone (as well as his cider), with prices running a fairly standard (for this part of town) £7 a pint. Cocktails are all £12 which again is pretty standard and the martini pictured below was very well made.
Wines are on the pricier side of things, with the entry price being £45, for a Domane Morin Langaran picpoul (£10 a glass). So you can definitely splash out on the wine side of things, but just as easily remain budget-conscious with beer.
House Martini (£12) backed up by the ever-reliable Neck Oil.
Overall thoughts
London has recently done very well for pubs where just as much attention has been paid to the food as well as the drink, from the Devonshire to The Hero, and that continues with The Prince Arthur. A loving redesign of the pub has brought it back to its very best, it works well whether you're drinking or eating and the Basque food menu offers something genuinely different (for a London pub).
It can be on the high end, price-wise, but a lot of care has clearly gone into this opening and while Belgravia locals should be very happy, it's just as worth travelling across town to check it out.
More about The Prince Arthur
Where is it? 11 Pimlico Rd, London SW1W 8NA
How to book: Book online
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @princearthur.belgravia
Hot Dinners ate as guests of The Prince Arthur. Prices are correct at the time of writing.
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