A long-standing London gastropub known for its rustic ambiance and Michelin-quality, inventive British and European cuisine with a focus on seasonal ingredients.
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The Anchor & Hope is a long-standing London institution known for its rustic, shabby-chic pub atmosphere combined with Michelin-quality, inventive food. Its menu changes daily, focusing on high-quality, seasonal ingredients. It's conveniently located close to The Young Vic Theatre, making it a popular spot for pre-theater dining.
Customers generally praise the inventive, high-quality food and the excellent, professional, and attentive staff. The atmosphere is described as buzzy, lively, and unpretentious. Popular dishes include fresh fish (hake, sole), lamb shoulder, and cheese soufflé. Some customers find the prices a bit steep for the portion sizes, and a few specific dishes have received mixed reviews regarding flavor or preparation. Reservations are highly recommended.
Additional Details
The restaurant maintains a dynamic menu that changes daily, ensuring fresh and seasonal offerings. It's considered a 'London institution' for its consistent quality and unique blend of a traditional pub setting with sophisticated dining.
Ideal for a pre-theater meal near the Young Vic or a long, delicious lunch. Given its popularity and the mention of reservations being required, it's best to visit during off-peak hours or with a prior booking, especially for dinner or weekend lunch.
A London institution for a reason! The Anchor & Hope delivers that perfect, rare balance of a buzzy, unpretentious pub atmosphere with Michelin-quality food.
The menu changes daily, but the quality is consistently excellent. I had the hake, which was cooked to perfection—flaky, fresh, and beautifully seasoned. However, what really stood out was the excellent staff behavior. Despite the restaurant being incredibly busy, the team remained professional, welcoming, and attentive. They manage the fast-paced environment with ease, making you feel well-looked after from the moment you walk in.
It’s loud, lively, and authentic—exactly what a great gastropub should be. Highly recommended for a pre-theater meal near the Young Vic or a long, delicious lunch.
It’s a pretty sweet spot. Gastro pub vibes and friendly staff, very nice people working there. We have some of the recommendations our waitress gave and she was not wrong, the deep fried flowers were surprisingly light though the sauce was a bit meh 🫤. The rillette was very tasty, plenty of meat but the bread portion was a bit mean. The cheese soufflé was cooked perfectly and served hot- delicious. But best bit was the fish ; the sole was simple but packed with flavour, very well cooked and the anchovies butter was a perfect choice for it. We asked for chips and the run out of them? (On a Saturday at 7pm!?) a bit disappointed with that, so instead we had the pink potatoes, well seasoned but again meh, thankfully that anchovy butter helped. The cheesecake was not great, based was tough and the cake itself didn’t have much flavour, if anything was salty(?!) very strange… Wine list is decent, nice options and not too expensive.
It’s a nice place to spend an evening, prices are a bit steep for the portions you get but overall it’s worth it.
It seems that reservations are required at this place; however, we were able to get a table in less than 20 minutes after the manager invited us to have a drink at the bar while we waited.
The beef and duck were very well cooked, each with a delicious flavour that made us want more. We accompanied them with a type of cauliflower, poached and perhaps with a little butter, which was very good. For dessert, we opted for a cheesecake with a delicious souce.
It was a pleasant surprise. It is a very good place, authentic, visited mostly by locals who like to eat well.
Great dinner experience at the Anchor & Hope.
Lamb shoulder was the best, very soft and was well balanced by taste of tomato and roots.
We also love the octopus Provencal that preserved the flavor of ocean.
Service was great and the atmosphere was pretty cute. But the food... Omg. We are out eating all the time in London but have never had food like this before. Check the photos. We paid OVER £15 for a third of a sourdough slice so hard I hurt my gums trying to chew it and the crab meat on top had gone in a blender with something else that tasted like nothing. So tiny it was laughable. It was like a rich puree, not my taste. And it wasn't fine dining so not sure why the price was so high. The potatoes were mad, not cooked long enough and 2 small potatoes cut in halves for over £6. Could cry. The cauliflower (about a fifth of one cauliflower head) was cold and we asked about it. The waitress (lovely woman) said it was supposed to be served at an ambient temperature and that customers usually loved it. Us foodies, who also enjoy fine dining and not just big portions mind you, were very sad after this visit. They took off the cauliflower from the receipt in the end which was a lovely gesture and again, the service was lovely. For a cocktail this would be a good spot. But the food was super sad.
