In the same week that I published my list of affordable roast dinners in London, I then decided to go all Mayfair on you, with a roast dinner in The Barley Mow.
The menu already?

I’d now like to welcome readers from 2026 to the section where we used to moan about the price of a roast dinner being £30 and over. Is Brexit still going well, yo? Any vegetables left in 2026? Inflation under 10% yet? Obviously all to do with bad weather, because we never had weather before Brexit.
On the bright side – I had no engineering works for the first time in weeks! No delays on the Metropolitan line. No cancellations on the Metropolitan line.
Hell, it was only 45 minutes door to door – that like never happens. You could almost celebrate that the 15-minute city has arrived – yes that really scary concept where shops, pubs, doctors and shit you might need are within convenient distance from where you voluntarily chose to live.
Also. FUCK PUTIN.

Know your your fucking boundaries.
Did I really get to my roast dinner destination in 45 minutes?
The Tomatoes – Nope
The Barley Mow is an up-market pub in Mayfair, owned by Cubitt House, who have a few of these type of venues. Thank fuck I’m still on a sobriety thing so I didn’t have to find out the price of a pint here. Though this weekend was the first time this year that I wanted a beer. And this weekend was the first time this year that I needed a beer.

Anyway, Cubitt House also own The Grazing Goat, which provided a mostly excellent roast dinner in fairly lush pub vibes in Marylebone – but also The Orange, which was a bit wank, though with silky as you dream in silk bedsheets beef.
So I had it in my head that this could go either way – no part of me expected it to be worth £30/£36, even in 2023 money, even on a senior ChatGPT code checker’s salary, even with two months of not drinking savings, even with Rishi Sunak getting Brexit done vibes.
But, as ever, I hoped it would be good, and maybe I had found a gem.
The Barley Mow itself seems to have recently been purchased and renovated – lovingly restored according to their meta description – downstairs had classy Mayfair pub vibes, upstairs was a small restaurant with proper chairs and tables – none of this Dalston mismatched wonky shit.
Clientele was also up-market – one hot young woman with exceptionally pouty lips I hoped was with her father, the table next to us were discussing foreign policy in the kind of detail that engrossed me whilst I awaited my accomplice who had gone to a different pub called The Barley Mow – and with a suggestion that they knew more about Iranian foreign policy than I’ve read in The Economist.
The menu again?

The Peppers – Nope
I’d been craving pork belly since my father out-ordered me last Sunday up north, so that was my choice. Plus it was only £30.00. My accomplice ordered the beef sirloin at £36.00.
I also spent £10 last week on more AI image credits so it would print me some photographs of a roast dinner in a bank, or surrounded by money, or in the stock market, to go with my affordable roast dinners in London post:




Yeah not my best investment ever.
Then again I still have circa £800 invested in Roman Abramovich’s steel company which I guess I will probably never see again unless Putin is overthrown, but obviously we don’t want that to happen because the other 143 million Russian people will just give all the nuclear weapons to ISIS if Putin isn’t in charge.


And yeah it was one of those roast dinners where you had to do some plating yourself. And yes, that was the amount of gravy they intended to offer. There is a zoom-in function on the internet if you need it.
The multitube of carrots were unfussily good, in their slightly charred yet roasted manner – all variety of colours and just having a twinge of crunch, but mostly on the quite soft side. You could call it the sweet spot.
The cabbage was also proficient – mostly savoy cabbage with a similar slight crunch level to the carrots, but mostly on the soft side.
Finally for the vegetables was a scattering of watercress – obviously there for culinary reasons and not just decorative effect. I haven’t got anything interesting to say about it – it was just watercress, man.
The Turnip Row

Four unusually yellow roast potatoes were squeezed inside the Yorkshire pudding – all kind of fresh, kind of crispy on some sides and soft enough inside. The beef fat they were cooked in was more of a hint of flavour, but it was there.
The Yorkshire pudding itself was distinctly plain and tasteless – though at least was quite fluffy on the bottom. My accomplice’s Yorkshire was far more superior, not only did it have a little pulled beef surprise inside, but the yorkie itself was then infused with said beefiness.

And she had 5 roast potatoes. And her beef sirloin was rather divine.
I guess she did deserve to win this time – she has to put up with me. Though she’d also probably not want me to inform you that she visited the Margaret Thatcher statue in Grantham.

Ahhh, I bet she made a mean roast dinner for Dennis.
I’ve had better pork belly – like it was succulent and juicy on the bottom, but the top was kind of tough. I’m not sure what the glaze was on top of it – it didn’t add anything to the experience, other than a hint of fruitiness.
However, I also had a little bit of secret, unadvertised meat with what seemed to be pork shoulder – and like my accomplice’s beef, this was melt in your mouth levels. The crackling was kind of like a soft, easily meltable wafer – not hugely flavoursome and I personally think crackling should be left on the pork belly itself, instead of whatever fancy nonsense this is, but hey, fat bloke from Hull.
Finally, the gravy. Madeira gravy – whatever that is. Definite tones of tomato and red wine – I didn’t hate it, but it’s the kind of thin, watery nonsense that more try-posh places like to offer, and I guess it went with the vibe of the place. I’m a proper gravy kinda guy.
The Barley Mow
I doubt I have persuaded anyone to come here for a roast dinner – and it probably isn’t aimed at you or me, at least those of us who do a bit of research on where to visit – it’s aimed at those with more money than sense. OK, I have more money than sense sometimes, but that is very much due to an occasional lack of sense.
That said, it impressed in places. My accomplice’s beef was far nicer than my pork belly, but the hidden pork shoulder part was divine. Roast potatoes were actually to expectations (or well above expectations given my previous 240 reviews), vegetables were a fair pleasure.
Yorkshire puddings are not known for their flavour, but this was distinctly tasteless, the pork belly was a bit tough on top (though quite glorious otherwise) and the gravy just wasn’t for me.
Then the bill arrived – bear in mind neither of us drank alcohol, yet we managed to breach the £45 mark each.

Yes, you may have noted the 15% service charge. Is this now a thing? Not the concept of service charge, but increasing it to 15%?
And then in a ruse to make me renounce my wokeness, The Barley Mow also charged 99p to offset the carbon impact of our meals, and to change the lives of people in the developing world. Pass me the bucket.
My beef-eating accomplice was understandably far more enamoured than I, and scored it an 8.15 out of 10. My score is a 7.25 out of 10. If you do go, order the beef.
I’ll be back next week. No plan yet, though hopefully a little less expensive. Slava Ukraini.
Summary:
The Barley Mow, Mayfair
Station: Bond Street
Tube Lines: Central, Elizabath, Jubilee
Fare Zone: Zone 1
Price: £30.00
Rating: 7.25
Loved & Loathed
Loved: My accomplice's beef was far nicer than my pork belly, but the hidden pork shoulder part was divine. Good roasties also...how unusual.
Loathed: Yorkshire puddings are not known for their flavour, but this was distinctly tasteless, the pork belly was a bit tough on top and the gravy just wasn't for me. Oh and it was bloody expensive.
Where now, sailor?
Random roast review: The Alexandra, Wimbledon

I will admit that this is the first roast dinner review I’ve read for the new year….darned hackers ransomwared my work computer system and I was offline for 3 weeks. Just now getting back around to favoriting this website (I’m the Viscount of Gravy and I have to do my own IT work)…..so nice to see you’re still soldiering on. Recently raised a pint to you and the accomplice at Able Baker. Now to get to catching up on the reviews I’ve missed.
I would raise a toast to you but I’m still on detox. Hope life is good in Vegas! Oh and keep away from those dodgy links about Mexican wives…some of them actually aren’t really offering wives.