The Duke Of Wellington, Notting Hill (2025 re-visit)

Skip The Nonsense

For only the second time in RDLDN history, it was time for a re-review – this time of the very first venue, The Duke Of Wellington, in Notting Hill.

Let’s hope it goes better than the re-visit of The George, which went from the 5th best roast dinner in London, to the 283rd.

Speaking of things that haven’t gone so well, may I take the opportunity to congratulate the bond market on another fine victory over economic noggin failure.

Yeah.

On the bright side we can at least congratulate the rest of the world, including the EU, on also achieving the Brexit benefits of the 10% tariff.

You know, one day the morons that rule us will just leave us all alone, stop doing such moronic economic policies like asking ChatGPT to come up with tariff rates, or such disgraceful moves such as sending plane loads of foreign-looking people to a gulag in El Salvador.

And I can go back to, well, asking ChatGPT to create photos of hot Spanish women photocopying their arse. Though I did find this buff-lifting beauty the other day on Shein, once I’d closed 127 different pop-ups and could actually see the product.

Wellington Bear

So there is a bit more context about why I’m re-visiting a few places – as I don’t have as much confidence as I’d like to have on the league table for a few of those that I reviewed many years ago.

Clearly The George going from 5th best roast dinner to 283rd best is a sign that I may lose some roast dinner street cred if people are going to The George expecting the 5th best roast dinner in London.

Is The Old Red Cow still an 8.62 out of 10? I suspect not, and Google reviews are less glorious than they once were.

Is The Dove in Hammersmith, reviewed in 2017 still worth a 8.51 out of 10? How on earth did I give an 8.32 to Bar & Block, a Whitbread chain restaurant? Maybe they are still worth it, but I’m unsure.

And then The Duke Of Wellington – did I really score a Young’s pub an 8.40?

Maybe I got too excited about proper gravy, and pubs discovering such a thing as herbs. Though it does still look pretty good…but 5,308 Young’s pubs later, I know them for watery gravy, undercooked roasties and stale yorkies only.

Surely I over-rated them? Or I just got lucky?

Wellington Line

Ahhh December 2016 seems such a long time ago. Donald Trump had just been elected as president for the first of four times, Liz Truss was still a remoaner, Putin was still pretending that he wasn’t invading Ukraine and I was…”hoping that I can get at least a few reviews in without having to resort to talking about drugs, politics or pointless self-defecating humour just to keep you interested“. Hmmm.

Well I might have managed a few?

Given that the tariffs have made me 10% more manly over the last week, I guess I need to counteract this by buying those butt pants.

Maybe it could be funny to wear them, say when going for a roast dinner at Claridge’s. The dress code says no sportswear, no trainers, no shorts – but no mention of butt pants.

I wisely managed to avoid walking down the Portobello Road to The Duke Of Wellington, rammed as it was with tourists (who are all very welcome to my city as long as you don’t stand on the left side of the escalators), though wisdom wasn’t something I was feeling too much of, given my hungover state.

The manager found me a nice corner table where I could hide away and study the menu, on a suitably wonky table – a wobbly table for a wobbly human. Curiously, in 2016 I also remarked on a wonky table.

Inspector Wellington

I was quite amused at one point to see a well-dressed older Asian lady walking around The Duke Of Wellington open-mouthed at the scene – kind of like me walking around the Taj Mahal.

British life in action. I hope I looked as hungover and desperate for a roast dinner as I felt.

Back in 2016, I paid around £15.00 for a roast dinner at The Duke of Wellington. My options were beef rump at £24.00, pork belly at £21.00 or lemon and rosemary roast chicken – at £22.00.

It was the latter I chose.

Yeah you see pink chicken.

Not the best look though I’m hardly competing to be in FHM’s most eligible bachelor list. So I think (and certainly hope) it was pink because of how it had been cooked – instead of it being undercooked. There was no sign of it being undercooked – and seemingly it was cooked a little while back too.

I did not notice any lemon or rosemary, as mentioned on the menu. However it was unexpectedly spicy – almost like piri-piri. I rather enjoyed it, but I know some people wouldn’t get over the pinkness.

The breast was plump, the thigh was juicy – there was plenty of chicken to eat.

Wellington Bridge

So, following up with the carrots – these were soft, and nicely roasted. Decent.

Also there were some parsnips, roasted and quite possibly from the same pan, also soft, also decent – actually really quite flavoursome parsnips.

They served notably peppery cabbage, which I enjoyed – on the softer side of things also.

The roast potatoes were actually better than in 2016. You could tell they had been cooked a little while ago, but not abominably so. Quite crispy on the outside, quite soft on the middle…yeah these were broadly decent, especially for a Young’s pub.

The Yorkshire pudding was thoroughly shit. Most crimes had been committed – it was burnt, overcooked and totally dried out like a Quaver too.

Finally, they supplied a very respectable gravy. It met minimum consistency standards required for a northerner, if a little gloopy, and was quite a herby and peppery vibe. Good, though not butt-liftingly good.

The Duke Of Wellington

So a more successful re-visit this time.

The only clear fail was a disastrous Yorkshire pudding – burnt and left to fail.

You might also judge the pink chicken negatively – unlike those magnificent butt-lifters, pink kinda bloody chicken isn’t really a great look. Yet the chicken was really flavoursome and not undercooked.

Charming veggies, good roast potatoes and thick gravy. There was definitely plenty to appreciate about The Duke Of Wellington.

I was solo-dining so only my score to consider, and I think it’s worth a 7.71 out of 10.

Next Sunday I’m going to the most hyped roast dinner in London, in recent years. Even worse – I’m going with a Liverpool fan, and they could win the league that day.