Test Driving The Latimer, where the Spiteri family have united for an excellent neighbourhood pub

This is The Latimer - very hard to miss.  

What can you tell us about The Latimer?

This Holland Park pub was last known as Ariadne's Nectar Bar, a pub which had its licence revoked at the end of its life back in 2020. After that, the pub was rumoured to be reopened as an Allsopp's pub (their owner Jamie Allsopp was in dining when we visited, so he may well still be involved in some way).

But eventually it was revealed as The Latimer, run by hospitality royalty, the Spiteri family (something the pub proudly advertises above the front door). That's legendary front of house man Jon Spiteri, his ex-wife Melanie Arnold (co-founder of Rochelle Canteen), their sons Lorcan and Fin Spiteri and sister Molly (also Business Development Lead at Koya). So think of it as a local pub (and dining room) run by people who really know what they're doing. 

Where is it?

You'll find The Latimer deep in west London in an area that seems hard to define. It's not quite Notting Hill (although it is close) and some refer to the area as North Kensington and that doesn't seem right either. Locals - please give us your thoughts (we know you have them).

Regardless, the easiest way to get there is to head to Latimer Road on the Hamersmith & City line and walk 10 minutes to the pub (there's a quicker, but complicated, walk around a sports ground, we found it much easier to stick to the streets). But if you're anywhere in the Notting Hill area, you'll be taking a taxi/Uber here.

The pub itself is a little smaller than we were expecting, but that's no bad thing. It's only on the ground floor of the building, where half is a dedicated pub area, and half is the dining room:

Head inside the front doors and the initial section is the pub, dedicated to drinks but with its own snack menu. 

The back half is the restaurant, with space here for around 25-30. 

There's also a great little terrace outside. Now that the weather has finally warmed up, we can see that doing great business over the summer. 

What can we expect from the food here?

While we've talked about the whole Spiteri family being behind the venture, there are two key members running things day to day - Lorcan and Finn Spiteri. They were previously best known for Caravel, the excellent restaurant-on-a-barge in Islington. This sees them reuniting, with Lorcan in the kitchen and Finn managing front of house. Finn is also behind the drinks (we'll get back to those in a bit). So if you were a fan of Caravel, like we were, then you're definitely going to like this. 

The menu is a very seasonal and changing one - we've already seen various dishes come and go since it's been open, and that's only in a few weeks. Like Caravel before it, there are definitely some St John influences, although the menu takes its influences from a wider range than that restaurant, no better seen than in these fantastic snacks:

Masala haddock, tartare sauce (£12) - a strong contender for snack of the year. 

As well as the main dining room menu, these are also available on the bar menu. So if you're popping in for a drink, you really owe it to yourself to get a plate of them. Also on the bar menu is the venison ragu on sourdough, which we've heard good things about (and which we really should have ordered as a starter), along with a pickled chilli cheeseburger (£15).

There's a specials board too, and as the main menu settles down, we can see that being more of a draw. As for what we went for, here you go:

Milk bun with salted butter (£3.50 each) - also an absolute must. Apologies for the extreme close-up.

Cider braised pork belly skewers, apple sauce (£15) - These are already emerging as a signature dish. The perfectly formed slow-braised skewers are hard to beat. 

White crab with borlotti beans, fennel and tardivo (£15)

Brown crab gnocchi, bisque and lemon (£25) - from the specials board, this was an absolutely massive portion, with the gnocchi and brown crab pairing well. 

Roast guineafowl with dragoncello and bitter leaf. 

What about dessert?

There are just two on the menu, so, as is usually the case when that happens, we had both:

Amaretti crumble, custard and apricot (£9) - almost like a deconstructed version of a standard crumble, but the combination of the amaretti crumble (with a proper crunch) and custard was really very good. Honestly, we could almost have had a plate of that on its own. 

Chocolate mousse and strawberries (£9)

What about drinks?

As it's a pub, the drinks are a very important aspect, of course. Certainly having half of the space designated as a proper pub really helps, as did the fact that they freeze their glasses, both for the martini and the pint of beer, the latter being a particularly nice touch. There are six beers on tap (all £6.50), and a few non-alcoholic cocktails and sodas available under the "Temperance" heading of the list. There's even a non-alcoholic wine on tap. 

On the wine front, getting a lot of attention is the Pinot Noir at £5 a glass (there's also a Spanish Vinocola at £6 a glass), so there are some real steals available. There are a few wines on tap, including that French Pinot Noir, and you can get a litre of that for £45, which is very good value.  The rest of the list is all European, with some English wines from Westwell dotted around. 

But much as the wine list is impressive, do not leave without having a cocktail. Finn Spiteri has previously impressed us on this front and, going by our martini, we think the rest of the list would be well worth checking out (with most of them around the £12 mark). 

Latimer Martini (vodka, sherry, bergamot, £12.50) and a pint of Arctic Sky IPA (£7, and note that we took our sweet time taking the picture, so the head was initially much better). 

Overall thoughts

Given the talent involved and also because we really loved our meal at Caravel, we had very high hopes for The Latimer. They were very easily met and we find ourselves very jealous of the locals who have what seems like the perfect neighbourhood pub - a really great drinking den, paired with an excellent dining room that has an evolving menu. It's not in the most accessible part of West London, but trust us it is absolutely worth the trip. We hear they may consider opening more pubs down the line, and if that happens, this is an amazing start.