Six Portland Road, Notting Hill, The Heir to Julie's?
Long time no post! well Christmas intervened and I've been stupidly busy at my day job so not a lot of time for writing up reviews. However rest assured I have been feeding myself out on numerous occasions and there are many fine places for me to wax lyrical on. I decided to write up the most recent first as we dined here totally unprompted on Sunday. We had got up reasonably early and after a fun day on Saturday celebrating Chinese New Year at the excellent Phoenix Palace, we needed a purpose to our Sunday. My lovely wife suggested we take baby G down to Daunt books on Holland Park Avenue so we could all get a book to read that afternoon. So we wandered down during a break in the rain making important pit stops at the American Food Store on Ladbroke Grove and Jeroboams for some great cheese. Leaving Daunt with a big bag of books we set off for home and decided to turn down Portland rd and take the more scenic route home possibly stopping by the Ladbroke Arms for a drink and a packet of crisps. However just a few steps down the road baby G stopped us outside Six Portland Rd as the table nearest the window was set up for Sunday lunch with Kinder eggs on a couple of the plates. He told us he would like to go in and have a Kinder egg! We looked at the menu which though not offering a classic roast looked good and we decided to venture in to chance a table for lunch.
Six Portland Rd was for many years a local wine bar that only seemed open in the evenings. However for years the only reason to head down Portland Rd was to get to local favourite Julie's. I'd had many a great lunch and dinner there but lately it had got very expensive then it shut for a refurb but never re-opened. There was nowhere really like it in the area offering good bistrot fayre in chi-chi surroundings until 6 Portland Rd opened. It is not a big space but they pack at lot in here so you enter past a couple of tables then down some steps into the restaurant proper. There is a small bar to one side with the bright modern kitchen right at the back with a big open serving hatch so you can watch the chefs work their magic. We are the first customers that day and we sat next to the mysterious kinder egg table which turns out to be reserved for friends of the owner. Baby G is focused on the kinder eggs though and in a lovely touch our waitress pops out to buy him one so he isn't left out! We are brought some delicious dip and dried bread whilst we peruse the menu. There appears to be no child option so we decide to all order the roast chicken with comte gratin macaroni cheese. Thinking rightly this will be a big meal we just share an excellent if slightly parsimonious plate of Italian charcuterie to start.
As we wait for our mains we enjoy a very nice bottle of Cahors, though some proper red wine glasses would have made it even better. The room gradually fills up until it is full giving it a nice buzz. This is definitely the old Julie's crowd, families out for Sunday lunch and old friends catching up. Our mains come and are really very good. Properly roasted juicy tasty chicken and a seriously unctuous posh mac'n'cheese. I pinch a fair bit of baby G's but he actually manages very well eating a good half of his, it certainly got his seal of approval. We also order some sides: some very nice thick cut chips and some very tasty cabbage. It's a good meal and brings back memories of those long boozy lunches up the road. Service is very good and friendly, they bring the food and drink and let you get on with it. Taking baby G to the gents we even say hello to the friendly chefs at the back. As you can see from the bill it isn't exactly cheap (a childs portion & price would help) but we were very happy with our meal. it's too small for a big mob lunch like we'd had a the Phoenix Palace the day before but for a family lunch for 3 it was ideal. I just love days like this where a lucky turn leads you to somewhere new and noteworthy like Six Portland Road.
