Parlour

How does this place not have more 5 star reviews? Perhaps because it is slightly off the beaten track as mentioned. But the food is delicious, interesting and beautifully presented.
We came for the brunch and pretty impressed by the «help yourself to bread» table where you had a choice of 5 – 6 different loafs, including gluten free bread. Then came the beautiful Parlour big breakfast.
Popped back to lunch this week and could note believe the fish soup for £7.50 was a work of art (see pics). Well matched by the steak tartare under a bed of beetroot slices.
We will definitely be back to try the Sunday roast!

It’s hit and miss here. I felt that I was trying hard to please the staff. Not a very happy bunch. Some of the food is amazing. Not a place for artists. I’m trying to be polite but here it goes… If you want to rid the world of a bunch of twats… Napalm the whole area!!! Lol lots of love…

Parlour in Kensal Green is an oustanding restaurant somewhat off the beaten track. Its Sunday roast is reason enough to make a little journey — it really is exceptionally delicious.
I was once for a private dinner event at Parlour and then went back almost a year later for the Sunday Roast.
Parlour in Kensal Green is classy and modern at the same time. The interior looks simple and beautiful with a few interesting touches here and there. The restaurant is just lovely, not least thanks to the cute dogs that were sitting, or rather lying, next to me.
Perfectly suited for a Sunday roast, there was a table full of papers, so you easily find something to read in case your did not bring your favourite magazine or newspaper with you.
Unconventionally, at least if you compare it to your average pub, I started my roast with bread and butter. I found the bread slightly too sweet, however it was really tasty and the coarse-​grained salt on the table just added to the pleasure.
My starter was a somehwat playful chicken popcorn thing. It was delicious and fun with a hint of mustard seed. This is usually not a flavour I like a lot, but in this dish it was well-​balanced with the other spices and ingredients, the combination of it all resulted in delightful taste.
On that week, they offered a duck breast roast, nothing I came across very often before. This was truly one of the best Sunday roasts ever made. Like everyone expects from a decent roast, it came with lots of tasty gravy, and I made it my duty to finish it all. The duck was not dry at all and full of great flavour. It came with blood orange juice from roasted blood oranges, and this was a heavenly revelation of a sauce.
The roast came with the standard trimmings, made to the highest quality. The potatoes were just as perfect as the duck, crunchy on the outside and a pure pleasure to eat with a bit of pepper and salt, drowned in the beautiful gravy.
The Yorkshire pudding was also very good, especially to finish off the gravy. And the carrots were thick, well-​prepared with a bite — simply a good side.
The roast came with a confit duck leg as a very welcomed bonus. However, the indulgence did not stop here, they also added a kind of pressed duck patty to the mix. It was pretty salty, but also delightful.
The Picpoul de Pinet that was recommended to me when I asked for a white wine was lovely and worked together with the food for me.
According to the menu, Parlour serves Allpress coffee. As this is one of my favourite roasteries, I ordered a cup. The coffee was alright for a restaurant. It actually was a good effort and better most other restaurant coffees I’ve had.
The one thing that upset me a little bit was that they gave me the dessert menu full of tasty dishes, and then kind of forgot to ask if I actually wanted to order a dessert. But then, I was probably too full anyway after the roast, so I was happy to leave without a dessert.
Parlour is a beautiful place. I yet have to go there for a normal dinner, the food at the private function was great. And the duck roast was one of the best Sunday roasts I can imagine. So far, all I can say is that everything is simply done without a fault and served in a beautiful restaurant with a friendly atmosphere.

It sort of pains me that I can’t give this place more than 2 stars. The presentation of food and the actual interior of this renovated pub, tucked down an side street in Kensal Rise is actually brilliant.
But come Sunday morning, having to wait over 30 minutes for a coffee and nearly 45 for a tea just doesn’t quite cut it. Really simple things like making your drinks order or food order take forever, we had to ask about three times for the tea to arrive and boiling water in a small tea pot really should take 5 minutes max. The whole place just seems really disorganised and not very well run, which is a shame. The staff don’t really seem to know what they’re doing either.

Nothing brings me more joy than sharing great experiences, amazing food with my friends.
The Chef’s Table at the Parlour is one such experience that I recommend every person has to try at least once! This is my second visit and I certainly hope not my last!
The menu is a surprise, Head Chef Jesse Dunford Wood takes you through a wonderful journey of the interesting dishes he’s created with such passion and humour! Each course is carefully served and with much enthusiasm!
If you do intend to go and try it out for yourself, I recommend that you don’t look into it, don’t look at the menu, just show up and allow yourself to be pleasantly surprised! It’s £55 per head without drinks, very much worth every penny and make sure you arrive starving and pace yourself! You’ll need every bit of space in your belly! You will not be disappointed!

Well it may have been raining but we found a spot outside for dinner. The bar tender was pushing his cocktails of campaign and special gins. Who was I to say no. Not too bad. Followed by a delicious trout with lots of butter and grapefruit. It worked well. It’s a bit pricey these days, but worth the occasional visit I would say.

After many little lunches at Parlour, I finally booked the Chef’s Table at Parlour for my birthday lunch celebration.
I first had a taste of Chef Jesse’s food back in 2013 during the collaboration with Urban Woot Four Fridays — time sure has flown by…
Parlour has so far been my solo lunch spot, and I thought that it was time to bring along some friends to share the experience.
First up was McTucky’s popcorn chicken nuggets — which unlike KFC’s version, this had actual popcorn in it!
The chestnut hummus was very much a favourite for many of us, served with rosemary pitta bread. A step-​up from your regular chickpea hummus.
Another yummy dipping dish was the taramasalata, topped with black olives.
Then came the ‘Back Door’ Smoked Salmon with crispy salmon skin served on a wooden plank, and THAT soda bread, which is one of my favourite breads. Another favourite (of many favourites) amongst the table was the duck liver pâté with cold toast aka. ‘yesterday’s bread’. I’ve only just recently started liking pâté, and this was definitely up my street, topped with crunchy bits of duck scratchings.
Another familiar dish was the Raw Vegetable ‘Ravioli’ with Goat’s Cheese. A clever alternative if you happen to have missed out pasta on your shopping list. If you love goat’s cheese as much as me, then you will probably love this. And for the skinny gym bunnies, well, vegetables are healthy, so it pretty much balances out the calories of the cheese… right?
The pork croquettes had a nice, golden coating, and was really tender and juicy on the inside. I eyed the dish hoping to swipe another one after my first.
And then it was eventually time for the main courses — each of us were served a different dish. And being the birthday girl, I was of course served the humungous Cow Pie.
I was already quite stuffed by that time, and wanting to save space for dessert (I knew what was coming…), I had a few nibbles and passed the rest round the table.
And then it was time for the Grand Finale… everyone put on your headphones!
Because everyone needs a bit of Mary Poppins and Willy Wonka in their lives.
Chef Jesse rolled out his art canvas made from (errr) kitchen foil, and started assembling our platter of desserts before us. For someone who has a massive sweet tooth even this was a bit to much for me! A table full of desserts enough to feed probably a dozen people… I will remember to bring some takeaway boxes next time.
An dining experience definitely worth trying out :)
Check out my blog for the full post with photos x

Absolutely in love with this place. Service was wonderful from the very first minute we stepped in. Warm welcoming and child friendly, had a 2y. old beast with us=-) Very calm, relaxed atmosphere, nice music. Breakfast menu is more than you wish for. Gluten free home made bread available which absolutely made my day as am on the glute free diet. Very tasty and eye catching! Love, love, love this place. Price wise — worth every penny!

Interesting place — the setting is really relaxing and quite rustic. Great neighbourhood pub — home made smoked salmon, home baked soda bread… Definitely worth the visit.
Why 3 stars?! I don’t think we particularly ordered well… Popcorn chicken was mixed with actual popcorns which I did not see the point as it did not add much to the flavour. Mac and cheese had good components but came out Luke warm in porcelain bowl — I think it should be oven baked, piping hot, and preferably in cast iron so it retains the heat longer… It did not have any crispy hit either… Raw vegetable ravioli was lively but it had too much garnish — deli a bit wasteful because I could not eat them all.
Overall, great neighbourhoods place– it is not a destination restaurant but definitely worth visiting if you happen to be in the area.

I used to come here a lot for 2-​for-​1 burger nights when Parlour was still a regular pub (not that shabby actually). It still has its cosy feel to it, i.e. it is quite dark on both sides of the bar, but has been turned into more of a restaurant where it’s OK to just have a drink.
I arrived for a very late dinner date with my date arriving even later (don’t get me started …). I was surprised how empty the place was considering it was a Saturday night. Everyone was out in the beer garden and it felt as if I had walked into a private party, so decided to settle indoors. Happy to find spot some newspapers to pass the waiting time … unlike many pubs this is a comfortable place to find yourself a single woman at the bar.
I also noticed how unusually great the music was — the Elvis bust on the bar gives a hint …
When my friend finally arrived, the kitchen had just closed — but they opened it again just for us. That alone deserves five starts! No more burgers here, a much more interesting menu instead. Mind you, chicken kiev could have badly back-​fired, but the Parlour version is truly delicious, served on a hash brown and a cabbage-​y salad. They like their cabbage here!
Staff were super attentive and we greatly enjoyed a good couple of hours before last orders were called.

Tucked behind Paradise (by way of Kensal Rise) Parlour used to be a shabby locals pub (The Regent) but now serves hearty, seasonal, classic pub fare without the gastro-​pub pretensions. They have great gin and tonic options and an ingenious bar tender who mixes the best Old Fashioned in London (just make sure you get the right one) and a great outdoor space that caters for the local rabble that don’t want to frequent Paradise but still stay up past bedtime.
Equally welcoming if you go for dinner, are satisfied with a fresh, healthy bar menu, or turn up at 11pm wanting a nightcap. The music played here is also very good — who chooses it?!