A discrete Notting Hill mainstay since it opened in 2012, The Shed is part of a mini empire of London eateries owned by the Gladwin brothers – a trio of siblings who own a farm and vineyard in Sussex and are determined to bring their rural values to the fancier bits of the capital.
That all sounds a bit like tweed and fox hunting are involved, but The Shed would actually be horizontal if it got any more relaxed. It’s a wilfully slightly shambolic, bric-a-brac stuffed building that is presumably so named because of its passing resemblance to a garden outbuilding. The staff do seem to have a loose uniform revolving around the wearing of braces, but service-wise they‘re mostly on ‘reassuringly affable’ vibes.
This is fare based around a few simple, clean flavours
The menu isn’t formally divided into starters, mains and the like, but rather an escalating series of sizes of dish that loosely correspond to the above. We started, or possibly amuse bouched, with some savoury pastries: a mushroom and marmite eclair was a bit full-on intense, but the Devon crab donut was sublime, an explosion of light, oceanic deliciousness, decent-sized but not stodgy.
Various farm-grown dishes were consumed: highlights included a vivid but pleasingly straightforward tasting heritage tomato and strawberry salad with both lovage and borage, and a coley crudo with dashi and watermelon radish, which delightfully contrasted light sheets of crunchy radish with fractionally chewier, notably more flavoursome fish and a light miso-y sauce.
The occasionally esoteric ingredients belie the fact that this is relatively straightforward food. I’m not sure there are actually Sussex peasants who cap a day labouring in the fields with a hearty plate of borage, but this is fare based around a few simple, clean flavours - interesting for sure but nothing too fiddly.
These things are all subjective as I saw a guy at the next table smash a pork chop the size of an actual pig, but perhaps the defining quality of our meal was how light it was. We even split our heartiest dish, some meaty hake on a lively cassoulet of English pulses. We also received an apology for having been given too many salt-baked potatoes to accompany it (there were too many but they were also sensational – perhaps apologise to the potatoes, not me).
Also very nice was the wine. The brothers’ Nutty Wild sparkling wine was particularly good, a warm, russety detonation.
The Shed is a lovely neighbourhood restaurant that takes pleasure in the rural without actively fetishing it. It’s interesting, low stress food that’s pretty healthy but blessedly never feels like you’re doing something actively improving. Nobody is going to sell me on moving to the countryside. But I will happily eat their borage.
The vibe: Notting Hill rustic.
The food: British plates with a heavy emphasis on farm-to-fork.
The drink: Crisp whites, roses and fizz from the owners’ Sussex vineyard.
Time Out tip: The service is so totally relaxed you shouldn’t feel any shame in ordering even the weirdest combination of dishes.