The Cow
It’s with a certain amount of fear and trepidation that I approach this guest review of The Cow. I’ve long been known for giving my two cents on anything really, but pubs in particular, but it is a different matter altogether to put such rantings and ravings on paper for the public consumption.
Following the time honoured Publocation tradition of a review being only as good as the reviewer, a brief note about myself. I, like J, am a kiwi. I spent eight fantastic years in London before emigrating to New York and now sadly, only get back to Blighty a handful of times a year. Bobby, J, and I go back years, having spent many a night in raucous banter in some fine and not so fine public houses. One last thing I must admit before commencing the review proper is a complete and utter bias for The Cow. It is quite simply my favourite pub in London!
The Cow nestles on a corner on Westbourne Park Villas and is really rather small. Being sandwiched between two other buildings means its only windows face the street, but this just gives the interior more atmosphere. Being small there’s not much room for tables, and just a few small ones line the banquet seating opposite the bar. More can be found at the back of the pub, which is a first come first served dining room. Fans of seafood will thrill at the oyster bar they have every day, run from the dining room end of the bar. Two cooks somehow manage to turn out fine fare in a space behind the bar roughly five feet long!
The Cow is also known for very good pint of Guinness, which obviously compliments the seafood theme well.
There’s a large mural showing what at first glance is a rural hunting scene, but actually transplants the location underwater, with prawns riding lobsters and that sort of freaky thing.
Outside the pub is the worlds smallest beer garden, really just a few tables and a booth. It’s a great spot to people watch if you’re luck enough to get a seat.It so happened that our visit to The Cow coincided with Burns Night, and as a rare treat J had booked us into the upstairs formal dining room. I often forget that the upstairs room even exists, and this would only be my second visit to it.We were early so started downstairs with a few pints, and as it was very crowded finished these out the front, shivering in the cold. We still had an hour to kill so did a mini-crawl around the neighbourhood which the Publocators will be reviewing in good stead. Then returned to take our seats upstairs.
The dining room is small like the pub, and decorated like a 1950’s restaurant, with the exception of the art, (a huge Sex Pistols Queen graces one wall, and a freakish deer antler-cum doll hangs from the ceiling as a chandelier.)
We took our seats at a table in the corner. The menu’s pretty good, but as it was Burns Night there was only one choice to make really, Haggis, neaps, and tatties. Bobby and J split a red (2005 Syrah, Météore), whilst I ordered the 2007 Chardonnay,Mâcon-Villages. The Cow had gone all out for Burns Night with a bagpiper piping in the haggis and orating the requisite traditional Scottish poetry. It was fantastic! The haggis when it arrived was rich and tasty, and was swiftly demolished by all. By the time we’d gotten through dinner and the wine we were the last ones left. Always the sign of a great night in my opinion.
The staff both upstairs and in the pub itself are quick to serve and friendly. The bathrooms downstairs below the pub clean and well maintained.
Putting my bias aside for a moment, The Cow is a place I’d recommend to anyone. Yes it does get crowded, but really that’s just a reason to get there early!
Dame
Where: 89 Westbourne Park Road, W2 5QH,Telephone
When: 9.00pm Mon 25th Jan, 2010- BURNS NIGHT
Unpublicised: Burns Night if you only do it once- Guinness & Oysters any other day.
Tel: 020 7221 0021
Website: www.thecowlondon.co.uk
Menus: Open for dinner- Mon – Sun from 7pm-11pm, Sunday till 10.30pm. Lunch menu Sat and Sun incl roast.
Interest: The Westbourne across the road
