I’m a fan of second chances, as anyone who has dated me can wearily attest. I treat them as one of life’s necessities (see also: food, water, boat shoes), so had an inkling the Hero in Maida Vale might deserve another run at things as I prodded a pellet of yellow-coloured mayo attempting to pass for curry sauce. “Sorry,” I muttered to Twiggs, “I was told this was London’s hottest restaurant.”
But everywhere has its off days. And, as it happens, crap food is no barrier to somewhere being this city’s top ticket — the Wolseley got away with it for years. And the Hero has everything going for it. Owners Phil Winser, James Gummer and Olivier van Themsche are the well-connected kind, having found a hit with the Pelican in Notting Hill (door policy: eights and over, unless you’re royalty), and later the Bull in Charlbury (door policy: off the telly).
