Weekend food with Darina Allen

THE whole gastro pub scene hasn’t quite taken off in Ireland in quite the same way as in Britain where some of the very best food is to be found in comfy grungy pubs often with mismatched wooden furniture and crockery, serving gorgeous non-fussy seasonal food.

There are many good ones now vying for my few precious meal slots when I’m in London. The Eagle, The Canton Arms, The Earl Spencer, Magdalen Arms, The Anchor and Hope… seven years after it first opened I still totally love the latter.

Jonathon Jones would probably blush to hear himself referred to as the most famous and successful gastropub chef in the British Isles but if anything the description is an understatement. His restaurant the Anchor and Hope pub in south London has won six major awards in as many years and is the darling of every restaurant critic who eats there.