It’s supposed to be the best you can buy.
“This is what a brilliant pub should be,” we agreed as we found a corner of the pub, each holding a pint of what was meant to be the best of its kind in all of London.
He was referring to the wood panelling, dim lighting, traditional touches everywhere and a heaving crowd. I agreed — but all I really cared about was the pint. I’d been wanting to try it for years and now I had it in my hand I held it like a five-year-old holding his favourite present on Christmas morning, with a mixture of delight and awe.
The Devonshire in Soho has been said countless to serve the best pint of Guinness you can get and TikTok and Instagram are both chock-full of people offering their views on whether that’s true. But its food is nearly as widely praised. As a result, the tables in its upstairs dining rooms are highly sought-after and reservations only open once a week, adding to the allure.
Why is the Guinness in the Devonshire said to be so good?
The Devonshire gets through an extraordinary 55 barrels of Guinness a night and its highly charismatic landlord, Oisin Rogers, explains that its quality comes down to several different factors.
For example, it runs through an entirely separate system of pipes to the pub’s other beers (“nothing goes through here apart from Guinness”, says Oisin) so it’s not served as cold as it is in other pubs. The Guinness pipes are a different width to others and there’s even a bespoke blend of gas in the pumps which affects how it flows and the texture of Guinness’s famous creamy head. The bar staff run a system in which there are always several pints half-poured on the bar to deal with the relentless demand.
Is the Guinness really that good?
I wanted to be disappointed. Perhaps it’s because, as much as I like Guinness, I do find its constant deification a bit irritating, despite turning up here to worship it.
Some people swear that the quality varies from one pub to the next but I can never tell the difference or think of any logical way that could possibly be true given it’s mass-produced in the same place and sent out in the same barrels. But when I took my first mouthful, I knew I was wrong. It was different. My mate said the same. It was noticeably nicer than your average Guinness, which is already a great pint. It was, in fact, sensational. Days later I still can’t stop thinking about it.
How much is a pint of Guinness in the Devonshire?
A pint of Guinness is £7.20 which, for London, is not out of the ordinary and especially not in a place that is a bona fide tourist destination in itself.
What is the Devonshire like, apart from the Guinness?
A minute’s walk from the Piccadilly Circus underground station and the huge electronic billboards above, the pub is in the heart of central London, albeit down a narrower side street. It’s been here in one guise or another since 1793. It’s a beautiful-looking pub from the outside, where dozens of people are drinking on the pavement every night of the week.
Inside it’s just as busy, though not uncomfortably so. Dimly lit and packed with both the London after-work brigade and tourists, it’s the sort of place I could happily spend hours. And despite the Guinness, the green colour-scheme and the landlord, it’s not an Irish pub. And not everyone in there is drinking Guinness either.
Food in the Devonshire
It’s as good as the Guinness. Despite normally having to book well in advance if you want to eat here, I’d got lucky and managed to secure a table-for-one when a space suddenly opened up. Pint in hand, I waited at the side of the bar to be shown upstairs past photos and paintings of the Queen and Kate Moss to a dining room almost as busy as the pub beneath (there are also private dining rooms).
The kitchen is run by chef Ashley Palmer-Watts, who spent 20 years working at Heston Blumenthal’s three-starred Fat Duck. The menu is straightforward and deals in solid British classics. I can’t remember tasting anything quite like the creamy sauce on my scallops and bacon starter (£18) which was laced with malt vinegar. Thank God there was a complimentary freshly-baked bread roll, salty and pillowy-soft, to mop it up with. It would have been a crime to have left a drop of that sauce on the plate.
My main course of beef cheek and Guinness suet pudding was encased in a meaty and dense (in a good way) pastry made by mixing flour and beef fat (£26). I got two sides to go with it: gloriously crispy duck fat chips (£6) and peas, onion and bacon (£6). Their simplicity (and the salt and fat) made them great.
Dessert was chocolate mousse, cherries and cream (£9) which tasted as it good as it sounds. The bill came to £73 with service included. You can also get a set-course menu of three courses for £29 (or two for £25). On the night I visited, that menu was prawn and langoustine cocktail, skirt steak with duck fat chips and Bearnaise sauce, and sticky toffee pudding.
Is The Devonshire worth visiting?
Most definitely. It’s been accurately called a “masterclass in hospitality” so whether you’re looking for excellent food, superb Guinness or just a great pub to sit in, you won’t find anywhere better.
