More years ago than I like to remember, I lived in a grand house in Highgate, in a top-floor flat belonging to a retired classics teacher and his artist wife. My bedroom backed onto their garden, which in turn overlooked the nearby pub, the Red Lion and Sun, which had a busy outdoors that usually seemed to be full of merry-makers. Yet I never felt the urge to go in and have more than an occasional drink there, for unfathomable reasons; perhaps it didn’t seem like quite my sort of place.
I have long since left Highgate, but I remained intrigued by the Red Lion and Sun. Under the ownership of the charismatic Heath Ball, it has become one of London’s (and Britain’s) most acclaimed and popular gastropubs, and indeed is currently rated as number six in the much-coveted Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropub list.
It is accordingly hard to get a reservation, as it attracts everyone from well-heeled locals and their families to culinary tourists anxious to sample some of the best modern British cuisine to be had anywhere, but eventually, one Thursday evening, I managed to make it there with my university chum Sophie, who had once been a regular visitor to North London and was delighted to renew the pilgrimage one unseasonably warm night.
We began inside the pub, which Heath – somehow, in the case of the laid-back and charming Kiwi, surnames feel vaguely inappropriate – has kept suitably informal, without the more pretentious trappings that other, more self-conscious places feature. A couple of drinks arrive – a glass of Gusbourne blanc de blancs for Sophie, an excellent yuzu spritz for me – and then, just as mine’s finished, Heath reappears with a frozen margarita, which he proudly informs me is a speciality of the house. As we’re nibbling on some very fine homemade focaccia, it seems a shame not to partake, and I’m glad I did; it’s even better than the yuzu spritz.
Starters are reasonably straightforward, but none the less satisfying for that. I opt for an exceptionally fine dish of oozily creamy burrata with fine, firm heritage tomatoes, lifted a couple of notches by the addition of smoked salt and smoked tomato basil vinegar, while Sophie is exceptionally impressed by a very accomplished selection of Palourde clams with white wine, butter and olive oil. It’s Mediterranean-meets-North London, superbly accomplished cooking (the kind of thing that you wish that the dinner party of your dreams could come up with) and a carafe of Craggy Ridge Sauvignon Blanc. So far, so good. And then a table becomes available in the front garden, we’re ushered out, and the evening leaps up a gear.
Both Sophie and I are committed carnivores, and so the sharing-sized cote de boeuf, which comes courtesy of the ever-excellent Aubrey Allen butchers, seems like something of a must-try. Accompanied by a fine peppercorn sauce, perfectly crisp chips and a generous mixed salad, it’s as good a steak as I’ve had all year. But the real fun comes when Heath asks what wine we’d be interested in trying.
Before I can reply, Sophie suggests a Barolo, which is duly produced; it’s excellent, a truly special 2020 Serralunga d’Alba which is one of the nicest wines I can remember trying in an aeon. But Heath has something else up his sleeve. As we’re finishing the Barolo, he reappears with a 2019 Brunello di Montalcino from Castello Romitorio, which he suggests is the perfect pairing with the steak. It has the rich jamminess that only the very, very best Brunello di Montalcino can boast, and it’s a simply wonderful accompaniment; our host most certainly knows what he’s doing.
Inevitably, the rest of the meal can only be an epilogue. We are too full for sweet things, but order a small selection of cheese, of which an excellent Beauvale blue and the fine Yarlington are the highlight. This is not an establishment that is interested in modish cocktails – no espresso martinis here – but instead Heath has one of the most interesting selections of dessert wines and digestifs I can remember encountering in a pub.
It would be wrong not to end with an Armagnac, and so I do not stint myself, all the while congratulating Heath and his excellent team on a truly special place. There is, apparently, a nearby pub also owned by him, The Angel, which does, in his modest estimation, “the best brunch in North London”. Something tells me, on this remarkable evidence, that it won’t be too long before a very welcome visit.
The Red Lion & Sun, 25 North Road, Highgate Village N6 4BE. For more information, and for bookings, please visit www.redlionandsun.com.
