40 Maltby Street

Steve Williams won The Harwood Arms its Michelin star in 2011, the first for a London pub, then left fine dining to forage and cook at Harry Lester's auberge in the Auvergne before taking over the kitchen in this railway arch (Palate Magazine).

Why go

The room is the warehouse of Gergovie Wines, the low-intervention importer that Raef Hodgson runs, and he opened the restaurant here with Lester in 2011. That is the structural advantage: the wine list is stocked at importer proximity and the by-the-glass selection turns over daily. The kitchen writes about a dozen dishes on a board each service, usually a terrine, a seasonal vegetable plate and something braised or crumbed, and it never repeats itself for long. The venue describes the cooking as food that "celebrates the produce of this island and also its proximity to the continent" (venue site). Trains run directly overhead. Nothing about the operation is designed for convenience, including the reservations policy, which is that there are none.

Order this / avoid

• Order: off the board, and take the terrine whichever way it appears. The Good Food Guide has caught the range at its best with "raw mackerel with pickled forced rhubarb and horseradish," "confit duck with bitter leaves and potato cake" and "crumbed skate with Jerusalem artichokes and pickled chanterelles." Ask what opened that day by the glass before you order a bottle.
• Avoid: the delicate steamed fish if the kitchen is slammed. Time Out found some dishes "under-seasoned" and called the steamed hake "bland," and the assertive plates are where this kitchen is strongest.

What locals & experts say

• Time Out London (2019): four stars from Ella Braidwood on 5 February 2019, who called the arch "quintessentially London" and "extremely brilliant" with an "ever-changing menu, exciting and imaginative," while noting the seasoning misses. ref
• The Good Food Guide: rated Very Good, "Terrific neighbourhood eatery and natural wine shop," and "the kind of no-frills eatery and wine emporium that we would all love to have in our neighbourhood." ref
• National Restaurant Awards: profiled at number 72 in the UK top 100, "The kitchen may be modest, but with its ever-changing menu 40 Maltby Street is a microcosm of London culture." The profile page does not state which edition, so treat the year as unpinned. ref
• Local rec: Jeff's list, saved as a repeat Vittles pick (his note below).

Good to know

• Timing: closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Dinner Wednesday to Saturday, lunch Thursday to Saturday, and the kitchen finishes early in the evening.
• Booking: none, ever. The venue's own line is "We do not take reservations." With around 40 covers, that means arriving at opening or waiting.
• Which Maltby this is: the arch at 40 Maltby Street, inside the Gergovie Wines warehouse, not one of the Ropewalk market traders a few doors down.
• Hygiene: the FSA record is filed under the trading name "Maltby restaurant" at this address: rating 5, Southwark, inspected 9 October 2024, all three categories Good (ref).

Craft signals (wine and kitchen: both turn daily)

Two signals and they move at the same speed. The by-the-glass list turns over daily, which is the fastest wine cadence of any venue in this pass, and the kitchen writes around twelve dishes a day off an ever-changing card that the Good Food Guide and the National Restaurant Awards both describe in those terms. The mechanism behind both is the same: the room is a natural wine shop with a kitchen in it, so what is open to pour and what is worth cooking get decided together each morning. Rotation here is not a marketing cycle, it is the operating model.

Jeff's take (his words)

• Note: "Multiple vittles pick for top restaurant to visit in London." REAL.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

must-visit — A natural wine importer's warehouse with a 40-cover kitchen bolted on, running a board of about twelve dishes that is rewritten every service. The chef won The Harwood Arms its Michelin star in 2011, the first for a London pub, then left fine dining to cook in the Auvergne before taking this arch. The Good Food Guide calls it terrific, Time Out gave it four stars, and it has never taken a reservation in fifteen years. You cannot replicate the combination anywhere: importer-level wine access, that CV, and a room that will not let you plan. Turn up early and eat what is written.