A fantastic gastropub with award-winning food and service, the Anchor and Hope is the jewel in an otherwise rather sparse culinary crown around Waterloo. Bare wooden tables, hearty portions and fresh ingredients are a winning recipe here.
Please bear in mind that there is a no bookings policy (except Sunday lunch) so if you want to guarantee space without having to sup at the bar first, turn up early!
Anchor & Hope
Restaurant & Bar in Lambeth
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Opening Summary
Monday: 17.00 - 23.00. Tuesday - Saturday: 11.00 - 23.00 Lunch: 12noon - 14.30, Dinner: 18.00 - 22.30
Sunday Lunch: 14.00
Monday: 17.00 - 23.00. Tuesday - Saturday: 11.00 - 23.00 Lunch: 12noon - 14.30, Dinner: 18.00 - 22.30
Sunday Lunch: 14.00
With a daily changing menu they do everything well but it's all about the meat. Get the meat. The meat.
Anchor & Hope Picture Gallery
All In London Review
Provides Waterloo with some of its best food
Before no bookings policies were the done thing in London, this pub was already making you queue for your dinner. Turn up on any night of the week and the chances are that this smart little gastro pub will stick you in the bar for a half hour before there is any chance of sitting down to eat. And that is almost – but only almost - a good thing because the smell of cooking coming out of the kitchen is going to have you worked up into a frenzy for the food here.
Split into two halves, there is a dining area on one side and a bar on the other. Aside from the various paintings on the walls and the very gastro chalkboards, the Anchor and Hope is a classically handsome old pub. Behind the bar you’ll find Kirin lager and a couple of rotating ales but you’ll also get the option of something as refined as a Negroni or an Americano to sip before dinner. Or just to sip in the bar if you’re not dining.
The food is both contemporary and staunchly traditional. Slow roasted meats are always amazing here – something of a speciality, in fact – and on the occasion we visit, the beef that comes sliced through to reveal a blushing pink, is a picture. We eat it with fat, triple-cooked chips. The menu changes daily depending on the ingredients available but think rabbit, wood pigeon and venison on menus that sway towards the meatier side of things. Sunday lunch is the exception: you can book a table (lunch is served from 2pm) and there is a set menu that features the Anchor and Hope’s idea of what a roast should look like. And by all accounts what it looks like is something a bit special. A serious wine list supports the serious cooking and the majority of bottles are Old World, with France dominating in particular. Prices range from £17.00 to £75.00 a bottle which means that a two-course meal at the Anchor and Hope with a modestly priced bottle of wine will cost a couple around £80 including service. Cheap it is not, but don’t let the informal environment and comfortable atmosphere fool you into thinking the food here is anything but exquisite.
Reviewed by T.A.O
Published on Oct 10, 2014
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Part of a group of five gastropubs, The Anchor & Hope on The Cut has some of the best food in the area (chopped octopus with aioli, Hereford beef ragu). There are ales on rotation and cocktails as well as a comprehensive wine list.
User Reviews
Belinda
from Hersham
from Hersham
Jul 15, 2014
Anchor & Hope on the Cut just around the corner from Waterloo is such an unassuming place in a really unassuming road, but the food is really excellent. There's so little by way of quality food around Waterloo, so this is a wonderful find for me who is in the area a lot.
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