"This Maida Vale pub has been packed out since it opened in May 2024, but its upstairs grill is what proved The Hero is a winner on all fronts. This dining room isn’t a pub-hybrid; it’s just a very good restaurant—see the duck pie and raw beef on hash browns. The British menu reads like a pitch to gout, all made so wonderfully that it’s hard to resist a gloriously drawn-out dinner here." - rianne shlebak, heidi lauth beasley, sinead cranna