Ex-Café Royal chef takes head role at high-profile pub

Robert Homer, whose culinary CV includes the likes of the Domino Restaurant at Hotel Café Royal in Piccadilly and Bentley's Seafood and Oyster Bar & Grill in Mayfair, takes on the role at the pub, which has won serious acclaim from critics and the public for its food offer.  

Co-owner Luke Mackay said: "We are absolutely delighted to have Robert on board and are very excited to work with him on finalising the new menus for the pub."

Food speaks volumes​

He added: "As soon as he cooked for us we knew we had to snap him up – his food speaks volumes and is the perfect fit for the Hour Glass, simple pub food done very, very well."

Dishes currently on offer at the pub include whipped cod roe with sourdough and raw fennel, stone bass with cuttlefish ink stew, fennel and new potatoes and flat iron steak with dripping chips, bone marrow gravy and watercress.

The Hour Glass was opened by Mackay and David Turcan, owners of popular deli Brompton Food Market, also in Kensington, in autumn last year.

Leave a mark​

Mackay told the Publican's Morning Advertiser ​he and Turcan wanted to "leave their mark on London"​.

He said: "It's not a burst of PR like a Shoreditch pop-up, it's something that will be here a bit longer and become part of the fabric of South Kensington."