Part of the Cirrus Inns gastro group, the Cross Keys has been serving the folk of Chelsea for more than 300 years. Tucked away on a quiet residential street behind bustling Kings Road, with its rustic furniture and leather-clad booths amid bare brick walls and distressed panelling it’s essentially a country pub in the middle of the city, worth seeking out for the comfort, the calm, the cask beer and, of course, the food.
You can sit at the bar and snack on a home-made sausage roll with ketchup or roasted chilli pork belly bites before diving into a daily-changing field-to-fork menu that focuses on British produce, responsibly sourced and creatively cooked and presented.
Starters include Whitstable rock oysters, roasted cauliflower soup and chargrilled octopus. For mains you might choose a roasted guinea fowl, whole plaice or go for a steak and ale pie built for two. Or if it’s Sunday, a roast. Allowing room, of course, for an orange drizzle cake or pear and apple crumble.
