Number 98 on the world’s best gastropub’s list is The Fox & Pheasant in Chelsea. Staying not so far away, we landed a Thursday night reservation and were greeted with a walk through a charming neighborhood to said neighborhood enjoying drinks in the street on a lovely summer night. Based on this, we thought the pub would be rammed, but with only two seatings each night, it was a good balance of full.

The inside feels like dining in a posh greenhouse and the roof retracts, though it didn’t manage to while we were there.

As a starter, I had the half British, burrata and Isle of Wight tomatoes in a romanesco sauce. It was absolutely divine and I wish I’d have gone for it as a main.

The Gentleman went for a pressed lamb with a pea puree fritter, an inventive combo that he quite enjoyed and also cited, that it could have easily been a main.

My main is where I went wrong. There were too many lovely choices, so I made the mistake of asking the waiter his favorite to which he proceeded to share it was a “bacon steak with grilled pineapple.” Obsessed with all things pineapple, I couldn’t resist and thought it sounded outside of my norm, so I ordered. There’s a reason it is outside of the norm, copious amounts of salt. I love salt but this was nearly inedible, like a porkchop that went swimming and somehow still managed to be tough. The pineapple was paltry and far to small to cut the saltiness of the giant steak. Big fail for me.

Despite being a phenomenal cook, when we go to London, The Gentleman tends to obsess over a chicken burger rather than seek new ideas- a phenomenon I’ve yet to understand. So, he did just that and in this version the burger was topped with shredded short rib. Oh la la. He seemed to enjoy, though couldn’t finish it which unfortunately had us skipping the “bottomless Eton mess” that was meant to follow.

Would I return to this less than central pub? Maybe, but probably not, though it’s not a terrible option if you’re headed to the nearby stadium. I was really turned off by the bacon steak as well as some obnoxious clientele next to us. Better to work our way through the list of top 100 pubs.