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The Shed in Notting Hill is literally a shed. And not ‘literally’ in the ‘OMG literally’ way it’s so often used – but, literally, a shed.

The Shed Notting Hill Review: The Lowdown

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And that adds to its charm. This weekend, sitting on an uncomfortable garden chair with my elbow just millimetres away from the next table and my feet unavoidably caressing my friend opposite me, I devoured one of the tastiest meals I’ve had all year.

The Shed Notting Hill Review: The Food

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From pickled fennel and sticky spatchcock quail with BBQ sauce to beetroot humus and The Shed’s speciality mushroom marmite, each item from the set menu, at £37 per person, tickled my tastebuds and left me wanting more.

The Shed is well respected for its sustainability, it has been awarded three stars by the Sustainable Restaurant Association, and it’s clear to see why. Most of the ingredients are sourced from local farms and the chefs apply “nose-to-tail” cooking to avoid waste. The food is seasonal with a regularly changing menu, including the cocktails with fresh fruit – we loved the pear blossom loosener. If that’s not enough to make you fall in love with The Shed, the knowledge that it’s a family-run restaurant headed up by two brothers should do the trick.

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The beige (not pink) taramasalata is served with thin breadsticks and purple (not orange) carrots – these being the colours, our waiter informed me, that taramasalata and carrots “should actually be”.

We were reassured (I use the word loosely) that this pork terrine was made up of “the best parts of the pig’s head…but no brain”. It was my least favourite of all the dishes but I’m neither a pork nor a pate person, so who am I to judge?

The pan-fried goat’s cheese with caramelized hazelnuts, honey and thyme more than made up for the pig’s head terrine – it was divine.

After what felt like three thousand courses, dessert was served. I normally don’t trust puddings in restaurants that pride themselves on being organic, but part of The Shed’s appeal is its lack of pretentiousness. The doorstop slices of caramel vienetta and the cholesterol-clogging chunks of chocolate-dunked honeycomb were decadent and delicious.

The rhubarb, almond and lemon curd fool was the perfect zesty conclusion to a dinner with so many contrasting tastes and textures.

The Shed Notting Hill Review: Our Verdict

With its rustic charisma I’d recommend The Shed to anyone. The only type of person I wouldn’t recommend it to would be someone with an aversion to sitting on a garden stool for dinner and, in my humble opinion, if they’re that fussy they’re not worth eating out with anyway.