Dining Out 047: The Library at the Hero
Dinner in Maida Vale.
Currently, I am in the process of undertaking one of the most banally rubbish things in life, which is: moving house. I mention this firstly because I am currently taking any opportunity to complain about it, and secondly and more importantly, because it is directly relevant to this week’s review.
To summarise, last Thursday (two days before we were due to get keys to our flat) my housemates and I were roundly told that actually, the landlord wouldn’t be going ahead with the move we had planned, like at all. Obviously this is Not Ideal in any way, but as luck would have it, that night, I had a pretty good antidote to bad news planned: I went to drink four very well-made cocktails, and eat mini sausages and a cheese toastie at The Library, the cosy bar nestled on the second floor of The Hero in Maida Vale. I can tell you on good authority that I very much recommend doing the same next time you have a minor-to-moderate life crisis.
The Hero, which is about a ten minute walk from Warwick Avenue tube, is a slightly confusing proposition, in that it is kind of three venues in one (four if you count private dining). Downstairs on the ground floor, there is The Pub, which is, you’ve guessed it, a pub – and a very beautiful one at that, all dark wood, the type of exposed-surface walls that I associate with the homes of very wealthy people, and soft leather booths – with a heavy dining element. It’s generally yassified British Classics in this bit: your jammy-centred Scotch eggs, your Shepherd’s Pie piped like an Instagram-famous birthday cake, and so on.
Next on the first floor is The Grill, which is the more seriously Restaurant bit, where they cook market meat and fish over a grill (shock). Then there is The Library, which is up on the second floor, and feels very different in vibe to what goes before it.
When you walk in, the lights are dim, and there is a small bar at the centre of the room. All of the seating is in plush velvet sofa form – no rows over the comfiest seat in the house here – and while they might look a bit small, with each one quite near its neighbour, once you’re actually sitting down it’s not an especial problem. Each little table is very sweetly candlelit, and in general it’s a very comfy, cute room in which to spend a few hours.
In terms of the menu, The Library is a cocktail bar, where the drinks list is made up of standards – martinis, margaritas, a rogue El Diablo – which is something I really enjoy. I love trying a weird-ass concoction sometimes, but I what I love even more is just picking from a menu of stuff I’ve heard of, and being presented with a reliably good version of whatever I’ve chosen.
Over the course of the evening I had a French 75, a vodka martini, a margarita and a sour-adjacent thing whose name escapes me (very me to be going on about how much I love The Classics and then being unable to name one of said classics), all of which were great – the martini, which I started with, was especially drinkable – if a little bit on the sweet side in some cases. And in terms of the bar snacks, we went reasonably hard on the order, due to a hunger/stress combination on my part.
We chose mackerel paté, a cheese toastie, some little sausages, and fries, and honestly, as a selection it was pretty unbeatable. I think in general, The Rise of The Wine Bar has had a negative impact on bar snacks – I like olives and nuts and salami and cheese platters of course, but when I’m drinking, if you give me the choice between one of those and a bowl of chipolatas I can spear individually with a fork, I think we all know what I’m going for – but this was just purely simple and satisfying and crowd-pleasing. I loved how the snacks menu contrasted a bit with the booze, because placed in the fancy environment, alongside the fancy drinks, it felt like a novel, warming combo.
From what I understand, the bar snacks are siphoned off from The Pub’s menu downstairs: that makes sense when you take into account the little elements of finesse on each dish. There was warm brown bread heaped with a puddle of melting butter to accompany the mackerel, and a sweet, sharp, chunky chutney on the cheese toastie* (flattened like the very best George Foreman sandwiches of my childhood, I might add). The sausages were glazed in mustard; the chips were browned and crispy, the way you’re always hoping chips will be when you order them.
In all, considering the annoying circumstances which had befallen me earlier that day, The Library felt like a bit of an oasis – a place to escape for a few hours, where I ate and drank delicious versions of stuff that felt familiar. In my memory, then, it’s already taken on a bit of a dreamscape quality, and I’m very grateful that the hazy atmosphere, spikily tart margarita, and generous, oozy toastie took the edge off a shit day. As I said earlier, I bet it would do the same for you, too.
* Not for nothing but this is the second cheese toastie I’ve eaten in a wine or cocktail bar in a few weeks, and I do think there’s a sea change towards less pretentious-seeming dishes happening in these places. If you see me writing a trend piece about this over the course of the next month, declaring cheese toasties the new king of small plates, please let me collect my coin in peace.
Dining Out is written by Lauren O’Neill and illustrated by Lucy Letherland. Weekly reviews are free to read every Thursday, and you can follow us on Instagram here, but if you’d like to see more, you can subscribe for £5 a month or £50 a year, to get extra content every second Sunday.
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