Fallow’s corn ribs quickly establish why the restaurant has generated so much attention, combining substantial pieces of corn with kombu seasoning, spice, and lime. Hannah and guest Gary Eats are both enthusiastic, while still finding enough detail to explain why the dish works rather than simply declaring it delicious. Their contrasting reactions become more useful with the Devon crab nachos, where the creamy crab and crunch impress both reviewers but the large jalapeño pieces and heavy coriander push the balance further than Gary would prefer.
Having two diners proves especially valuable because it allows a much broader look at the menu without turning the meal into an implausible solo feast. The burrata with spiced pumpkin achar, coriander, and crispy seaweed becomes one of the clear highlights, particularly for the combination of cold, creamy cheese, sweetness, acidity, and crunch. Hannah scores it 9.4 while Gary goes straight to 10, and their discussion of texture provides more substance than the numbers themselves.
The glazed dairy-cow baby back ribs receive similarly strong praise. Their meat pulls easily from the bone, and both diners highlight the tenderness, juiciness, sweetness, saltiness, and restrained smoky character. Hannah’s 9.75 and Gary’s 10 make this another standout, although Hannah still identifies a small preference for additional sauce. These moments show the review at its best: enthusiastic without entirely abandoning specific criticism.
The smoked cod head provides the meal’s most interesting disagreement and the most adventurous test of Fallow’s cooking. Gary appreciates the restaurant using a part of the fish that might otherwise be discarded and enjoys the cheek meat, smokiness, roasted chilies, sriracha-style sauce, and leek oil. Hannah is considerably less comfortable with the fishier flavor, gelatinous textures, visible head and teeth, eventually settling on 6.5 compared with Gary’s 8.5. Neither reaction is treated as definitive, which makes the exchange more informative for viewers deciding whether such a dish would suit their own tastes.
A strawberry sandwich with cheesecake mousse and elderflower ice cream finishes the meal on another high. The contrast between the soft filling and crunchy elements receives particular attention, while the dessert is praised for remaining light and avoiding excessive sweetness. Beyond the food, the review also gives a useful sense of Fallow’s atmosphere through its open kitchen, outdoor seating, bar seating, tableware, busy dining room, and casual approach to comparatively elaborate dishes.
Hannah and Gary have easy chemistry, and the collaboration makes the episode warmer and more conversational than a conventional restaurant assessment. There is plenty of joking about wine glasses, cold canned food, the cameraman eating, pronunciation, and the intimidating cod head, which keeps a long succession of dishes entertaining. The tradeoff is that these digressions sometimes delay the actual tasting observations, and several descriptions circle repeatedly around familiar words such as creamy, spicy, fresh, smoky, and crunchy rather than developing a more precise account.
The biggest informational omission arrives at the end when Gary pays the bill before Hannah can show it. Individual dish prices are provided throughout, but viewers never receive the total cost, making it harder to judge the overall value of the meal. Likewise, the claim that Fallow is London’s busiest restaurant rests primarily on a brief discussion of serving roughly 1,100 people on a Saturday rather than a demonstrated comparison with other restaurants. As an experience-driven food review, however, it succeeds in showing both why the restaurant attracts attention and where personal taste can sharply alter the verdict.
Pros
- The two-person format allows more dishes to be tested and provides genuinely different reactions rather than automatic agreement.
- Food descriptions regularly address texture, heat, acidity, richness, smokiness, and sweetness alongside simple preference.
- The burrata, ribs, corn ribs, and strawberry dessert receive specific explanations for their high scores.
- The divided response to the cod head gives viewers a useful example of how strongly personal preferences can affect an adventurous dish.
- Shows enough of the seating, open kitchen, tableware, service, and crowd level to communicate the restaurant’s atmosphere.
- Hannah and Gary have relaxed chemistry that keeps the extended tasting lively.
Cons
- The final bill is never revealed, limiting any meaningful assessment of overall value.
- The claim that Fallow is London’s busiest restaurant is asserted more strongly than it is substantiated within the review.
- Frequent conversational detours occasionally interrupt the food assessment and make the presentation less focused.
- Some tasting descriptions become repetitive despite the considerable variety of dishes.
- Several scores are extremely high, while the distinctions between a very good dish and a near-perfect one are not always clearly defined.
Fallow comes across as a lively restaurant capable of pairing playful presentation with dishes that inspire unusually consistent enthusiasm, while the cod head provides a welcome point of genuine disagreement. Hannah and Gary’s chemistry makes the meal entertaining as well as informative, though tighter editing and a complete accounting of the cost would have made the assessment more useful. The result is an engaging restaurant visit with enough specific tasting detail to justify most of its excitement.
