The Pie Room
Nancy Silverton ate the dauphinoise pie here and then put a version of it on her own menu at Chi Spacca in Los Angeles.
Why go
It is a glass-fronted kitchen inside Holborn Dining Room at the Rosewood, given over entirely to British pie making, where savoury and sweet pastries are shaped by hand and served in ever changing forms
(Rosewood). By day it works as a window: you order a pie and take it away. In the evening the same room turns into a ten-seat private dining room where every course is built on pastry, bookable Wednesday to Saturday from five. Calum Franklin founded it and ran it from 2014 to 2022, and he has been gone four years, which most listings still have not caught up with. What is current is Silverton's 2024 pick, which postdates his departure.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the dauphinoise potato pie with Comté and caramelised onion. Whatever else is on that week, since the roster moves. A sweet pastry from the same counter.
- Avoid: expecting somewhere to sit during the day. Turning up for the evening room without booking, because it seats ten. Coming for Calum Franklin's cooking.
What locals & experts say
- Nancy Silverton, chef-founder of Pizzeria Mozza and Chi Spacca, asked for her favourite London restaurants:
The Pie Room serves perfectly crafted pies with delicious fillings and perfect pastry. You walk up to the window and order a pie, if you're lucky enough, you can sneak a peek of the pie-making. I love the Dauphinoise Potato Pie with Comte and Caramelised Onion. I've actually got a pie inspired by this that I serve at my restaurant Chi Spacca in Los Angeles.
1 - Joanne Gould for Londonist, on the range:
the dedicated pie kitchen carries a thrilling roster of changing pies that are all contenders for the 'best in town' prize.
That is from 2019 and predates the change of chef, so read it as evidence of the rotation rather than as a current verdict.4 - No critic since 2019. Nothing found assesses the pastry after Franklin left, and nobody has named who makes it now.
Good to know
- Where: inside Holborn Dining Room at Rosewood London, 252 High Holborn, WC1V 7EN. The host room describes itself as
A grand brasserie set in the heart of London, Holborn Dining Room serves up Seasonal British cuisine with a twist in a vibrantly bustling dining salon.
3 - Two rooms in one: a takeaway pie window by day, a ten-seat private dining room in the evening, Wednesday to Saturday from 5pm.
- Also: a takeaway arm called The Pie Hole sells through the Rosewood shop.
- Hygiene: The Pie Room has no FSA registration of its own. Rosewood London Hotel, which it sits inside, holds rating 5 from an inspection on 24 March 2026 with all three components clean. That is the hotel's record.5
Verdict
should-visit — Nancy Silverton walked up to the window, ate the dauphinoise potato pie with Comte and caramelised onion, and then went home to Los Angeles and put a pie inspired by it on the menu at Chi Spacca. A chef reproducing your dish on her own menu is the strongest endorsement in this whole batch, and it is dated June 2024, which matters because Calum Franklin, who founded this room and made its name, left in 2022. The kitchen is glass-fronted and the pastry is shaped by hand where you can watch it, and the roster changes: Rosewood calls it ever changing forms and Londonist called it a thrilling roster of changing pies. Know what you are walking into, though. By day it is a window you order from and carry away. In the evening the same space becomes a ten-seat private dining room where every course is built on pastry, bookable Wednesday to Saturday from five. It holds at should-visit because nobody has assessed the pastry in print since 2019 and nobody will say who is making it now.