Gastro Pub Club...

[Conor]

that's the one and by the end of dinner you're a smoked sardine! But they've also got the craziest landlord in london, a guy called Gerry O'Brien who is worth a visit on his own.

[MobyP]

And Conor, Welcome to eGullet!

[Conor]

Many thanks, its a great site!

[Izabel_blue]

Hi gang,

Myself and the girls from work stumbled upon a little gem of a pub-with-food last night (I wouldn't call it a gastropub!). We had just failed to get into a live screening at Teddington studios and wandered back in a snit towards the station, where we bundled into a nondescript olde-worlde place called 'The Railway'.

One of my friends had been there before, and recommended their food menu, which was almost entirely Thai and incredibly priced-- starters for £3.95, mains for £5.50. We shared some fantastic tempura prawns, spring rolls and fishcakes to start, all delicately flavoured and fresh. For mains, I had prawn rendang (coconut curry) with jasmine rice, which was splendid. Friend #1 had a green curry with seafood, which looked good, and friend #2 had yummy Mee Pad with prawns...which I gave in and sampled. All were served by a friendly Thai fellow who had obviously been doing the cooking in the back.

It was rather refreshing to be eating this great inexpensive food in a quietish pub which still had the horse brasses on the fireplace,a jukebox in the corner and friendly folk behind the bar. As much as I like the idea of gastropubs every time I go to my local one (The Havelock) I love the food but hate the fact that it fills up so quickly with noisy media folk (ur, like myself).... The Railway was a nice surprise...and I left the pub only £16.00 lighter, having had a starter, main, and two G and Ts. Wow!

[MobyP]

Izabel - is the Havelock your local? I keep meaning to start a gastro pub crawl, and the Havelock has to be in on it.

[circeplum]

Very good cassoulet yesterday at The Hartley situated handily for the glamour of the Old Kent Road. Starter of snail, bacon & parsley salad was correct to.

yep, the hartley's lovely. really sweet staff, too.

x

[MobyP]

Feeling like I'd rather have unnecessary and violent dental surgery last night than cook dinner, we decided to pop into the Havelock, and had a fantastic meal. I think they have a new fella in the kitchen - the style seems to have changed slightly. But I swear, this is turning into my favourite place in London.

To start, 2 fillets of crispy red mullet wrapped in prosciutto, with salsa verde, and a green bean and rocket salad. This was perfect. Everything about it. The fish, perfectly cooked. The ham, adding a lovely saltiness. The salsa verde - which can be completely overbearing - was subtle and wonderful, with the odd chunk of cornichon or anchovy. And a great salad. And all for 6 quid!

Kate had the seared squid with aioli - which disappeared in a blur.

For mains, a chump of lamb with red wine sauce, which was cooked properly, and rested properly, and tasted marvelous.

Kate had a sea bass, with minted creamy lentils and spinach.

Too stuffed for desert. And the pub was more stuffed than usual - you media types! - on a Tuesday! Anyway - please don't go there. I want to keep this place to myself for those moments when unnecessary dental surgery seems like just the ticket.

[wgallois]

Thanks for the Drewe Arms tip Marc. It is exactly as you describe it. Had a fantastic onion tarte tatin (for 2) there the other night.

[Marco_Polo]

Thanks for the Drewe Arms tip Marc. It is exactly as you describe it. Had a fantastic onion tarte tatin (for 2) there the other night.

Glad you liked it! Did you have any fish there? It's usually sensational.

Another local tip: The Fish Shed at Dart's Farm, Topsham has now started its fish and chips. Just had some for lunch, sitting outside on the picnic tables in the field. Sensational!! Really light beer batter on fresh flaky cod, excellent chips, light vinegar and a squeeze of lemon. Also grilled sea bass, David's own diver's scallops, monkfish and more. Fish can be eiher battered and fried or grilled. Definitely worth a detour.

Cheers,

Marc

[circeplum]

sunday lunch yesterday at a great wee number in chiswick, the devonshire house. (devonshire road, same one as la trompette).

food was ace - gran reserva pata negra ham, a stunning fresh pea risotto with undyed smoked haddock, roasted free range chicken, and the best sticky tarte tatin i've had ...oh, in years.

x

[Conor]

I know this is a food website, but I this kind of fits! I had a great afternoon yesterday in the garden of The Windsor Castle in Kensington/Notting Hill at the top of Campden Hill. Few bottles of white wine with some friends and a plate of nachos!

The menu looked like basic gastro-pub food, special sausages with mash and gravy, greek salad etc. Its served all day and did not seem too expensive.

But the garden is great, especially as it can be hard to find pub gardens in central London.

[Gavin Convery]

A quick rec for the Palmerston on Lordship Lane in East Dulwich. Newly refurbished and with an ex-chef from the Wolseley. I started with Foie Gras pate with onion marmalade, then on to lamb with aubergine croquettes, dessert I can't recall. Bottle of Ca dei Frati for £21 and a nice D'Arenberg Shiraz with the lamb. Total bill for 4 was £200. Service was good and this is now the best restaurant in East Dulwich. They also have a hand in the trendy Sea Cow fish and chip shop/fishmonger down the road.

[Scott]

A quick rec for the Palmerston on Lordship Lane in East Dulwich. Newly refurbished and with an ex-chef from the Wolseley. I started with Foie Gras pate with onion marmalade, then on to lamb with aubergine croquettes, dessert I can't recall. Bottle of Ca dei Frati for £21 and a nice D'Arenberg Shiraz with the lamb. Total bill for 4 was £200. Service was good and this is now the best restaurant in East Dulwich. They also have a hand in the trendy Sea Cow fish and chip shop/fishmonger down the road.

Has the wolseley even been open long enough to have ex chef's?

[MobyP]

Sure - You're hired.

You're fired!

[Gavin Convery]

Yeah, I did wonder that....but the food was fine and that's all that matters....

[MobyP]

The Pelican All Saints Road, Notting Hill

We were told this place was owned and run by the same group that runs the Duke of Cambridge up up in Islington. As someone said, the winds must've been blowing pretty hard when the apple fell from that tree. The meal I had was dreadful. The room is an 'L' shaped box - entirely charmless. Industrial paint over industrial paint. For some reason the smoke really bothered me, and I'm usually a passionate second hander. The music kept on getting turned up until it was deafening. It was just one of those meals that you regret leaving the house for.

To start: baby squid on rocket salad - the squid were, as far as I could tell, essentially warmed through. There was no char, no singe marks. No lemon. No nothing. It was tasteless. The salad had no discernable dressing. Really. A waste of half-decent ingredients.

Slow cooked pork-belly on parsnip mash, and broccoli: this was just dreadful. Over-cooked, dried-out cardboard (How do you overcook pork-belly?). It had some odd hoi sin sauce thing happening on the plate which tasted out of a Safeways bottle. The parsnip mash had no discernable seasoning. The broccoli sat there as the humiliated representative of the vegetable family.

Ugh. I don't even feel like being vitriolic. It was bad.

We fled into the night...

[tony h]

The Londesborough, Stoke Newington

I've been meaning to try this wannabe gastopub for ages - mainly because its just around the corner from me. Sadly - its just a pub with a menu. We ordered but were asked to leave before the food arrived. Our crime - we asked for the fucking loud music to be turned down (christ - I'm turning into my dad). We asked - owner couldn't hear us - we asked again - still couldn't hear us - then we shouted - that why we want the fucking music turned down. idesigneditthisway & getoutofmypub & growup - plus a few other choice phases thrown at us. btw - there were only 4 others in the bar who were reading the weekend papers.

Next year's kitchen nightmares candidate & nobhead, me thinks.

[Scott -- DFW]

The following are listed as Top Ten Gastropubs on the View London web page. Any thoughts on their list?

The Cow Dining Room

The Eagle

The Atlas

The Oak

The North Star

The Salisbury Tavern

The Engineer

Bradley's Spanish Bar

The Durell

25 Canonbury Lane

Since I'll be in London for the first time next week, I'd appeciate tips and recommendations.

Thanks.

Scott

[Suzi Edwards]

the salusbury in queens park was great when i last went there..but that was about three years ago.

best gastropub was one of the categories in the recent time out eating and drinking awards. i've left my copy in the office...it's not on their website. or can anyone else remember who the nominees are?

[fisherman]

the engineer is ok, but nothing special, the beer garden is quite grotty. though we've not been for a while so things may have changed

[MobyP]

The Eagle was the original gastro pub - up in Farringdon. It might be ok, but I don't thnk anyone would say it's still in its prime.

The Atlas is around the corner from me. It's a great, comfortable space, but the food can be less than brilliant. I had a very nice freshly grilled sardines there, and then some pheasant (including buckshot!) where the sauce was a bit claggy.

Neither are as good as The Duke of Cambridge, or the Havelock Tavern on a good night, imo.

[PS]

Taking this to the other end of England, two great pubs/inns serving very good food in Cumbria:

The Punch Bowl in Crosthwaite - run by Steven Doherty, former Head Chef at La Gavroche. Haven't been for a while, but I remember a huge seafood platter that was a meal in itself.

The Drunken Duck, Barngates - good pub lunches during the day, like decent fish and chips, bangers and mash, then in the evening it goes more restauranty and continues to be of a high standard. And it's got its own brewery, producing some very tasty beers...

[Stigand]

The following are listed as Top Ten Gastropubs on the View London web page. Any thoughts on their list?

25 Canonbury Lane

I haven't been to 25 Canonbury Lane for about a year, but used to go pretty often.

It's a really nice little bar with comfy chairs, a tiny garden out the back (great for summer evening cocktails) and a very pleasant vibe; tends to be full of 25-35 year olds. It's very Islington.

Not sure I'd call it a great gastropub though. To me it's more of a cocktail bar (a pretty good one) that also serves a selection of miscellaneously-exotic tapas style dishes. Not bad but not the main reason to go there. I think they also do brunch on Sundays, which I've never had but which might be good.

[Izabel_blue]

Hello All,

To add to the Gastropub recommendations, I had a nice light lunch the other week at the Earl Spencer in Southfields, sister pub to the much-loved Havelock.

As my teacher friend had papers to mark we stayed off the booze and washed our lunches down with their refreshing home-made elderflower cocktail. I had a warm smoked mackerel salad with pea greens and creme fraiche, Teach had a lovely piece of aubergine and red pepper tart, and then we shared a most excellent slice of lemon polenta cake with clotted cream. Yum!

Even though there were a few too many crying children around I actually found myself liking the Earl of Spencer better than the Havelock, where I like the food but am not overly fond of the noisy, smoky atmosphere.

Anyways, check it out...website has menus updated daily:

http://www.theearlspencer.co.uk

[MobyP]

Thanks Izabel -

there's also a link (which I hadn't seen before) for The Havelock.