Food Porn #6: Sunday Roast at the Avalon

Roast beef with all the trimmings at The Avalon, a Clapham pub that does surprisingly good foor - their roasts being no exception.  With an extra Yorkie - because no roast is complete without one.  Bloody Mary's pretty good too...  This is what Sundays should be about - but make sure you book; they get extremely busy.

British Pie Week at the White Swan

Last week was British Pie Week. 

It's true, it actually was.  Sadly, this is one of those festivals that is not nearly well celebrated enough.  In fact, for most average punters, I rather imagine that British Pie Week went by unnoticed.  Fortunately, one of the people to notice it was owners of the White Swan.

It is not without a hint of irony that I note that British Pie Week has come around just as the British weather has started to (finally!) improve.  I have written before about how I believe that pies are best eaten when the weather is cold and miserable (with the exception of cold meat pies, like a pork pie or a game pie, which wants to be eaten and a hot, sunny picnic).  Nevertheless, this Grubster (together with a couple of work mates) steeled itself to venture out during the day to sample the crusts.

And thank heavens we did. 

We were offered a trio of carb-crusted meats to sample: cottage pie, steak, ale and oyster or pigs' cheek pudding.  Josh and I opted, rather unimaginatively, for the steak, ale and oyster.

Now, I'm not especially good with oysters, I won’t lie.  And by 'not especially good' I mean that they make me wretch.  So I was nervous to say the least.  I am very glad I let the joy of the beef win out over the fear of the mollusc, because this was quite simply one of the very best pies I have ever had in my life.  Ever. 

The gravy was rich, silky, smooth.  The oysters, far from the fear I had, added a distinct, saltine, almost maritime, bite to the dish.  It was a thing of absolute beauty – from the presentation through the textures to the taste.  I could not have asked for better.  It even came with a little, garlic crumb-crusted oyster on the side.  It was only because I was in polite company that restrained myself from licking the bowl.

Toby had the pigs' cheek pudding.  Proper suet puddings are few and far between – probably with good reason, given the health consideration – which is a sad thing.  Because they a beautiful beasts.  A dainty wee pudding like this, complete with curly kale and chopped, sautéed kidneys, was more than enough for a casual lunch – and, I gather, very tasty.

My only regret of pie week is this: now that it’s over, the pies are off the menu.  This is truly a tragedy, as with pie-making skill like that, the Swan should be dishing them out every damn day.

The White Swan itself is a great venue – a top-notch City boozer just off Fleet Street. 

I've eaten there a few times before and always enjoyed the food – whether it's been a lobster salad or fish and chips.  The chef clearly isn't afraid of cooking the unpopular (yet increasingly fashionable) bits we don’t like to think about – I remember that, for a long time, the bar snacks menu proudly displayed an offering of ducks hearts and livers on toast – now sadly off the menu.  The standard burger is, I am happy to say, one of the best pub burgers out there.

So if you're in the neighbourhood, pop in.  even if you can’t get a pie.

- GrubsterBoy -

Food Porn #5: Bread

If you're gonna serve bread and oil, like every other gastropub under the sun, at least make it look pretty.  Hats off to The Wellington in Welwyn for doing so.  In a flipping flower pot.

Food Porn #3: Tankard

Beer, the way it's meant to be served.  Nice little drop called 'Hank' from Newport's Tiny Rebel Brewing Co. - Lots of floral scents and hoppy flavours, very craft beer-esque.  Served up at the Fox & Anchor which is a nice enough pub in itself (with pretty good food) but whose fantastic selling point is pewter tankards for the punters.  And, you know what?  It does taste better out of pewter.

Also, right round the corner from Kurtz & Lang, so if you fancy yourself a post-pint munchfest, happy days...

 - GrubsterBoy -

Great British Beer Festival

Last night some friends and I hit the Great British Beer Festival at London Olympia.

I heartily recommend it.  Especially if you like beer – by which I mean the flat, cloudy brown stuff, not the cheap, fizzy yellow stuff.  Basically, £10 gets you entry to a massive big room full of – quite literally – thousands of different beers to try.

I'm not going to list out each and every beer – apart from anything else, I can't remember them all.  In total, I must have tried about a dozen and tasted many more.  At the entrance you're asked to buy a glass for £3, which you can either give back (for your money back) or keep.  The glasses are marked: pint, half pint, one-third pint.  I strongly recommend buying thirds only – a friend tried halves before realising, very early on, the error of his ways.  After all, you don’t want to limit yourself to the different varieties you can try!

Having said I'm not going to list them out, here are a few good beers to look out for: the cherry lager and the Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen, on the German stall.  The Rauchbier is particularly interesting, given how it's a heavily smoked beer that smells like the inside of Bodeans and tastes of BBQ ribs.  Watch out though: it comes in at 8%.  The Barum EPA from Devon is a very refreshing drop, as Dancing Duck's DCUK beer, from Derbyshire.  There are also amazing ciders and perrys on sale as well, if that's your kind of thing.  I had a glass of Severnsider, from Gloucestershire, that was at the sweetest end of the range – almost too much so, a little like drinking apple Ribena...

But the star of the show, the absolute humdinger of a beer, was this one.  The Starr Hill Brewing Co.'s Bourbon Barrel Cryptic Imperial Stout.  Hailing from Crozet, Virginia (their address is the fantastically named "Three Notched Road"), this epic brew is aged for two years in old bourbon barrels – a process that adds 3% ABV to the brew, bringing it up to a teeth-sucking 10%.  At that strength, you're not going to want to drink it by the pint – not that you could at the festival, they only serve it by the third – but that's no problem because it's so rich and beefy that you wouldn’t want to.  It's treacly, caramelly flavours are perfectly matched by the a smooth, thick consistency.  I think I'm in love.

 

American craft beers are undergoing a real renaissance at the moment – and rightly so, if this drop's anything to judge them by.  Tragically, all the Googling in the world has left me unable to find this particular brew in the UK, but if anyone knows of it, please let me know!

Sure, there's an eclectic mix of people, shall we say, ranging from the city boys with their reluctant girlfriends (who look ever so slightly lost and confused) to the beard-and-cardigan-and-socks-with-sandals brigade, who are deadly serious about this thing.  But it's still a great event – a perfect night out with the boys. 

Also, BBC News tells a sad tale this morning.  In some parts of the country pubs are closing at a rate of 22% per year, which is just frightening.  Drinking more beer is apparently the thing to do – CAMRA actually says so – so you should see visiting the Great British Beer Festival as your patriotic duty. 

 - GrubsterBoy -