The Session #149: Pub Food
I was so happy to hear about the latest topic for the Session this month: pub food. And of course now we’ve arrived and I haven’t had a moment to write anything. And I haven’t really got a moment now. So in my minus time I am throwing something together on the hoof.
Regular readers will raise a quizzical eyebrow and say “that makes a change.”
But that’s as maybe. I love pub food. Weirdly, I wrote about gastropubs for What’s Brewing which came out a couple of days before I heard about David Jesudason’s choice of topic for this month. While fancy food (with generous helpings of good beer) certainly has its place in my book, there is also more humble fare offered by the pub that I love.
Looking over this very blog, I realised that I’d got close to writing about a similar topic as another What’s Brewing column of mine in recent weeks, which berates local newspapers for using AI to generate lists of the best local pubs to visit. Of course, I had totally forgotten about this until just now. In 2019, I took the TripAdvisor aggregate for Leicester and gave my own opinion, which covered a fair few pubs. I based that on places I’d actually visited – and made it my business to go and check the number one spot before writing about it.
Speaking of Leicester, any conversation about pub food has got to include a gratuitous picture of the cheese and onion cobs at the Blue Boar in the centre of the city. They were, and are, the originators of the doorstop cheese cob in my opinion. The first to go viral and rightly the benchmark ever since. Naturally I took a picture on a visit last month. Which I cannot currently find and don’t have time to look for.
Instead, then, here is a gallery of images of pub food quickly scoured from my existing blog media library, and my quick guide to pub food that I think it important. To the exclusion of no doubt lots of other things that I would have written about if I had more time. I’m not going to write about crisps, snacks and Scampi Fries, because I bet loads of people will write about scampi fries.
To run through the gallery in order then, we have the fancy food. The oysters at the Knight and Garter are part of a broader menu of deliciousness I have always loved. My gastropub post above shows that I think there is certainly a place for great food with perfect presentation in the pub. I still think the Knight and Garter is the best place to eat in Leicester to the exclusion of all others.
Next up we have the roast dinner. I will take your carvery, your plated dinner, your fancy microleaf garnish and your tinned carrot bargain basement. I love them all. I love cooking a roast, but if there isn’t time or opportunity my next choice is a roast at the pub. I’ve written the definitive guide to the Sunday dinner on these pages.
Then we have your standard pub grub. The pie is a prime example. This is a particularly nice one, but again I’m all for unfussy, simple meals that really fill a gap. I’m not a big snacker so I tend to not bother with crisps or cobs in a pub. If I’m hungry, I want a full meal. And pub grub is wonderfully heavy, stodgy and satisfying.
The mac n cheese represents non-standard pub grub which has become ubiquitous in recent years. The gourmet burger trend in restaurants generally led to the Americanisation of many pub menus with burgers, hot dogs and of course mac n cheese. Again this indulgent dish is something I’ll gravitate towards. But I point you also to the widespread appearance of things like tacos and even Korean crispy beef in amongst the standard pub favourites. If they’re cooked well, I wholeheartedly approve.
Next up, are pub foods in other countries. Oh, how I miss tapas culture in Spain. Especially those wonderful bars that give you a little bite to eat whenever you order a drink. I am definitely one for snacking if someone gives me some Iberico, a slab of room temperature tortilla or a little bowl of Russian Salad. I was so jealous in fact, that I set up my own Tapas Trail in 2015 to get the thing that I wanted to happen happening in pubs I visit.
And finally, can you remember when Deliveroo first started? I can, because I wrote about it. I was given a voucher and I ordered food to a pub to share with my mates. I can’t quite believe it was 10 years ago. Of course, there are significant problems with Deliveroo and the gig economy, which we hadn’t quite established straight off the bat. It was a revelation to be able to get a takeout delivered straight to you at the pub, or at least it was for me. I really like pubs that don’t offer food who allow you to bring your own. You do make everyone else jealous when you unwrap your delicious package of joy, but it’s such a cheeky treat.
cf: orange chips and a samosa from the chippy round the corner at The Boot in Wellington.
