It's not often that Gastroboy can be persuaded to travel as far as Wandsworth. Free tickets to Twickenham to see England play South Africa will help. So too will the prospect of a visit to The Ship, on Jews Row, although only slightly because The Ship, much like yesterday's rugby match, was fairly average and salvaged as an experience mainly by it's location.
The Ship is situated off an enormous roundabout, behind a McDonald's in the middle of a transport and industrial complex, which doesn't sound very promising. However, all that crap is largely abandoned on a Saturday, insulating the pub from the 'hustle and bustle' of London. Plus it is also on the banks of the Thames and has a large conservatory patio area over looking the river - excellent in the summer. All good so far.
Inside is a fairly standard gastro by numbers effort. Wood floors and paisley patterns on the seat covers. The menu is equally predictable - Should I have the swordfish steak or the 9.95 gastroburger? However, there's a lack of pretension (by gastro standards) here that's quite refreshing. Bread and olives came with butter in little foil packs. The burger is just an 'Angus beef burger' not a '21 day aged...', and when gastroboy ordered it, no-one enquired as to how he would 'like it done'.
And actually, it was a pretty good burger. No ridiculous trimmings or fillers. Just a tasty, herby butcher's burger served with excellently light and fluffy fries. Apparently the sausage and mash was ok too.
The pub also has a posher, restaurant bit, which serves the same food but with pre-set tables and an encouragement towards the promisingly extensive (and expensive) wine list.
Not much more to say about this one. Definitely not worth crossing the river for, let alone taking the Wimbledon branch of the District Line. But if you find yourself near Wandsworth Bridge and in need of a pint of Star you could do a lot worse.
Sunday, November 26
Sunday, November 19
The Noble
Stop press.
Gastroboy has discovered a brand new Gastropub in football focused Finsbury Park. Calling itself The Noble, this isn't quite a pub or a cafe but not really a restaurant either. Cake and coffee on the menu combined with densely packed tables suggest an upmarket cafe, whilst a bar based structure and splattering of trendies drinking pints of Spanish lager whilst reclining on battered leather sofas and reading the complimentary papers suggests a gastropub. The prices are more reminiscent of a restaurant but then, based on the lunch time sample today, the food is of appropriate quality.
Sunday lunch was meat and veg focused with a choice of roasts, various veggie mushroom risotto type dishes and an (excellent) pork thing. The medium rare pork, stuffed with apple chunks marinated in a Chinese spice and served over roasted root veg in a soy and meat juice gravy was a definite hit. The weekday menu appears to be more substantial and will definitely require a second visit. The team also approved of the unobtrusive music which fluctuated between Portishead and The Eagles.
Located amongst the faded kebabery of Crouch Hill, The Noble appears at first a little incongruous decked in its subdued gastro tones. However, a mere three weeks into its life it is already popular with the local three-wheeler pram brigade and there was barely a free table left when the team departed around 5pm today.
Gastoboy approves of anything which provides a viable alternative to the Old Dairy and the Larrick on this stretch of the Stroud Green road and will be encouraging his friends to visit The Noble again.
Gastroboy has discovered a brand new Gastropub in football focused Finsbury Park. Calling itself The Noble, this isn't quite a pub or a cafe but not really a restaurant either. Cake and coffee on the menu combined with densely packed tables suggest an upmarket cafe, whilst a bar based structure and splattering of trendies drinking pints of Spanish lager whilst reclining on battered leather sofas and reading the complimentary papers suggests a gastropub. The prices are more reminiscent of a restaurant but then, based on the lunch time sample today, the food is of appropriate quality.
Sunday lunch was meat and veg focused with a choice of roasts, various veggie mushroom risotto type dishes and an (excellent) pork thing. The medium rare pork, stuffed with apple chunks marinated in a Chinese spice and served over roasted root veg in a soy and meat juice gravy was a definite hit. The weekday menu appears to be more substantial and will definitely require a second visit. The team also approved of the unobtrusive music which fluctuated between Portishead and The Eagles.
Located amongst the faded kebabery of Crouch Hill, The Noble appears at first a little incongruous decked in its subdued gastro tones. However, a mere three weeks into its life it is already popular with the local three-wheeler pram brigade and there was barely a free table left when the team departed around 5pm today.
Gastoboy approves of anything which provides a viable alternative to the Old Dairy and the Larrick on this stretch of the Stroud Green road and will be encouraging his friends to visit The Noble again.
The Porterhouse, The Barnsbury
Yesterday was interesting. Owing to an unhappy coincidence of work-travel, work-work and poor social planning on his part, Gastroboy has been rather busy of late. So it was with some regret that Saturday was spent running around London is a blind panic being late for things, rather than sleeping or similar. As usual some of the things in questions were London pubs.
The Porterhouse near Covent Garden is not known for being a harmonious mix of Sunday papers, ambient music, and eclectic fittings illuminated by giant airy windows. It is in fact know for being a vast, dark, sweaty Central London pit where access to bar is via a scrum (if that's the correct collective noun) of giant South Africans. But that (the team were assured by the Internet and others) is in the evening only, and let's face it, the Porterhouse does have one of the most extensive lists of world beers in the city. And since the team hadn't been there for lunch and since Gastroboy's punishing schedule required a Central London lunch venue, it was decided to give it a go.
On the plus side, the lager/stout/ale list is titanic. Confronted with such a choice, the team overwhelmingly resorted to the house lager (a drinkable Teutonic pilsner called Temple Brau) The only variation on this being a bottle from Austria labeled 'The World's Strongest Lager' which at 14% tasted somewhere between sherry and Kestrel super strength. Gastroboy imagines that an excellent evening could be spent here comparing the lagers of Laos and Palestine, or blind tasting central European Hefes and Weisses . Except that he knows what evenings in the Porterhouse are like.
The food is pretty average at best. The portions were hearty enough, but construction was uninspiring. A 'super hot burger' transpired to be a bog-standard grey frozen burger (albeit a big one) with a virtually undetectable splash of sweet chili sauce. Beef and Stout stew basically turned out to be a vast beef and ale pie without any of that girly pastry stuff. That said, nothing was actively unpleasant, which is a substantial improvement over 95% of the neighbouring public houses, and the service was quick and efficient.
Gastroboy was much more comfortable with the choice of venue for the evening meal. The Barnsbury on Liverpool Road in Islington managed to defy its reputation as a snooty, unwelcoming establishment when a reservation-less Gastroboy, his brother and his eighty year old grandfather turned up for dinner at 6.25 on a Saturday night. Further more, owing to jazz commitments, the trio had to be out by 7.10, well ahead of the average patron's dinner time. To the credit of the Barnsbury, tables were moved around and they even opened the kitchen early to accommodate.
Beer in the Barnsbury is surprisingly standard, San-Miguel and Leffe at the top end but with the likes or Carling or Stella available. They have a good wine list, unsampled on this occasion. The food, though, is excellent.
The menu is definitely upmarket gastro, with more of a French or Mediterranean flavour than some. No gastro-burgers or wilted leaf spinach chiabattas here, but no roast partridge or game pie either. A Confit de canard managed to be moist and succulent, yet with a crispy skin and fall off the bone nature that most Chinese restaurants can only dream off. And served with mash and over a red cabbage thing that was perfumed with wine, cloves and vinegar like a Christmas evening, fantastic. Gastroboy's relations has the sea bass which was also thoroughly tasty and very fresh.
A one course meal with booze cost around £20 a head making this a little pricey even by Islington standards. But if you are looking for somewhere that is 60% restaurant and 40% pub (don't even think about going there if you aren't planning on eating), don't mind spending a bit, and want to keep on drinking once you're done, then Gastroboy can recommend the Barnsbury.
Incidentally, Gastroboy can also recommend the music of legendary 60 year old jazz bassist Dave Holland and his slightly more sprightly quintet, who played last night at the Barbican. One of a relatively small number of things that will make him rush a meal and leave the pub less than an hour from arriving.
The Porterhouse near Covent Garden is not known for being a harmonious mix of Sunday papers, ambient music, and eclectic fittings illuminated by giant airy windows. It is in fact know for being a vast, dark, sweaty Central London pit where access to bar is via a scrum (if that's the correct collective noun) of giant South Africans. But that (the team were assured by the Internet and others) is in the evening only, and let's face it, the Porterhouse does have one of the most extensive lists of world beers in the city. And since the team hadn't been there for lunch and since Gastroboy's punishing schedule required a Central London lunch venue, it was decided to give it a go.
On the plus side, the lager/stout/ale list is titanic. Confronted with such a choice, the team overwhelmingly resorted to the house lager (a drinkable Teutonic pilsner called Temple Brau) The only variation on this being a bottle from Austria labeled 'The World's Strongest Lager' which at 14% tasted somewhere between sherry and Kestrel super strength. Gastroboy imagines that an excellent evening could be spent here comparing the lagers of Laos and Palestine, or blind tasting central European Hefes and Weisses . Except that he knows what evenings in the Porterhouse are like.
The food is pretty average at best. The portions were hearty enough, but construction was uninspiring. A 'super hot burger' transpired to be a bog-standard grey frozen burger (albeit a big one) with a virtually undetectable splash of sweet chili sauce. Beef and Stout stew basically turned out to be a vast beef and ale pie without any of that girly pastry stuff. That said, nothing was actively unpleasant, which is a substantial improvement over 95% of the neighbouring public houses, and the service was quick and efficient.
Gastroboy was much more comfortable with the choice of venue for the evening meal. The Barnsbury on Liverpool Road in Islington managed to defy its reputation as a snooty, unwelcoming establishment when a reservation-less Gastroboy, his brother and his eighty year old grandfather turned up for dinner at 6.25 on a Saturday night. Further more, owing to jazz commitments, the trio had to be out by 7.10, well ahead of the average patron's dinner time. To the credit of the Barnsbury, tables were moved around and they even opened the kitchen early to accommodate.
Beer in the Barnsbury is surprisingly standard, San-Miguel and Leffe at the top end but with the likes or Carling or Stella available. They have a good wine list, unsampled on this occasion. The food, though, is excellent.
The menu is definitely upmarket gastro, with more of a French or Mediterranean flavour than some. No gastro-burgers or wilted leaf spinach chiabattas here, but no roast partridge or game pie either. A Confit de canard managed to be moist and succulent, yet with a crispy skin and fall off the bone nature that most Chinese restaurants can only dream off. And served with mash and over a red cabbage thing that was perfumed with wine, cloves and vinegar like a Christmas evening, fantastic. Gastroboy's relations has the sea bass which was also thoroughly tasty and very fresh.
A one course meal with booze cost around £20 a head making this a little pricey even by Islington standards. But if you are looking for somewhere that is 60% restaurant and 40% pub (don't even think about going there if you aren't planning on eating), don't mind spending a bit, and want to keep on drinking once you're done, then Gastroboy can recommend the Barnsbury.
Incidentally, Gastroboy can also recommend the music of legendary 60 year old jazz bassist Dave Holland and his slightly more sprightly quintet, who played last night at the Barbican. One of a relatively small number of things that will make him rush a meal and leave the pub less than an hour from arriving.
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