Sunday Roast and Beer @ The North Pole

Renovated and reopened last year and renamed the North Pole, this craft beer pub with over 22 beers and ciders on draught and more again in bottles behind the bar, this is slowly becoming my new hangout.

Sunday Roast @ The Charles Lamb

I’d wanted to eat at the Charles Lamb for years and I mean years, probably 3 or 4 at least, but with most things in my life things get changed always at the last minute.

A day out in Cambridge and the St John's Chophouse

It’s amazing really, since we moved to London 10 years ago this November, we have hardly left the capital to visit other areas of England, well apart from many a long haul trip to far of climes.

As when we lived outside this metropolis we were always wandering around this fair country of ours, but since then we’ve hardly done this. Does that mean that London is too good to leave? Me thinks not, we’ve just lazy that’s all.

Sunday Roast @ The Ship Tavern

The Ship tavern is situated down a small back alley behind Holborn station. The pub is a small, old and pretty gloomy looking place. Sometimes first impressions are deceiving.

An ale house has been situated on this sight since 1549, refreshing the locals  and workers of Holborn for nearly 500 years. Catholics used to hold secret masses here during the reign of Henry VIII, when being a Catholic was not in vogue. Maybe the Church would get more people to mass if they again held the 6pm service in a pub. A thought.

As Holborn is pretty empty and most of the shops and offices are closed at weekends, I’d imagine this pub is pretty lifeless on Sundays.

The downstairs dimly lit bar had two old geezers sitting at opposite ends of the bar looking distantly into their beers. Great atmosphere.

We ventured upstairs to the Oak Room restaurant. It wasn’t much better, but at least some Japanese tourists were speaking to each other. But as we were both nursing some bad hangovers from a night of Polish vodka and Chilean pisco sour drinking. The small chit chat was a welcome.

The Sunday roast menu is pretty good, we were tempted by the whole chicken (£20) to share, but somehow it would have been a bit too much, and with the way we were feeling it could have been the worst thing to have.

Pork or Beef that was the question. I needed some hair of the dog to level out my blood/sugar/alcohol level. So a pint of 1549 house ale was ordered whilst we made the moist important decision of the day.

The ale arrived in a tankard. I cannot remember the last time a pub, especially one in the city serving beer in a tankard. Very old skool.

As with a lot of pubs these days, the prices were a little on the higher side, but we were in Holborn. (Roasts between £12 - £14).

My topside of beef was well cooked and thinly sliced, and there was plenty of it. Amazing. It was nice and juicy and had a good taste, although I don’t normally eat topside as my roast, but it was pretty good.

The pork came as two large slices of thickly cut belly, great crackling and well was probably the tastiest piece of pork I’ve had in a long long time. Really bloody good. We couldn’t finish one of the slies, and it made some great sandwiches that night at home.

Both plates came with the same accompaniments. They really do serve a good yorkie, large crispy and damn tasty, a Yorkshire granny would have been proud of that. The tatties were soft and fluffy with a slight crispy outer. The only downside was the veg, a small portion of sautéed cabbage, a few carrot sticks and a small floret of cauliflower. Where were my peas.

A couple of other tables were occupied by the time we left, which on any other Sunday would have made this an average place, but with the way we were feeling it was just perfect. But Holborn at the weekend, you cannot really expect anything else.

I’d love to return and try this place in the week, as they have a pie night every Tuesday. A pie and a pint for £10. Can’t be bad. On Wednesdays is Moules night.

This had been my first roast in a while and it was a bloody good one. If you are in the area, I’d definitely give it a pop especially if there is a crowd of you, as the atmosphere could be lacking. But the food and the staff do make up for that.

Sunday Roast @ The Flask in Hampstead

I’ve been meaning to write this for ages now, but with things happening at the end of last year, Christmas, New Year blah blah blah, it all got forgotten about. But finally here it is.

The Flask ticks all the boxes for a good Sunday Roast. It has the appearance of an old time boozer, how it was in yesteryear, even though the brewers gave the place a refurb a few years ago. They did a good job for it to keep its original character.

There’s a nice dining area out the back, which has a lot of space and is better for large groups to dine away. Which we were, and we did.

The ales on tap are a sight to behold. I’m a big fan of Young’s Bitters, so I was right at home here.

The staff are friendly, although some do look mighty young and not too bright neither, but we’ll forgive them as they did a good job of keeping us content, plus the chefs cooked a storm.

Yes, we were here for one thing only. A bloody good Sunday roast, and yes we got it. It’s a little on the pricey, but we are in Hampstead so you cannot expect much different.

It had been a while since my last roast, so I had to have the Roast Rump of Beef. A fine cooked piece of meat it was as well. Nice and pink, slightly drowned out by the nice gravy, but still good none the less. The veggies and tatties were well cooked and seasoned.

I never got to try the lamb, but it did look and smell a fine specimen indeed. But I did get to sample a lot of the Schweinehaxe. A roasted pork knuckle cooked in beer. A fine example of an unused piece of meat that, with a bit of love and care can become your star dish.

I really wished I’d have had this. Tasted heavenly, and with some fine crackling that actually crackled as you ate it. Delish. It reminded me of what you can get at Opa y Oma, a small family run restaurant in the countryside outside of Medellin. Ahh memories. 

I’m also reliable informed that their steak and ale pies are some of the best in London. This maybe worth coming back another time to see if the boast is true.

All in all it was a good Sunday roast with some fine ales, witty conversation and wittier, finer friends, but that is what Sunday roasts are all about.

Foto Friday # 84

A dish made in heaven. Fish n chips, mushy peas and a pint of ale. Heaven I tell you, bloody heaven.