In Good Company: Pub Grub
...Three of us chose mousse, which proved quite difficult – how does one order three? I couldn’t decide whether mousses or mices was correct, but madame was Scottish and ‘mousses’ quite tickled her tartan. Made with fresh raspberries, cream and wine – divine and husband’s apple pie was ‘lovely.’...
Enid Blackburn wrote this column years ago, when English pubs were tentatively turning themselves into restaurants.
My husband, acting as chief scout, has been seeking a suitable haven where he and his lads, namely the rest of the bowling team, can feast and confidently stagnate, after a gruelling day at York races.
Their annual dawn to dawn airing, ‘Don’t wait up petal,’ starts with full English breakfast at the nearest pub, then its back to the bus lads and forward to York. After their hot and tiring journey, the passengers retire parched and weary to – another pub. The race to be first to the bar begins.
Men certainly have the knack of doing these trips in style. Mention a day trip with the family and they’ll start decorating a bedroom. For a club jaunt they start saving in January, obediently coughing up the weekly contribution to be stashed away secretly in the care of a trusted mate.
‘How much now?’ merely brings an enigmatically glint to their eyes. Wives can only guess, but some treasurers, hitherto of scrupulous character, who wouldn’t take the hair from your comb, have been known to find the lure of it irresistible and have vanished with the swag never to return.
Meanwhile after an hour or two discussing their favourite topic – ‘want another?’ – our racing heroes surface for a while, some may even see a horse.
I have never been able to fathom when they eat lunch, or if they do, but by six o’clock most of them are ready for solids, and steak is a strong favourite.
Collecting menus from pub restaurants has proved an education and I have become an avid bar-snacker in the process.
Not so long ago the term conjured up what looked like ‘cork’ pies and curly teacakes under a glass cover at the end of the bar. Today’s buffets are a mouth-watering technicolour experience, with a sophisticated blend of colour-ful salads, every cold cut you can mention tastefully sliced and garnished, and beautifully arranged on immaculate linen.
There is also a variety of ‘hots,’ One choice included lasagne and home-made steak and kidney pie. Chicken in the basket and scampi are now definitely non-starters.
The standard of culinary art was superb at the place we finally chose for the outing’s evening meal. Once again we by-passed the restaurant and lunched in the bar-buffet. The onion soup accompanied by chunky French bread and butter looked a meal in itself until we perceived the bar layout. Exquisite salads were all arranged in small dishes and were constantly being re-filled to retain freshness. Everything looked delicious.
The cheery Madame-in-charge had clearly been brought up with a family of discus throwers, to her ‘small’ meant not scraping out the bottom of each dish. She shovelled huge slices of ham and beef topped up with spoonfuls of prawns, coleslaw, pickles and dressed green salad. There were also trays of turkey and pork plus an empty dish with a golden border of crumbly piecrust – the remains of ‘chef’s special’ chicken pie.
For dessert – yes once you start there’s no stopping - you are compelled to continue with desirable concoctions twinkling seductively at you from the bar top.
Three of us chose mousse, which proved quite difficult – how does one order three? I couldn’t decide whether mousses or mices was correct, but madame was Scottish and ‘mousses’ quite tickled her tartan. Made with fresh raspberries, cream and wine – divine and husband’s apple pie was ‘lovely.’
We concluded with a bottomless cup of Cona with lashings of cream. ‘There’s another jug of coffee if you want dearies.’
That’s four mixed meat salads, three raspberry mousse, one apple pie and about twenty cups of coffee – total damage £12.80 (inc VAT)!
This lunch ‘snack’ was so satisfying it sustained me until my bedtime cuppa and with a little encouragement, could become my favourite sport!
