Sunday lunch - Dovedale House Battersea
For reasons so painfully boring and domestic, we found ourselves in Battersea on Sunday. Not for some Sunday chill out session in a cool bar, but alas tile shopping in a local centre.
We were looking to get a snack for lunch, but happily we ended up walking in the wrong direction, and the only place we found serving lunch at 2.30 was a pub called the Dovedale House.
I'll have to use the term "gastropub" to describe it, as that's essentially what it was. I realise this term, and it's connotations are offensive to some, but personally I am very pro-gastropub. I have no nostalgia for a crappy old pub which serves 1970's food straight from the freezer to the microwave and p*ssy beer, just because it's cheap, old and apparently represents the working class community in some way.
I say let's make all our pubs gastropubs, to the point that we don't need the term anymore and we can just say "pub", because it's a given that any pub will provide something reasonably gastronomic.
I have seen the gastropub thing taken too far. A gatropub should not be pub converted into a restaurant. It should be a pub which serves good pub food, made properly.
I got roast beef with all the trimmings (what else) and it was pretty damn good. The roasties were a bit dry and sorry for themselves, but it in fairness it was 2.45 when we ordered and the place wasn't too busy. You can't expect them to make fresh roast potatoes for the stragglers.
The meat was lovely and the gravy was the real stuff. Perfect consistency, red wine based, infused with rosemary and the juices of the meat.
Yorkshires were also a delight, but the idiots put the horseradish all over the yorshires and even though I scraped it off onto the meat they were still spicier than they should be. But they were fluffy with a crunch outside, just like they should be.
It's such a good sign of the times that you can wonder into a pub on spec and get a very good and very british meal. If they improvement in the general standard of cuisine carries on we will rightly catch up the french soon.
We were looking to get a snack for lunch, but happily we ended up walking in the wrong direction, and the only place we found serving lunch at 2.30 was a pub called the Dovedale House.
I'll have to use the term "gastropub" to describe it, as that's essentially what it was. I realise this term, and it's connotations are offensive to some, but personally I am very pro-gastropub. I have no nostalgia for a crappy old pub which serves 1970's food straight from the freezer to the microwave and p*ssy beer, just because it's cheap, old and apparently represents the working class community in some way.
I say let's make all our pubs gastropubs, to the point that we don't need the term anymore and we can just say "pub", because it's a given that any pub will provide something reasonably gastronomic.
I have seen the gastropub thing taken too far. A gatropub should not be pub converted into a restaurant. It should be a pub which serves good pub food, made properly.
I got roast beef with all the trimmings (what else) and it was pretty damn good. The roasties were a bit dry and sorry for themselves, but it in fairness it was 2.45 when we ordered and the place wasn't too busy. You can't expect them to make fresh roast potatoes for the stragglers.
The meat was lovely and the gravy was the real stuff. Perfect consistency, red wine based, infused with rosemary and the juices of the meat.
Yorkshires were also a delight, but the idiots put the horseradish all over the yorshires and even though I scraped it off onto the meat they were still spicier than they should be. But they were fluffy with a crunch outside, just like they should be.
It's such a good sign of the times that you can wonder into a pub on spec and get a very good and very british meal. If they improvement in the general standard of cuisine carries on we will rightly catch up the french soon.
posted by foodpete at 4:17 AM
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