Pub grub is becoming an ever-more prominent feature of London culture, and it seems to compliment a lazy summer Saturday most wonderfully (if it’s decent eating.) I ate at two pub/bar establishments on the 20th, both very different, and with somewhat surprising consequences.
The first was a broken affair, due to the first British & Irish Lions test match in South Africa. Watching this at the Clock House pub in Teddington (more or less my current local) made for some nerve-wracking eating. After roaring on encouragement to the unlucky Lions, my throat was dry, my stomach was churning and my palms were sweaty. After a narrow five-point defeat and a Croque Monsieur, I can safely assure you it was the rugby as opposed to the cuisine which had reduced me to such unattractive post-food conditions.
The dish itself was dependable if unspectacular. The Clock House has a decent French kitchen going for it, but it’s not quite up to the standard it might be, if you know what I mean. Le Monsieur was a touch dry, and the salad on the side was needlessly spiky. The frites were nice though – a little chunkier than you might expect with French food. Overall it wasn’t bad: decent standard with a couple of technical flaws. And after 26-21, I wasn’t in the mood to be eating much anyway.
The evening saw me rendezvous with Tom for a quick bite in Kick bar on Shoreditch High Street. There’s something I like about Kick, with its buzzy and varied audience and unobtrusive shifts in style from the front of the building to the back. You have outside tables, table football, a kitchen/café section at the rear and a bar set against a brick wall, fronted by a load of flag bunting. It’s ever so unpretentious for Shoreditch, and somewhere you can go for a relaxed drink or a bustling night out. Now, how about the food..?
I went for an old pub food standard, the beef burger. There were no chips on the side, they gave me cucumber slices pickled with dill, and the thing was as greasy as hell. Sounds poor, doesn’t it? Well, it was super. They passed the first test of being able to serve a burger as the customer requests (as always, rare was the order of the day), and from there on it was a delight. They shunned the classic approach of a bun with some soft crusty white bread (inspired), lightly herbed the burger, shaved some old-fashioned cheddar underneath the patty and sliced a thick tomato on top. It was indeed a delight to eat. We also enjoyed a sharp and smooth Eton Mess (with passion fruit and strawberries) and a decent chocolate fondant to finish.
Two most different establishments for eating and drinking, but two enjoyable experiences on a Saturday. Kick had the edge (perhaps inevitably), but if you’re near either, and looking for a drink and a quick bite, check these out.
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