I love American tourists. Give em a bit of dark wood surround & a few old local pics & ther're in an "older worlde" pub. Bit of stainless steel & glass with shyte music & its a hipster joint. They do not & never will get the concept of the English pub.
My concern is that any US visitor to London finds the f&c at the Shakespeare to be 'the best food they ate in 4 days' in the capital!!
Obviously not the sort I'd want to encourage to visit my beloved La Poule au Pot, a mere 10 min walk away.
Until quite recently, I used to work round there and have never heard of La Poule au Pot. However, having just looked at the Time Out review which begins: "Few places scream ‘Chelsea’ more loudly than La Poule. The place is normally packed with smart couples discussing holiday plans in plummy accents." (admittedly dating from Tuesday 15 December 2009) then perhaps I would not have tried it out anyway...Originally Posted by trainman
However, the Shakespeare has at least moved from the Central-London-pub-from-hell to a run-of-the-mill Taylor Walker operation, and if a contributor from America finds it to his taste then surely they have the right to say so?
Yep, that's me. Obv!
And no, I don't have a concern about the US review, but wondered just where they had been eating! More visitors going home grumbling about Brit cuisine.
That is the only sort of food me and the wife can afford,we often go into the local Spoons and have either a 5 ounce gammon two eggs and chips for just over £10 with two pints,the fish and chips is a similar price with two pints,if we really want to push the boat out we may go in for a breakfast before 12 at i think £3.65 and we have to buy drinks seperatley,we dont put sauce on it,we always enjoy our meals there.
I know realise that i am in a different class to a lot of members on this site.
We are all equal,but some are more equal than others
No you are not as that is my idea of eating out!
If I go for the Steak Club mentioned elsewhere I smother the meat with mustard.
Last edited by Aqualung; 07-01-2015 at 16:19.
The truly great thing about the British pub is that it is classless - we are all equals at the bar or, in extremis, when dancing naked on the tables during a lock-in. It is probably the only institution in the World where, for example (and from my own experience) I can wander into my local and meet an ex-Prime Minister, a member of the Royal Family, a dustman, a celebrity musician, policemen, the village idiot (who, for the record, was NOT on this occasion doing a job-share with the ex-PM), a raving drag-queen and a renowned author, all rubbing shoulders with soldiers, estate agents, some pensioners, a florist and so on and so on. Once you walk through that door ans enter P-Space, the outside world's rules cease to apply and you are just another punter (unless you're a regular, obviously).
Where it goes wrong is where pubs try to price 'the rif-raf' out of the market with poncey menus, over-priced second-rate wines and peanuts at a poúnd each, or where arbitrary 'rules' like 'No Bikers', 'No Squaddies', and so on create an artificial apartheid.
And proper fish and chips (NOT Brake Bros crap) is probably one of the simplest and best VFM meals you can find in a bar anywhere in the world.
I agree with what you say about the British pub being classless,i have been in most pubs in central London and when drinking in Belgravia you realise how posh some people are,but i can still drink in the same pub as them.
The fish and chips we have at our local Spoons always seem very nice,no hard batter and plenty of fish that is not dry,if Spoons meals come from the back of a Brake Brothers van then we are quite happy to eat it.
We are all equal,but some are more equal than others
In line with the comments from others, I doubt that you are. You probably have a different level of disposable income to some of us and that it driven by many factors which do not necessarily include class..
And we probably have a lote more things in common than we are different, for example irrespective of how much money I may ever have during my life, I will never waste it on a pint of overpriced Perroni is a poncy branded flumed glass..
Work is the curse of the drinking Class - Oscar Wilde
I'm getting this thread a bit more on topic after the diversion. I have to say I find the very concise reviews by the same poster highlighted in the Report a Review thread recently far more objectionable than any food rants I've seen. The comments made might echo opinions I hold about many London pubs I've been to in the past, especially ones I went to for darts but wouldn't even consider adding a revieew today on that basis.
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