Friday 19 June 2009

The Punch Tavern, Fleet Street

Reading this blog, and others like it (For We Are Legion), you may be forgiven for being under the impression that London is stuffed full of buzzy gastropubs, exciting ethnic grills and gleaming temples of gastronomy, and finding somewhere good to eat requires little to no effort at all. Sadly, although things have certainly improved in the last 10-15 years, crap restaurants are still very much a feature. I've ranted about Angus Steakhouses at length before, but there's still no excuse for them, or Bella Pasta, or All Bar One, or any of the other chain pubs and restaurants that blight our city. Once you've been to your local Slug & Lettuce and paid £8 for a horrible "vegetarian dipping platter" it becomes all too obvious why it's so difficult to get a table at the Anchor & Hope.

That said, there's a part of me that realises that many gastropubs, with their fancy Mediterranean ingredients and hawing clientele, aren't for everyone. Some are more elitist than others, certainly - I've always found the Eagle on Farringdon Road to be very accessible, whereas the Swan on Fetter Lane is basically a restaurant in a pub - but surely there's room for just a normal, cosy little boozer which serves decent food for people who quite rightly consider paying £15 for bangers and mash a bit too much? Step forward, the Punch Tavern, on Fleet Street.

Newly refurbished and relaunched, with a chef of refreshingly humble origins and a menu of heart-warmingly familiar British dishes, the Punch Tavern is a beautiful old building that very much deserved the attention. I was invited to lunch with a couple of other bloggers to try out their new menu, and got stuck in right away to a pint of Summer Lightning bitter and a plate of devilled chicken livers on toast.

For your £4.50 you get an impressively generous mound of what is admittedly a budget cut of offal, with a marvellously rich sauce. Not very "devilled" perhaps - could have done with a bit more of the hot stuff - but no major complaints.

My main course of duck roast was similarly generous for the measly £8.50 price point. A nice moist duck quarter, with creamed leeks and a good selection of roasted vegetables, my only complaint was with the soggy, greasy Yorkshire pud. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - if you can't do a proper Yorkshire pudding (and as far as I know, nobody in London can), then don't even try. There's a whole generation of people who have grown up believing a Yorkshire pud is a tiny cupcake-sized pillow of pastry, instead of the 15" square behemoths filled with gravy my gran used to serve as a starter. And it makes me sad.

Anyway, that aside, I can really recommend the Punch, and not just because I wasn't paying on this occasion. It's a friendly and accessible little boozer trying to serve fresh, hearty food without any pretensions towards trendy fads or eye-watering central-London tourist prices. It deserves to do very well.

Apologies for the lack of pictures - normal service will be resumed shortly

Club Mangia, the Punch Tavern on Urbanspoon

5 comments:

Alex Watts said...

Will try the place out, sounds great. And the prices are good too - under £10 for roast duck is fantastic. I've paid that for a very poor duck starter in the sort of snooty gastro-pubs you mention. And the pub was in Wales, and away from the sky-high rents of London.

Totally agree with your comment about Yorkshire puddings - it's amazing how many top pastry chefs I've met who fail miserably every time.

Lennie

Dan said...

Sounds excellent, just the kind of place I'd like for lunch - sadly, Fleet Street is a bit of a stretch from my new office location - but If I'm in the area, I'll give it a go.

Melanie Seasons said...

Have you tried The Florence in Herne Hill for yorkshire pudding? When I went, they were massively delicious. I had a lovely lentil burger there as well.

http://www.capitalpubcompany.com/the-florence/

Unfortunately sunday roast menu isn't on the web site.

Helen said...

I know what you mean about the yorkshire's - my Dad's are exactly the same. None of this individual muffin tin business but a roasting tray with a big batter pillow in it.

Chris Pople said...

Mel: No I haven't, but there's nothing I won't do for a good Yorkshire pud. Thanks for the tip.