A few months ago a new pie and mash shop appeared on Lavender Hill. A new pie and mash shop. Somewhere you can knock back plates of jellied eels and liquor, washed down with a cup of builder's tea, the kind of place that hitherto has only existed in obscure parts of Hackney and in Anthony Bourdain travelogues. A new one opened in Battersea. Its arrival was, to say the least, unexpected.
I've been twice now. My first visit was on the way back from work on a Thursday evening, at the time the only day of the week it stayed open after 6pm. I bought a little box to take home with me and it cost £3.50, a bargain even if it had been less than good, but I was quite pleased with it - nice crispy pastry, good flavour in the beef filling (even if there wasn't very much of it) and plenty of salty luminous green parsley sauce.
I didn't go back for months after that because of their wilfully odd operating hours. It opened after the morning commute and closed before the evening commute (in Battersea for God's sake) so your only chance was either to go on a Saturday (and I don't know about you but I have higher hopes for my Saturdays than pie and mash on my own) or, as I eventually did, pop in on a weekday lunchtime whilst working at home waiting for someone to come round and fix the boiler.
This time I ordered a big plate of pie, mash and eels for £7.
"I'll give you a little plate for the eel bones." The lady behind the counter said in a broad East London accent, with just a hint of friendly concern that I hadn't quite understood what I'd just ordered. "Would you like a cup of tea, darling?"
I don't drink tea or coffee, so I ended up half-heartedly choosing a can of Lilt from the cabinet. "It'll just be another couple of minutes for the eels, alright darling?". That was two mentions of the eels within my first five minutes - I think she was expecting the penny to drop any second and for me to realise my mistake. But instead I took a seat and cracked open the Lilt.
As before, the food was pretty good. A large portion of not overly-buttery mash soaked up a good pint of that green liquor, and the handful of eels, though surprisingly gelatinous for the 'stewed' option (I hadn't asked for 'jellied'), still provided a decent 'surf' to the beef pie 'turf'.
Halfway through my lunch an old local boy struggled in with one of those wheeled shopping trolleys and ordered a "single" (presumably a single portion of pie and mash, though I didn't see any mention on the menu of any way of doing a "double"). He and the waitress chatted away happily for a few minutes, then before I had even had a chance to spit out my first eel bone, it was "See you Friday darling" and he was gone.
It was all very… strange. It's odd enough that in 2012 a brand-new pie and mash shop has opened anywhere in London, never mind in comfortable, boring commuter-belt Battersea, but the homely service, the wildly unsuitable opening hours and the nostalgic pricing seemed more suitable for the set of a soap opera than a functioning restaurant. I'm compelled to write it up partly out of curiosity but partly because I have this eerie feeling I will be walking past one day and it will have completely disappeared and been replaced by an estate agents, with neighbours claiming no knowledge of its existence and nothing but the faint smell of pastry to mark it had ever been there at all.
Or perhaps it's an elaborate theme restaurant, a kind of Cockney TGI Fridays. Just like Polpo needs its Aperol Spritzers served by tattoo-ed hipsters and TGIs its slappable "Hi my name's Jerry!" cretins with their braces and fifteen pieces of flair, Golden Pie wouldn't work without walls hung with pictures of the Queen and a motherly Eastender offering a cheery hello and making sure you have enough tea. Perhaps they even hire their own themed customers - I mean Lavender Hill is all estate agents and hairdressers. Where on earth did they find a octogenarian pie-and-mash-loving regular barely six months after opening?
But there it is anyway, and if you ever happen to be wandering around Battersea on a weekday afternoon with £3.50 burning a hole in your pocket then you can certainly do worse. And if you can't find it, I can only promise it was there and I didn't dream it and for a brief moment in 2012 there was a bloody pie and mash shop on Lavender Hill. Because if I hadn't been there myself, I wouldn't believe it either.
6/10
17 comments:
Last night I was walking down Bedford Street and I spotted a chippy called London Fish & Chips that I'm *sure* wasn't there before, but looked like it'd been there since time began.
It's why I love London - never fails to surprise me.
Sounds like it was missing a pearly king or queen...
I hope the mash was portioned with an ice cream scoop:)
A bleedin' pie and mash shop in Lavender Hill? Well blow me dahn wif' a fackin' feather. Still, always warming to hear that pie and mash is refusing to slink away, it is manna from heaven after all.
Incidentally, Clarks in Exmouth Market was mobbed the other day, more soap extras or is P&M back on the rise?
Love the write-up. Within spitting distance of clarrm and everything.
Bizarre new opening but hope it prospers!
There was also a strange pie and mash opening on Fulham Cross recently. Called Dye's Pies I think. I also noticed Golden Pie, and thought it looked a bit, well, out of place.
Goddard's, the original pie and mash shop from way back in Greenwich reopened recently after a heartfelt closure a few years ago. I went there and proudly ordered 'one and one' (one order of pie and one of mash') like a proper local. In my awkward home counties accent. Nonetheless I was rewarded for my bravery of using the local vernacular when Keith Chegwin walked past as I was eating. Heady days.
Elsie Eels boy? Did you meet Elsie, did you dance with 'er? Course you did we all did.
One opened in Dorset once, I know.
Nasty Nick Cottonand a wots it from the Queen Vic lookalike were at the opening. It lasted six months. Last real one I had, was Pete's Pie n Mash, at Shadwell I think. I wonder if it's still there?
A new Pie and Mash shop, in Lavender Hill of all places, I can hardly believe it. They all seem to be gradually closing in London. Although, strangely; in Essex they're still thriving. Basildon, for example, has a handful. Anyway I bloody love P&M, in fact I actually crave it now and again. Manzies, Tower Bridge Road gets my vote for the best.
Someone opened a "posh" pie'n'mash shop (Mother Mash, FFS) on Leadenhall Street a few years back. Oh how we laughed and gave it three months, tops. It's still there.
Someone opened a "posh" pie'n'mash shop (Mother Mash, FFS) on Leadenhall Street a few years back. Oh how we laughed and gave it three months, tops. It's still there.
@Gavin - Mother Mash is better at sausages. Btw, it's one of the nicest and cheapest places in the City to grab a sit-down lunch - sausage and mash, side dish and a drink for a tenner.
Amaze to be on your blog.
Oh, lovely. Visiting Battersea (from Sydney, Australia) in July. Is it still open, does anyone know. I'll make straight for it (Londoner at heart).
If you are looking for an original taste of pie and mash, look no further than Arments Pie & Mash shop. After serving happy customers for over 100 years, we are still going strong. Come and try traditional pie and mash covered in our gorgeous green sauce.
This is by far the BEST pie and mash shop around. I hadn't realised it had only been there since 2012. I have been a regular there over the past 8 years or so... My mum and sister love it too. I cannot recommend it highly enough. The author is clearly confused over the 'eels'... I doubt he ordered "jellied eels and liquor" as that is not what you'd order together.... unless as I've done several times; 'Double eels, double mash, pie and liquor' all washed down with a mug of tea or in the heat of summer, a can of dandelion and burdock... then; to take home 'a tub of jellies'... The eels are the freshest I've tasted in a pie, eels and mash shop. The mash would never see a knob of butter, as any pie and mash shop connoisseur would tell you.. and, as for using the ice-cream scoop.. yes, here they do... but I must admit to being a fan of the slap and scrape the mash on the side of the bowl .... The owner is fabulous, kind and a delight to visit. So, 12 years on... it's still there and thriving. He does loads of take aways and deliveries for parties too. I've now moved away and am wondering how far it'll travel... or, it'll become a regular stop on trips via Clapham Junction. I've had eels since I was a kid and now I'm a good few decades in... this place is fantastic. Not been? Not tried 'stewed eels and mash' ? Give it ago. You won't be disappointed :-)
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