People keep asking me if I am still writing my blog, and I have not had much activity this year. Many of the places I have been to are repeat visits (better the devil you know) or have not been very relevant, or have been reviewed on TripAdvisor, where I know I have an audience. But it is time to get cracking again, as it gives me something to talk about. If you are live person and do read this, please make some kind of comment, even if it is impolite.
December is never the best time to try out a restaurant for the first time. I am guessing that it is the time where the customers are less discerning and prepared to pay more and be squeezed into tighter places. My wife was invited for "drinks...." with her mates from the gym, and as food was clearly on the menu, and we had no better plans, we ordered. We did not order as a group, and each little subgroup was treated separately.
The pub, which has a substantial web presence on http://www.theoldwhitelionfinchley.co.uk/ is just a few yards south of East Finchley tube station, and therefore amenable to public transport. I suppose you could park, but parking in that area, near the Phoenix cinema is never good. The houses in the area (except Bishops Avenue) were all built long before the notion of personal car ownership had penetrated the population, and is a very popular commuting zone (zone 3). The building looks like a pub should, but inside it has been renovated in a style that says created pub rather than evolved pub. Whilst not unattractive, it has nothing to hold the eye.
We did not avail ourselves of the many areas, but stuck to the tabled area were food was served, and even at 7.30 on a Thursday it was starting to get busy (but it was December). We later discovered some live music, but it was out of earshot in the restaurant area.
The menu (see website) is classic pub style food, dressed up in the new gastropub language. We both had 'British ale battered cod with triple cooked chips and mushy peas'. I do not know if anyone really likes mushy peas, but everyone has them on the menu. Also, as it looked like fish'n'chips, I could not attest to whether the batter had ale, or if the chips had been cooked three times.
It is not a chip shop sized portion, but adequate. The chips were very hot and tasty, and the fish was fairly hot (8.4 on the CHOF scale) and did not have a hotness issue. The peas were a 7.6. It did come on a plate, with the faux 1921 newspaper underneath. My wife and I both enjoyed this, but it was not as good as a recent unreviewed meal we had had from a chip shop in St Albans. The meal as depicted cost £12.25, and the relatively short pub favourite menu is pitched so that a two course meal would work out at about £20 each. Drink was London pub prices.
I think that Fish and Chips is a safe test of a pub's cooking as it is unlikely to be pre-pack boil in a bag. Service was accurate and friendly but a little slow.
This was an OK experience. The food was enjoyable, but not so great that you would rush back. I would commend this pub as an acceptable face of evening
No comments:
Post a Comment