The Fable - A Tale of Two Seatings

Despite a few false starts with booking process, Thirsty Thirsday this week see me checking out a new bar at Holborn Viaduct, The Fable. As usual, my trusty sidekick Wife Jacqui is with me, and Hussyband. joined us when he finished work.

Now we had been warned I advance that the kitchen is having a few teething problems by other bloggers who came earlier in the week...but Thirsty Thirsday isn't about the food...it's about the booze. And we came here with a mission in mind...mission impossible in one sitting, maybe, but damn if I am not going to at least TRY to drink the cocktail menu! And we are back with the Lions on Saturday for food anyway. They should have the kitchen sorted out by then right?

Chapter One - Thirsty Thirsday

1: Sugar Plum Fairy (£8.95) Very refreshing, I don't usually go for gin based drinks, but I liked this one! Not sure what the use of the whole frozen solid plum is, it's too solid to eat! Looks nice, but useless. Frozen slices of plum might be better and easier to eat! (MrsLion had two of these on Saturday - and her plums were not frozen...so not sure how they should be now!)

2:Rub a Dub Shrub (sharing cocktail £15.95). Now I am a lover of bathes, long, hot, bubbly, candlelit soaks that leave me wrinkled and relaxed. But this one, while nice, just didnt quite scrub my back. All we could taste was the watermelon, no strawberries, no vodka buzz. I had to stop the Wife from filching the pink rubber duckie, but you can  take a bath tub home...for £20, try buying one for that at B&Q! All up though, dont get into a lather for this one.

3: Double Dirty Grey Goose Martini (£12) This one is not on the menu, but with an incoming Hussyband, I knew he would need to play catchup. Lovely martini (he let me taste!) with wonderfully plump olives (which he wouldn't share).

 4: Prince Charming (£7.45) I do love my rum, and this one swept me off my feet. The chai infused syrup and lemon juice had a zing in my mouth. 

5: Aesops Fable (£7.45) Wifey originally wanted a Gold Fish in a Bag - but they were out of bags, but she really liked this one, especially its presentation in the small bottle. Said it was like drinking milk....although she was rather tipsy by this stage!

6: Zombieland (sharing cocktail £15.95) as The Cranberries sang, Zombie, Zombie, Zombie-ie-ie.This was the voted the best by the table that we all agreed on. To quote Wife "Squeezing my passion fruit is not a euphemism" (yes I do remember these things through the haze).

Next we went for Barmans Choice (as we couldnt decide). 

7: El Presidente - dark rum and made Hussyband very happy

8: Dark and Stormy - dark rum and one of the nicest gingers I have had in a long time

9: French Martini - Vodka and chambord for the Wife, who by this time was giggling lots!

Now, in case you are thinking we were not responsible adults and had refrained from eating, we did indeed try two of the sharing boards (which are quite huge!)

The first one was to share or not to share (£15.95) - garlic bread, potato & sweet potato wedges, thai crackers, chicken satay, mini burgers, mini hotdogs & marinated olives. This puppy was highs and low - the satay sauce was wonderful and we loved that they used Thai crackers rather than Chinese. The hotdogs had a nice bite and we loved the olives. The burgers had a nice meaty taste but need something else to make them special. Wife LOVED the brioche garlic bread.

Still having the munchies, we went for The Fable Deli Board (£15.95) a nice selection of cured meats & cheeses including a wonderful Yarg.

Now you would expect that after all this we would be done...but no. We finished ourselves off with one last Zombieland for good measure to make our journeys home painless. 

A twist to the tale - there really are happy endings! A new stash of Goldfish bags were found so Wife caught her fishy! Goldfish in a Bag (£8.95) - tasty gin based cocktail with an edible lilypad and everything!

Here ends Chapter One.

Chapter Two - Saturday Session

We really are suckers for punishment (of our livers) and Saturday afternoon saw us back here for lunch with our friends TheLions, and WifeFiona and EmmaLiscious joining us for drinks. Of yes, there was more drinking.

We started proceedings with Bloody Decisive (Marys) (£7.50) - nice kick to these babies and what we needed to kickstart our juices.

Food was the order of today, I went for the Reef, Beef & Bubbles (£15.95) a juicy perfectly rare piece of rump with half a lobster dripping with garlic butter, a side of onions rings (£2.95) that were hot crisp and perfectly seasoned and a bowl of unctuous bernaise sauce (£2) for dunking everything in. Oh and a glass of prosecco to wash it all down!

Hussyband opted for the cote de boeuf (£20.95) again, it was perfectly rare, and he even had a chomp on the bone (my fella he is a classy bloke!)

MrsLion opted for the Seabass and Crayfish Risotto and scrapped her plate clean. The seabass had a lovely crispy skin, and the risotto was sublime.

MrLion chose an Asian Salad with Seared Salmon which had him in a happy place.

There was also a side of the Trio of Fries (£9.95) - one was slathered in katsu curry, one in"Cowboy" BBQ sauce, and the third parmesan, rosemary and truffle oil. The third was our favorite!

Wife Fiona arrived just as we infilttrated the Book Nook, and she was hungering for a burger. She went for the Lamb Burger w/ feta, piquillo peppers & tzatziki (£9.95) which set her up well for the next few hours of silliness. The meat was moist and really tasty.

After this the afternoon degenerated into cocktail craziness. New ones we tried and loved included the Pornstar Martini (£9.95) with very generous pours of prosecco and only 109 calories! The Singapore Sling (£15.95) sharer which Emmaliscious and I devoured with just two straws,  was also rather delicious.

Here ends Chapter Two.

Afterward

There were a lot of cocktails consumed yesterday afternoon, and we spent a couple of hours happily ensconced in the book nook laughing and spinning tales. Service was good, but it was taking a lot longer to get our drinks on Saturday than it did on Thursday, with it taking about 33 mins to get our last round which was a tad disappointing. There was a distinct change in the attitudes of the staff as well with the shift change on Saturday being halfway through our visit - service pre-change was brilliant, after change, slow and not so steady.

We will be back as the cocktails are brilliant, and the food now that the kitchen has settled down pretty bloody tasty. 

We spent about £70 each on food and booze on Saturday and were stuffed and slightly silly. I would like to say we were sensible and that we went home...but we didn't. And that is a bedtime story for another day.

The Olde Bell Hurley

Work has been manic the last few months, I was the only Bid Coordinator in the business from the end of January until August when we hired a newbie who has never handled bids, so between churning out more bids and tenders than I care to count as well as training her, it's been a crazy year.

The other weekend I was working from home ahead of what I knew was going to be a big week (which indeed it was, culminating in a 21 hour day in the office!) So, determined to spend some quality time with Hussyband, I bundled him into the car for a little road trip for lunch.

The Olde Bell is in Hurley, Berkshire, just a short 30 mile jaunt down the M4 with a happy ending of some nice twisty turney country roads overhung with trees that were showing their last dash of autumn color. Parking was a breeze at the pub, with a huge carpark across the road, as well as lane parking for the daring who drive small cars.

The pub was warm and inviting inside with lots of padded benches and overstuffed chairs. Hussyband was stoked that they had a couple of different real ales casks in the bar, whilst I was designated driver (as usual) so I "happily" tucked into a delicious Raspberry Lemonade from Luscombe.

The dining room was full of chunky wood tables, with groups of people laughing and digging into some damn fine looking food. Lunch is a set price of 2 courses £24.50 or 3 courses £29.50. Upon being seated we were bought out a plate of mixed house breads with butter. My favorite was a seeded rye that just couldn't stay away from my gob.

I started with the Smoked Trout Rillete with Roasted Beets and Horseradish Cream, while Hussy went for the Charcuterie with Pickled Baby Onions, Toasted Rye Bread and Olive Oil. The trout was rich and lush paired with the beets and horseradish, although I would have liked some of the toasted rye bread on my own plate (since I stole Hussy's) to spread the rillette on. The charcuterie had Hussy moaning in pleasure. He does like his meat.

Mains saw us going for the Roast Sirloin of Beef, Yorkshire Pudding and the Loin of Dingley Dell Pork, Sage and Onion Stuffing, Apple sauce and Roast Potatoes. The beef came out perfectly bloody, with the yorkie providing the perfect diving board into its own depths of gravy. My pork was perfectly cooked with a huge slab of crackling to keep me crunching away.

Plenty of sides to fill the gaps between our protein heaven - lush cauliflower and cheese, cabbage, roasted parsnips and tatties, and carrots. We were groaning by this stage and took the opportunity for a pause before desert - so went for a walk out around the huge beer garden and attached walled vegetable patch. I want a vege patch like that one day (although in London it most likely wouldn't be possible on their scale!)

For desert we both selected the Pavlova with Black Berry Compote and Chantilly Cream. This was really tasty, but could have done with more compote - 4 blackberrys on the plate were not enough to cut through that gorgeous pav.

Will definitely head back there in warmer weather, maybe even stay a night so we can lounge out the back on the grass and enjoy the countryside and the great food. And so I can sample the wine list without having to worry about the drive home!

I NEED this light fitting when we buy a house

Address: The Olde Bell, High Street, Hurley, Berkshire SL6 5LX

Telephone: +44 (0)1628 825 881

Fax: +44 (0) 1628 825 939

http://www.theoldebell.co.uk/

Twitter: @theoldebell

The Valentine's Day that Almost Wasn't: Ealing Park Tavern

Following the energetic consumption of sake the previous evening, our original plans for Valentines lunch were right off the rails. Crossing my fingers, legs and eyes, I dialled the Ealing Park Tavern on the off-chance that they had a spare table for an early dinner. Thankfully, Lady Luck has been having an affair with Cupid, and we snaffled the last table for a 6pm sitting.

Hussyband went back to bed for a few more hours of Nurofen induced sleep, whist I snuggled up and caught up on various downloads and imagined the juicy offerings we would be digesting in a few hours.

Arriving at the pub just after 5, we managed to hop into one of the leather sofas by the fire for pre-dinner drinks. A couple of glasses of Spago Ruggeri Prosecco from Italy for me, and a pint of Old Speckled Hen for Hussy. To accomany them as a pre-starter, we shared a half dozen of Mersea Oysters with a red wine and shallot vinaigrette, before heading into out table right on 6pm.

Knowing how large the courses are here from a previous excusion our first week in town, we decided to share the entree of Seared Foie Gras with Tempura Quail. This was my first foray into foie gras, as back in Oz, there is a pan on uncooked foie gras being imported into the country and as a result it can be difficult to obtain (although that has now changed and importers are allowed to bring in poached or semi-cooked foie gras.) Hussyband stuck to his Old Speckeld Hen, while I chose a glass of La Paz Central Valley 2008 Merlot from Chile. The foie gras was buttery and evil, and paired beautifully with the quail that was coated in more of a salt & pepper crust than a traditional tempura.

Mains saw us go our seperate ways (fork speaking). I went for a good ol' english roast beef (bloody rare) with yorkshire pud and all the trimmings including a home made horseradish cream, paired with a Reserve Tooma River Warburn Estate 2008 Shiraz from Oz (somuch for me avoiding Aussie and Kiwi wines for the first 6 months!) It was the first time I have actually enjoyed yorkshire pub - it was crisp at first, then wonderfully soaking in gravy by the end. The shiraz was full and meaty and perfect with the beef.

Hussyband went for a saddle of rabbit wrapped in prosciutto, still sticking with the OSH (he didnt want to risk mixing drinks after last night). He waxed lyrical by saying nothing at all, as his mouth was stuffed and all I could get from him was an occassional moan of pleasure and rolling of eyes.

We shared a pud of chocolate and hazelnut sable with a salted caramal icecream (churned on site). I cannot say enough good things about the icecream - I can live on good caramael, but the addition of the salt took it to another level. And chocolate is always good.

For the record, they smoke their own fish and meat on the premises and to quote the bottom of their menu...."Our fish may contain bones, our game may contain shot and our nuts definitely contain nuts."

To finish, I sipped a wonderfully icy lemoncello to build my bloody booze quotient up to a standard where I wouldnt freeze outside, then we braved the nite air for the bus home, before snuggling up in a contented puddle.

A thoroughly replete evening.

Ealing Park Tavern
222 South Ealing Road, W5 4RL
T: 020 8758 1879
E: info@ealingparktavern.com

Waxy O'Connors - If A Tree Fell In The Forest....

Waxy O'Connors is an awesome Irish styled theme pub between Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square in London. It is full of rabbit warrens of small rooms and booths, 2 bars, live music (at times), many stairs, and a bloody great big tree in the middle of it. It also has a smaller sister pub across the road, appropriately named Waxy's Little Sister.

Food is served all day, and the booze on offer is quite varied and well priced. I am finally starting to not convert everything back to Aussie Dollars....so it does seem well priced OK!

On this occasion, we settled into a booth in the lower bar and Hussyband rustled us up some booze - a glass of house red for me, and a pint of Caffrey's for his Lordship. A quick perusal of the menu had him licking his chops at the All Day Breakfast (grilled pork sausages, Clonakilty black and white pudding, potato cake, grilled tomato, poached egg and soda bread - £7.40), while I was feeling a bit vego and went for the Baked Goats Cheese (sauteed spinach, red onion and goats cheese in a filo pastry parcel, served with roasted peppers and Ballymaloe Relish - £7.50).

Hussyband was very quiet whilst demolishing is plate, which is a sure sign that it ticks all his boxes. The small bit of bacon I snatched was gorgeous - crispy, salty and full of flavor, and teh soda bread was served with salted butter was dense and delicious.

My plate was awesome - rich, savour, and the relish was amazing. It was so good I could only eat half of it before giving up as was also HUGE. Came with a much needed side salad with a tart dressing that cut through the goats cheese very nicely.

Will definitely be back there soon...

Waxy O'Connors
14-16 Rupert Street
London, W1D 6DD
020 7287 0255