The Gastropub

I am the target market for gastropubs. I know this because a man from Young's, the brewers and pub chain, once said to me "Katy, you're the target market for gastropubs" before giving me £30 to talk for an hour about what I like to see in a gastropub. So why is it that I never actually seem to like them?

I can just about remember the days before gastropubs had spread like a rash across city centres, although by the time I could legally drink there were very few places left where it was impossible to get a decent glass of wine in a pub. Unreconstructed personal favourites are my first local, The Harrow Inn (my god: they now have a website) and until recently the Harcourt Arms in Jericho (website, or for the story of its recent change see the Daily Info reviews). I knew I'd never get a decent drink in them, but I loved them all the same.


What I don't love is snooty service, "dining areas" which seem to consist of the entire pub less a single sofa, and sub-standard food. The Red Lion didn't get itself off onto the right foot with me the first time I dropped in, at around 10.30 on a Wednesday night, and settled down at a table only to be told I was in the dining area and would have to move. Given the pub was nearly empty, and the kitchen had closed for the night, I intended never to return. But a group of colleagues adopted it as a Friday after-work venue, and so I've been in a few times since and had a few glasses of nice wine; so, when I needed a quick bite in the Gloucester Green vicinity last week, I had no qualms about trying them out.

It began so well, with a very friendly waiter showing us to a delightful beige-carpeted mezzanine section of the dining area. Extra bonus points were gained for nailing me as a Viognier-drinker and instantly recommending a bottle from the list. There's also an excellent range of beers on offer, both trad real ales and some interesting European wheat beers. The menu looked interesting, and I want to love any place that does scallops of the day, though if those scallops of the day are curried, with a pineapple and celeriac salad, I'm less tempted. We really just wanted some fast comfort food, so one of us went for the gammon, egg, and chips (or Maple Spit Gammon, Hen's Egg, and Frites, as the menu would prefer), one for a vegetable pizza, and two of us (including me) chose the cannelloni, probably because amongst fifteen non-pizza main dishes, it was the only vegetarian option. So, let's start with the positive: the pizza toppings were generous and reportedly tasty.

I realise that in any food outlet serving sixteen different mains, nine pizzas, nine starters, eight sharing starters, and nine "for the tables", a certain amount of re-heating and packet food is going to have to occur. But I do object when the phrase "al forno" is used on the menu when "al microwave" has clearly been used on my plate. There's a certain kind of skin that forms on a white sauce under the influence of electronic zaps, and it isn't a nice one. We were also disappointed not to find any of the promised butternut within the dish. Spinach and ricotta cannelloni is nice, but it isn't what we were sold. It might not be entirely fair to ask the world's biggest ham-egg-and-chips fan to review The Red Lion, but he was also underwhelmed, by an over-cooked egg and over-cooked chips (sorry: frites).

The Red Lion clearly do wine and beer very well, and since my first visit also seem to have excellent serving staff. They might do a lot better if they focussed more on these pub elements and less on the gastro.


One place I don't mind focussing on the gastro, though, is The Black Boy in Headington. There, the problem lies distinctly with the service, where they still don't understand that if the kitchen has closed, it might be ok to let drinkers sit in the "dining area". Last time I visited they claimed we wouldn't be able to use a table "because they were already set up for tomorrow's lunch service". They relented under some pressure, but I object to having to argue for a table every time I want a couple of glasses of wine.

However: the food is superb. It is pricier than most pubs, and has a more restricted menu (nine starters, eleven mains) but this is reflected in the quality both of the ingredients and of the care taken in the kitchen.  I've eaten there on several occasions with a large group of friends and have yet to hear a complaint about the food. Personally, I've sampled the gravadlax and the beetroot and feta salad starters, and have also had their bavette steak frites - an underused cut which needs to be handled carefully, and it was when I had it - and the mushroom and spinach cannelloni. We established earlier that this was a dish all-too-tempting to be lazy with, but at The Black Boy I had one of the richest and most delicious versions I've ever had.


There's something to be said for any company who keep pubs making profits in the current economic climate, but I do worry that, once we all get over our excitement about the nice carpets and the nice wine list, they'll go to the same end. And with plenty of people out there in Oxford doing good gastropubbiness, like The Rickety Press (reviewed by Girl Eats Oxford, also featuring her thoughts on gastropubs), their sister pub The Rusty Bicycle, and regular haunt of mine, The Royal Oak, it might be time for others to try and meet the same standards.