The White Lion, Soberton, 25th July 2013

In a radical break with tradition, Paul T decided that for our next outing we should consider visiting a pub and using a taxi to get there. So far, we have limited our visits to places that we can walk to, or get to using public transport (i.e. the bus).  The trouble with this policy is that it excludes several fine pubs in the Meon valley which are simply not reachable by public transport. And anyway, a taxi is a form of public transport.

The first of the Meon valley pubs to be visited in this way is The White Lion, at Soberton, just a few miles from our base in Bishops Waltham, and not very expensive to get to with us all sharing an 8-seater taxi.

We were given a warm welcome by Alan, the new landlord who took over from Andy about a year ago, and his staff, one of whom can be seen above, cleaning the entrance way especially for us. Once inside, we were pleasantly surprised to see that the place had been given a bit of a make-over and was looking very smart, especially in the eating areas, but of course, never mind that,  we headed straight for the bar in the drinking area.

The ales they had on included a selection of always-excellent Bowman Ales, and another of our favourites, Doombar 4%. Most of us opted for a pint of  Swift One 3.8% to start with, but after the first few pints had been drawn the barrel ran out. Oh no, we thought.  So we moved on to Wallops Wood 4%, and all agreed that this was a very acceptable substitution.

Unsurprisingly, we all ordered Pie of the Day, which we were informed was a Chicken, Ham Hock & Leek Pie served with vegetables and a choice of saute potatoes, hand-cut chips, or mash. 

We didn't have to wait long for the food to arrive. The saute potatoes (above) were overdone, but some of us like them that way. They were certainly very tasty. The mash potato (below) was smooth and creamy, just the way it should be.

We each had an individual pie, which had a short-crust base and sides, and was topped with flaky pastry. Inside, it was packed with meat and leaks.  The sauce was served as it should be, in a separate jug, and was delicious. It was a creamy mustard and tarragon sauce, which was very tasty, and made a welcome change from the usual (unimaginative) gravy. The sauce was a perfect accompaniment to the pie.

At first glance the portions looked not over-large, but as it turned out, they were probably just right. The landlord may have noticed the looks on our faces as we saw the size of the portions because later, in a clear and brazen attempt to influence our judgement, he presented us with 2 free side-dishes of chips (which were very good). We needed the extra chips to help mop-up the left-over sauce. We were well satisfied by this meal, but some of us still had room for pudding.

Puddings are not taken into account when assessing our meals out, but these puddings were clearly up to the same high standard as the main course, and very enjoyable.

We still like the look of this pub. It's traditional style, recently refurbished, with no music or dartboard or other unnecessary distractions suits us very well. It's clean, the service was good, and the staff were friendly. Value for money was reasonable too, with the pies at £9.95 each, and the ale at £3.40/pint.  We should have come on a Monday, because Alan tells us that all ales are £2.50/pint on Mondays. As Alan presented the bill to us there was another clear attempt to influence our judgement when he offered us each a glass of port on the house. We don't have any objections to having our judgement influenced in this way.
  
Scores (max. 5 in each category, 25 overall): 

• Pastry 4.179
• Filling 4.636
• Beer 4.186
• Ambience 4.386
• Value 3.857
• Overall 21.24

And so The White Lion leaps into 1st place out of 6 pubs visited so far this year. This pie is a worthy contender for the Pie of the Year 2013 award, but, of course, there's a long way to go yet, as we still have another 4 pubs to visit. The only problem we have with this pub is that it is relatively inaccessible - we suggested to Alan that he should provide a free shuttle bus service for people like us, but he didn't seem keen. 

The Cricketers, Curdridge, 27th June 2013

it was a fine summer's day (the first of the year!) when Stephen, Si, Paul E, Nick met up in the square at Bishops Waltham to wait for the No. 8 bus to take them to their next exciting destination. The No. 8 bus has a highly circuitous route, so we had to check with the driver first to make sure that the bus was going in the right direction.  Despite the fact that we'd been waiting outside The Crown, we had all managed to avoid the temptation to go in there for a swift one while we waited for the bus. The bus driver obviously thought otherwise as he offered to tell us when to get off his bus. And he was obviously very concerned for our welfare as he where exactly to wait for the return bus, and rattled off the times of the buses. Happily, the bus stop is right outside the pub.

Having successfully managed the bus ride we met up with Doug and Paul T at The Cricketers, Durley.

This is a fine pub (run by the same people that run the Robin Hood, Durley) that we've been meaning to visit for some time, but we've always been put off by the menu, which only has one pie available, and that is a "Steak, Ale & Mushroom Pie with puff pastry with chips and veg" - not a very enticing prospect as we all have an aversion to puff pastry. However, when we mentioned this to the chef he agreed to "sort something out". He probably relished the chance to do something different. 

On arrival at the pub we were greeted by Sean the barman, a very capable and pleasant young man whom we have met before at The Barleycorn. Despite that previous encounter, he seemed pleased to see us, and offered us a beer. He really shouldn't encourage us. 

We started with a pint of Black Sheep Bitter 3.8% (£3.20/pint), which went down very well. Later we moved on to sample the Old Speckled Hen 4.1%. We didn't have to wait too long before we were shown to our table and presented with the pie, and it was a bit of a surprise:

 

It turned out that we were about to sample our first ever pasty! At this point Pieman made one of his rare interventions to remind us that our mission statement (enshrined in big letters at the top of our constitution) is "Committed to the tasting and enjoyment of savoury hot pies, puddings and pasties".  Despite this, some of us were a bit taken aback, but full marks to the chef for being a bit adventurous.

The pastry was a lovely short crust pastry, but there was possibly a bit too much of it. The filling was diced beef with swede and potato (and maybe a few other vegetables) - in other words a traditional pasty filling, and it was very tasty, but there wasn't really enough of it. The high ratio of pastry to filling made the whole thing rather dry, so we had to ask for some extra gravy, which was readily forthcoming, and served separately in a jug, just the way we like it. The accompanying vegetables and chips were very good, but the portions were rather small.  Despite these criticisms, we all managed to clear our plates (except for one gentleman who left some of his pastry) so the meal was obviously good:

Certainly the Cricketers and its sister pub The Robin Hood both pride themselves on offering high quality food* and there was nothing wrong with this meal - it just didn't quite conform to our exacting standards.

We managed to find room for puddings. There was a choice of Mango Sorbet, Caramel Ice Cream, Treacle Tart, or Eton Mess, which was very good:

The general ambience of the pub was very good. It's clean, has nicely up-market furnishings, and has no distractions such as music or fruit machines. The gardens are extensive and lovely to sit in on a fine summers day. The service was very good, although we did have to go to the bar to order extra drinks, and unfortunately the pub closes at 3.00pm (although Sean did let us sit out in the garden a bit later than that as we waited for the return bus). Value for money was reasonable, with the pie costing £10, and the total bill for 6 people (including puddings) was £132.70. Unfortunately the days when you could watch cricket at The Cricketers have long gone, but there is a nice cricketing mural inside hte pub.

The return bus journey was uneventful as we had all been paying full attention to the bus driver on our way out. It being such a nice day, the lure of the gardens at The Crown proved too much for us, so we had a couple there. We were joined there by the delightful Leslie before moving on for a few more at the Bunch of Grapes.

Scores (max. 5 in each category, 25 overall): 

• Pastry 3.992
• Filling 3.375
• Beer 4.033
• Ambience 4.083
• Value 4.142
• Overall 19.625

This score puts The Cricketers 2nd out of 5 pubs visited so far this year. There's no doubt about it, we prefer pies to pasties!

* The Pork Belly at The Robin Hood is excellent





  

The Crown, Bishops Waltham, 30th May 2013

As 2 of our members were still on the road to recovery following their recent hospitalisation we decided to keep it simple and visit the Crown Inn in Bishops Waltham.  This was our first official Pie Club visit to the Crown since its recent very expensive refurbishment, when it was transformed from a dump into a smart hotel, although obviously several members have visited it before in a private capacity. 

                             

After Nick, Trev, Stephen, Doug and Paul had stopped off at the Bunch of Grapes  to help Stuart out by moving some of the beer left over from his event at the weekend, we met up with Joe at the Crown. We were faced with a welcoming selection of ales:

Fullers London Pride, Bowman South Sea Spice, Seafarers Ale, Gales HSB, and a new beer from Fullers called Brewers Bragg.

We were not able to try all the beers - maybe due to previous consumption at the Bunch - but all beers tasted were in good condition and went down very well.

There was only one pie on the menu, the pie of the day, which was a fish pie - so we all ordered this. This was our first fish pie!  The pie had a short crust pastry bottom and sides and was topped with mash potatoes and came with a selection of vegetables and buttered new potatoes and a separate jug of a parsley sauce.

There was some discussion as to what fish was in the pie and we came to the conclusion that there was definitely salmon, a white fish and some prawns were spotted. Overall, the general feeling was that the pie was very tasty, though some thought it was a tad on the dry side, which I suppose is why it came with a separate sauce to suit all sorts. It was felt, that at £12.50, it was a bit expensive for the size of the portions, but then again, the Crown is a hotel.

As service was very slow and at times non-existent we decided not to have a pudding and some of us decided to go back to the Bunch to help Stuart out with his beer, only to find out that Stuart and Mandy had done a runner - I wonder why? So an early night was had by all!

Scores (max. 5 in each category, 25 overall):

• Pastry  3.5
• Filling  3.5
• Beer  3.92
• Ambience  3.04
• Value for money  2.75
• Total  16.71

The Crown immediately sinks to bottom place in our rankings, due mainly to the poor service, which is reflected in the low score for Ambience, and the poor value for money. Perhaps it is not fair to judge the Crown (which sets out to be a smart hotel) by the same standards that we use to judge pubs. Nevertheless, we won't be coming here again (not for a pie at any rate). The beers were good, though.

The Barleycorn Inn, Bishops Waltham, 25th April 2013

Pieman is pleased to report that the two recently-hospitalised Pie Club members have been discharged from hospital and are recovering well from their traumatic experiences. The doctors have told them that a sound diet will help no end with their recuperation, and what could be sounder than a good traditional British Pie washed down with a few beers?  Well, probably quite a few things would be better, but despite that our two heroes resolutely insisted on joining the rest of us for our April outing, once again making a full complement of Pie Club members present for this outing.  Out of consideration for their delicate condition it was agreed that a revisit to a local pub was the best option as this would eliminate a potentially hazardous bus journey, so off we went to the Barleycorn Inn, a pub that we last experienced  23rd June 2011.

We felt that a revisit was justified as we had heard that the food side of the business had been taken over by new people, and that the food was much improved. As we approached the pub we couldn't help noticing this enticing sign outside:

Inside there was a welcoming selection of ales available, although it was apparently limited to a choice of only 3:

This being a Greene King pub, they were unsurprisingly all Greene King Ales: Greene King IPA 3.6%,  Old Golden Hen 4.1%, and  Old Speckled Hen 4.5%.  Although the choice was limited we judged that these ales were all in fine condition and eminently quaffable.  We  noted with approval that the Happy Hour was still running, although most of us arrived too late to take advantage of it. Sadly, there was no trace of Sean - wherever he may be, we wish him well.

They'd made a Steak, Ale and Mushroom Pie especially for us, which was nice of them, but we noticed on the menu that there was also available a Gammon & Peach Pie. Those of us with more traditional leanings opted for the Steak, Ale and Mushroom Pie, but some of us (those with a more adventurous disposition) couldn't resist the allure of something new and never-before tasted - the Gammon & Peach Pie.

This is the Steak, Ale and Mushroom Pie:

This is the Gammon & Peach Pie:

The pies came with an ample selection of vegetables, chips, mashed potato, all served in separate dishes, and extra gravy in a jug:

The end result was a good plateful, enough to satisfy everyone's appetite:

The gammon in the Gammon & Peach Pie seemed to have been shredded, which is okay, but we some of us prefer our meat chunky. The peach and gammon went well together but was surprisingly not very tasty, although the peach was clearly discernible  We think the pastry was some sort of suet pastry, and rather good, but we weren't so keen on the gravy, which tasted too bitter. The pie fillings were both packed full of meat and of good consistency, although some remarked that the steak in the Steak, Ale and Mushroom Pie was a bit chewy. But, minor quibbles aside, both pies were excellent and very satisfying, and good value at £8.95. There was hardly any room left for puddings, but we managed.

We noticed that the pudding menu was much  reduced compared with 2 years ago (and actually the same could be said for the main menu as well) but this is not necessarily a bad thing. It meant that between us we were able to sample most of the puddings:

These are good traditional puddings, and we noticed with approval the complete lack of any unnecessary garnishing (not like last time!).

Scores (max. 5 in each category, 25 overall): 

• Pastry 4.06
• Filling 3.53
• Beer 3.78
• Ambience 3.875
• Value 4.125
• Overall 19.37

So once again The Barleycorn leaps into 2nd place in our rankings for this year, although with a lower score than last time, which is perhaps a reflection of the experience that we have all gained as judges over the last two years rather than a reflection of the quality of this meal. Maybe the ambience was marked down because there was background music on, and they played Phil Collins twice! After this meal the Pie Club members adjourned to the garden of The Crown to bask in the spring sunshine.  

St James Tavern, Winchester, 28th March 2013

A small, slightly sombre group of pie lovers met on 28th March, somewhat subdued owing to the recent hospitalisation of two of our members. One was about to have an operation on his shoulder to rectify a problem which may have developed as a result of lifting too many pints of ale. The other was waiting for heart surgery to correct a problem which may have developed as a result of eating too many pies. To make up for the missing members we were joined by a very special guest, Denis, who had come all the way from Pinner to be with us. There was an unspoken understanding that our missing members would want us to continue with the meeting as normal, so, after sparing a thought for them, that is exactly what we did.

Our venue this time was the St James_Tavern, Winchester, which we had heard was a fine traditional city pub, and therefore a bit of a change from the usual country pubs that we frequent.

We were given a very warm welcome by the two charming young ladies behind the bar, and immediately faced the difficult decision of which ales to try first.

The choice was very good. This being a Wadworths pub there was a choice of Wadworth Bishops Tipple 5%,  Wadworth 6X 4.3%, Wadworth Horizon 4%, and Wadworth Henry's IPA 3.6%. The guest ale was Two Hoots 4.2% from the Joseph Holt brewery in Manchester, whose motto is With Great Beer Comes Great Wisdom - a sentiment with which we all agree (obviously).  It was Denis who suggested that we should try them all, in turn, and we sensed then that this might turn out to be a good outing.

There was only one pie on the menu - an Irish Stew Pie served with mixed vegetables and mashed potatoes. We'd never had an Irish Stew Pie before so this sounded interesting, and we all ordered it (obviously).

The pie was an individual pie, not excessively large but large enough, filled with chunks of lean stewing steak, potatoes, carrots, and maybe some other vegetables. The pastry was short-crust pastry all around, and was very good, but was maybe a bit thin so after a while the pastry in the base became a bit soggy. The pie was accompanied by frozen peas, fresh broccoli, mashed swede, and mashed potatoes, with a small amount of gravy pre-applied, not served separately in a jug as we like. All in all, it was a very satisfactory meal, but there were some differences of opinion regarding the pie - some felt it was a bit small - others thought it was perfectly formed.

We all had room for pudding.  The Syrup  Pudding with ice cream was excellent.

The pub had a very nice ambience. It being a city pub it got quite busy around office lunch hour (remember those?), but the rest of the time it was just right. There was background music on, which we normally disapprove of, but it was actually quite pleasant. The service was very good, with fresh beers brought to the table by the delightful young ladies as soon as they were needed. The value for money was quite good as well (the beers were £3.20 - £3.70 per pint, and the pies were £8.90), so ignore any reviews you read about this pub in which there are complaints about how expensive it is. The ales were all in very good condition.

Scores (max. 5 in each category, 25 overall):

• Pastry 3.1
• Filling 3.4
• Beer 4.4
• Ambience 4.1
• Value 4.1
• Overall 19.1

This is a respectable score, but clearly means that the St James Tavern is not bin the same league as our favourites, like The Wheatsheaf.  After the meal Denis needed to be shown the way back to the railway station, but we were still a bit thirsty so we stopped on the way, at the Westgate Inn, for a few more beers. This is a fine pub, but they don't do food. We heard that Denis managed to find his way home again eventually.

2012 Pie of the Year Award Presentation

After a year of dedicated devotion to duty in 2012, the gentlemen members of the Pie Club gathered together on 28th February 2013 for a formal presentation to the Landlord and Landlady at The Wheatsheaf Inn, Shedfield  in honour of the truly exceptional pie which they presented to us there on  29th May 2012 (a momentous occasion which will be long remembered by all who were present). 

Several members were seen to be dewy-eyed as they entered the hallowed premises, and noticed some familiar signs which brought back cherished memories of that famous day. Of course,  the excellent Flowerpots Ales, and a fine selection of other ales and ciders, are still available, all at prices which are but a dim memory for people who frequent other pubs. 

 It would have been rude for us to refuse the offer of ales at such prices, so we started at the top of the list, as is natural, and worked our way down.  We had already arranged for a replica Steak and Ale pie to be served on this occasion, but as there were 8 of us present this time our hosts had prepared two pies for us.  What could be better than that? Before the pies were served we presented our hosts with a commemorative certificate, which they were very pleased to receive. In fact, they seemed moved to tears:

Within minutes the certificate was proudly on display in prime position by the bar:

When the pies were served, we were not disappointed. Look at the size of the pie (this is one pie, for 4 people). Admire the colour and texture of the pastry:

When served out you are better able to appreciate the size of the helping:

The pies were accompanied by side dishes of freshly cooked vegetables, new potatoes in butter, and lashings of gravy served separately (our hosts had apparently taken note of the only criticism we made on our first visit).

This was a celebratory occasion, not a normal Pie Club outing, so we didn't do the usual formal assessment (we wouldn't subject The Wheatsheaf to such an indignity). Suffice to say, everything about this visit lived up to expectations, and we still think that this pie is a deserving winner of our sought-after Pie of the Year award. Congratulations once again to our hosts - may you long continue to maintain such high standards (and such low prices).

The Wheatsheaf has set such a high standard that challenge now for the Pie Club members is to seek out and sample worthy contenders for the title. We are undaunted. We will continue  devote ourselves with renewed vigour to the search for the perfect Pie & Pint.

The Queen Inn, St Cross, 31st January 2013

For our first outing of 2013 Nick suggested a visit to The Queen Inn, in St Cross, Winchester. This would be our first outing to Winchester. Unfortunately, due to travel and other commitments, only a few gentlemen were able to join Nick on this venture, so only Doug, Si, and Paul E were able to meet up with Nick in the square at Bishops Waltham on a cold but sunny winter day to catch the 69 bus to Winchester.  We had to rely on Nick to tell us when to get off the bus, as nobody else had any idea, but we managed okay, despite an unseemly squabble about who should press the bell to tell the bus driver when to stop. After a short walk we soon arrived at our destination:

This is a fine looking pub near Winchester College, and directly opposite the college cricket ground (although sadly a fence obscures the view, otherwise we'd be able to sit watching cricket while eating our pie and quaffing our ale, and it doesn't get any better than that). We were given a warm welcome by the bar staff and immediately confronted by a difficult choice of which ale to drink. This being a Greene King pub there were Greene King IPA 3.6% @ £3.40/pint, and Abbott Ale 5.0% @ £3.90/pint to choose from, and also a couple of guest ales: Elgoods EP (Pageant Ale) 4.3% @ £3.70/pint, and  York Brewery Yorkshire Terrier 4.2% @ £3.70/pint. Most of us chose to start with the weakest ale, with the clear intention of working up to the strongest. The IPA and the Yorkshire Terrier were both served well, at the right temperature, and very good.

As we were supping our first pint our attention was drawn to the extensive selection of whiskies on offer (at very reasonable prices) and some of us made a mental note to sample some of them later:

There was only one pie available on the menu, a deep-filled chicken & leek pie served with freshly-cooked seasonal vegetables and either mashed potatoes or chips, all for £9.50. So after not a lot of thought, we all ordered deep-filled chicken & leek pie served with freshly-cooked seasonal vegetables and either mashed potatoes or chips. When it arrived it looked fabulous:

The vegetables were perfectly cooked. The mashed potatoes and chips were very good. The gravy was pre-applied (no separate jug, so at least 0.1 point deducted) and a bit thin and watery, but still good enough. The pie was massive, at least 8cm deep, and packed solid with big chunks of well-cooked chicken and thick creamy sauce, and some greenish bits which we assumed were leek, but we couldn't really taste them. The pastry was thick and generous. Instead of our preferred short-crust pastry we determined that the pastry was actually Hot Water Crust Pastry, as used traditionally for pork pies, game pies, and other hand-raised savoury pies. Strictly speaking, this is the correct type of pastry to use for this type of pie (see cookipedia), and we liked it, although we found that the pastry (and the near-solid pie filling) were very filling. In fact, we felt so stuffed after eating the pie that we could only manage 2 puddings between us:

We felt obliged to try the Bread Pudding with Custard, and it was lovely, but we felt so stuffed that we  couldn't really appreciate it. At this point we realised that we'd overdone it, and despite only having had 3 pints of ale, we decided it was time to leave.  As we were settling up we noticed that there are plans afoot to improve the pub:

 We felt that the pub was fine as it was, although a little more room to stand at the bar would be appreciated, and obviously the addition of a new mini-brewery will be of great interest to us, so it's quite likely that we will want to make another visit to this pub some time soon.  There's also a good reason for coming later in the afternoon:

Someone suggested that a short walk to The Wykeham Arms, just down the road, might help the pie settle in our stomachs and make room for a few more pints, so off we went. When we got there we tried a pint of the always excellent Flowerpots Perridge Pale 3.6%, but even this didn't do the trick so we gave up and went home. Interestingly, we noted that a shot of Talisker Whisky is £5.25 in The Wykeham Arms, but only £3.20 in The Queen Inn (same size shot - we checked).

For the first time ever the gentlemen were defeated by a pie!

Scores (max. 5 in each category, 25 overall):

• Pastry 3.825
• Filling 4.375
• Beer 3.625
• Ambience 4.5
• Value 4.5
• Overall 20.825

 Congratulations to the landlord, Clive. I'm sure we will want to make a return visit to this pub after the renovations have been completed and when the new brewery is in full production. You got the better of us this time, but next time we'll come prepared, and we'll be sure to want to take full advantage of your "buy 10 get one free" deal!