The Horse & Jockey, Curdbridge, 28th April 2016

The Horse & Jockey, Curdbridge, 28th April 2016

This was a new venue for the Pie Club members so we set off for the short taxi ride to Curdbridge full of expectation.

On arrival we were given a warm welcome and got stuck into our first pint.

Being a Fullers pub there were 3 of their beers to choose from:
Seafarers 3.6%, London Pride 4.1% and HSB 4.8%. We all started on the Seafarers being the lowest strength and it is indeed an excellent session beer. All beers sampled were in good condition and served at the right temperature.
The pub was very busy with diners which to us is always a good sign.

Time seemed to fly pass, whilst sampling the beers and indulging in stimulating conversation so we were later than intended sitting down for the main event! The pie on offer was Steak and Kidney with a choice of new potatoes, dauphinoise potatoes or chips with veg of the day. Most of us opted for the dauphinoise potatoes which is something you only usually get in upmarket restaurants and a couple of us stuck to the safe bet of chips.
The pies were individual pies with an excellent short crust pasty, no soggy bottoms here, and a generous tasty filling with lots of kidney. The dauphinoise potatoes came in a block and were tasty but rather filling. It all came with an individual jug of gravy for each person - excellent!
The only problem we had was because we had to wait quite a long time for our food to arrive, due to the number of diners and the pub being a chef down we had no time for puddings as our taxi was beckoning. However, most of us were so full it would not have been a good idea!

Overall a very successful first visit to the Horse & Jockey.

Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall)

• Pastry 4.50
• Filling  4.61
• Beer    4.31
• Ambience 4.17
• Value 3.92
• Overall 21.51

Thank you to all the staff at the Horse & Jockey for your hospitality this score puts you into the number 3 spot.