The Black Dog, Waltham Chase, 29th March 2018
We previously visited the Black Dog in March 2016 and as it has previously won the prestigious Pie Club Pub of the Year award so we felt it was due another visit. So on an extremely wet and cold March day we headed off on the short bus journey to Waltham Chase to meet the others who had been chauffeur driven!On arrival it was too wet to get a photo of the pub but once inside we were greeted by 4 real ales on handpump.
The beers on offer were: Greene King IPA - 3.6%, Black Dog Bitter - 3.9%, Westerham Brewery British Bulldog - 4.1% and Abbot Ale - 5%. All the beers tasted were in fine condition as was the Guinness.
The pie on offer was a homemade Ox-Cheek braised in Beer. Being homemade it had been made in one large dish which caused a bit of banter amongst the group as to who should get the corner portions and the extra pastry. Those of us on a health kick of course opted for portions from the side!
The portions were very generous and were accompanied by a good selection of vegetables, chips, horseradish mash and of course separate jugs of gravy on the side.
There was a nice touch of French Bread on the table when we arrived which would have been useful for mopping up the gravy had it not all been devoured before the pies arrived!
The pie was indeed very good with lots of succulent filling and a good shortcrust pastry. Our only criticism was that it was rather over salted which meant we had to order more beer!
Some of us still had room for puddings of which there were a fine selection, see below (the puddings are on the blackboards.......).
So, after a very enjoyable lunch we headed back into the torrential rain for the short trip back to Bishops Waltham.
Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall)
- Pastry 4.34
- Filling 4.35
- Beer 4.56
- Ambience 4.39
- Value 4.70
- Overall 22.34
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