If I had started this blog when I first thought of it, I would be able to go back and check out the names of pubs and restaurants I have already visited over the last few years.
So, I am going to start by doing some catching up!
Sunday 31st October
I had been in Cambridge that weekend, for my good friend Jon's 60th. Had a very relaxing weekend and, on the Sunday, packed my case and went, with my friends Jon and Colin and several others of their friends, to the Salisbury Arms, Tenison Road, Cambridge. http://www.thesalisburyarms.com/ This is a pub I used to go to when I first moved to Cambridge in the late 70s. I remember it being the first Camra pub in the UK, and being very much a pub full of sandal and beard wearing intense real ale folks. It has been through several incarnations since then, but has remained a real ale pub, with some traditional touches.
They do a home made nut roast (I am told that it is a recipe from Cranks), which is served with roast potatoes, yorkshires, lots of vegetables, and gravy. I have been there many times before when visiting Cambridge - it is the regular haunt of my friends Jon and Colin, and it is good! - and I don't always manage to finish the whole plateful. On this occasion, I did. It costs about £7.45, I think, which is pretty good value. They always seem to run out, because they don't like waste, so they only cook as much as they think they will need.
I had arranged to meet another friend, Simon, who I met playing backgammon some years ago, when I lived in Cambridge. I don't see him very often, so it was good to catch up with him. We hung around for a while, with people coming and going, and then the pub's dog came out - a big, black, furry and friendly thing called Max - which is a strong hint that it is now time to leave. Unlike lots of other pubs, the Salisbury still closes on Sunday afternoon.
Sunday 7th November
I went out with my friend Tim, and we went to the Bear in Camberwell, where the only vegetarian option was veggie haggis, and they had run out by the time we got there, which was about 1:45. So we moved on.
Instead, we went to the Cambria in Camberwell - http://www.thecambrialondon.com/ - which is a pub we had been to before, but which I had forgotten about (hence my previous comment about wishing I had started a blog before). It is one of those pubs which has a mixture of unmatched furniture, but somehow makes it look like it fits in. It was busy the day we were there. They serve a nut roast, which was a little bit odd on this occasion, because, when it came, it was curry flavour, and it didn't really have the expected consistency of a nut roast, either. It was more like a heap of curried vegetables, beans and nuts. So that was a bit of a disappointment, and I didn't really enjoy it much. I will go there again, though, because I liked the ambience of the pub. I can't remember how much it was, but I am sure I would have remembered if it had been expensive!
Afterwards, we decided to check out the Tiger pub in Camberwell - http://thetigerpub.com/ - which I had not visited since it started doing food. I had the poached pear pudding and a cup of tea, and it was really nice. The pub was very busy, and there was a football match on the telly in one part, but we managed to get a table, and the football wasn't too intrusive other than on the one occasion when someone scored!
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