Sandwiches and Bikes
No - I didn't get served this plate of crayfish, mayo, dressed salad and good bread in a country pub after an arduous bit of pedalling but in a high street bar called Beach & Barnicott and it cost about a fiver. Good value and it was delicious. I'd eaten half of it before I remembered to take a photo.Some readers may wonder why I always order a prawn or crab sandwich in these country pubs. I wonder too but these places offer such little choice. They must read each other's menus and stick to the same old boring things. Why not Caesar Salad, fresh sardines, a bowl of moules, a salad that doesn't have a base of iceberg lettuce snipped into strips with dressmaking scissors, an Italian Anti-Pasta? They don't have the imagination.
Braised liver, mustard mash and gravy? I only want lunch! Lamb shank, minted gravy and chips? If I wanted a chilled or frozen ready meal I'd buy one in Tescos - two for a fiver and eat it at home. I don't want to spend fifteen pounds on a pub lunch. I don't like baguettes and a frozen sausage. Might crack my crowns and enamels if I sink my teeth into them. And anyway - I even wear my lippy riding my bike so I don't want my face smeared with Rimmel!
We had a good ride to Burton Bradstock, about five hilly miles, and stopped at the Three Horseshoes and sat in their pretty pub garden and I ordered a crab sandwich. It was six pounds -Rip off Britain? but the bread was tasty and had seen the serrated edges of a bread knife. And I got some white crabmeat mixed with the brown - Hurrah! The mixed leaf garnish had a decent dressing and nobody had cut a cherry tomato into quarters - I had a whole one.
A nine mile bike ride in total, as we came back the easier route, then I almost came a cropper in town as somebody stepped out in front of me on a pedestrian crossing and I hit the kerb to avoid them.
On Friday we're going to The Manor at West Bexington for lunch. Quite a distance on a bike but worth it for the beautiful views and hopefully there'll be no sign of a prawn sandwich.
posted by Buggles Balham High Road at 1:59 PM
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8 Comments:
I suppose you earn your lunch if you cycle all the way there.
It's a lovely way to see the countryside Kat. I prefer it to walking and sometimes just stopping for a few minutes there is real silence.
Living here can be a pain when it comes to railway stations, airports and motorway access as we have to travel miles to reach any of these but being able to cycle like this and not hear a 'plane or the hum of a motorway compensates.
Beeching closed our railway station in the 1970s and that is a shame ;-(
Lovely day today so might go for another ride before the weather changes and I need a yellow waterproof cape!
Lack of choice, eh? try being a vegetarian in one of these places...
Vegetarian! Must be dreadful. The eating places in town offer a good range of food for veggies but these twee country pubs have no idea.
Nice to see you Rob.
Hello to you too. The worse ones are the ones that say "Vegetarian? Well, we've got a tuna salad..."
Oh, and Beeching was in 1963 - I know, seems like yesterday...
Ah yes, I remeber it well too Rob - but I moved here in '72 and the railway station closed that year.
Thinking about the vegetarian options on menus. I blame the posing veggies who when asked say
'Yes, I'm a vegetarian but I eat fish'
So many caterers think vegetarians do eat fish.....
"So many caterers think vegetarians do eat fish.." Yes, and chicken, too, even more bizarrely. It's really not that difficult a concept, is it?
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