The great pub debate

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Posted at 1:20PM, 24 January 2011 by Dulcima Mansell - Food writer

When I decided to write a blog about pub food, I didn't realise how complicated a topic I was getting myself involved in. I soon realised that pub food is a bit of a redundant term; the menus you find in pubs today provide huge variety. But is this necessarily a good thing?

Some analysis was required, giving me a good excuse to spend a merry couple of hours with friends (in our local, naturally) discussing all things pub food. We ended up with four categories of food-serving pubs:

1. The 'trying to please everyone': You get your pub favourites next to Indian curries , lasagne , salads . The food is usually cheap, but often pretty poor in quality. The expression 'jack of all trades and master of none' springs to mind.

2. The 'specialist': pubs which have chosen a specific cuisine to concentrate on and often do it rather well (therefore being the master and not the jack, to keep the analogy going). For example we have a fantastic pub near me that does great Indian food ; indeed it is far better than the local takeaway.

3. The 'traditional grub': these can vary in quality but tend to be very simple and not very progressive, your scampi and chips , pies , steaks , bangers and mash etc. Tend to stick to more British traditional dishes than type 1.

4. Finally the 'trendy modern': slightly style over substance, epitomised by 'stylish' (and often rather over the top) plate settings (think burger and chips served on a massive wooden board with the chips in a little bucket).

However, I don't believe that any of the above get it quite right. Do the 'trying to please everyone' pubs actually please anyone at all? If you want a curry you want a good curry, if you want a pizza you want a good pizza and so on, doing none of them well just isn't worth even the small amount they charge.

The 'traditional grub pub' could be so good if only they put the effort in, but so often it is cheap meat or pathetic limp lettuce claiming it is a salad. The food at the 'trendy modern' or the 'specialist' may be good but either way it is inevitably overpriced as they know that they are the desired few ('trendy moderns' think we will not notice that by clouding our judgement with their strangely shaped crockery). Enough is enough. We should be proud of our British pubs; it's about time the food caught up.

Therefore I am calling for a pub revolution. We need more quality food in our pubs. Be they 'traditional', 'specialist', even 'trendy' if you like, but what we want is good food at a good price in a nice atmosphere that we can enjoy with a pint.

What type of pub do you prefer? Am I being overly harsh or would you too like to see the end of 'trying to please everyone' pubs?

Comments

John S

24 January 2011, 9:28PM
John S

Our one decent traditional pub recently turned into into a Thai only. Still very good food, but you're right, there are far too few genuinely decent food serving pubs these days. Now, I'm off for a pint and a pad thai.

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izzy2007

26 January 2011, 11:02PM
izzy2007

you carnt beat a carvery meal,most of them Â£5.00 and decent food if you know some good pubs,x

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experimentaltrainee

30 January 2011, 1:19AM
experimentaltrainee

As a chef in training in this specific scenario(trying to please everyone vs specialist) I understand your point of view. But you over generalise or maybe all the places near you fit neatly into your said patterns. Being someone that got sick and tired of the usual pub grub offered in the "try to please" everyone menus, I decided to take up cheffing as a career. I am still fairly new to it, however the place I currently work for has a semi standard set menu, for the simple fact that from that you get regular loyal customers. We also do at least if not more than 4 starters specials, and about the same in mains. Sorry to go on so long, but the main reason I believe you can categorise you restaurants in such a fashion is the owners are more interested in the bottom line than they are in their food. Thankfully I have found a wee haven up here in scotland that doesn't like to be generalised and is all the better for it

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scottchef

1 February 2011, 1:33PM
scottchef

i work in a pub and we cook everything from scratch use only local produce and on average work 14 - 15 hours a day. I put in this hard work to prove that you can cook very good pub food if you put the work in and not get it out of a packet. The problem is most of the time the owners of the pub do dont understand how much work has to go into good food and will go down the classic route of cash and carry.

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judd

2 February 2011, 9:10AM
judd

The most enjoyable fod I've ever had in a pub was a place that had a micro brewery at the back and 3 large cauldrons of casseroles and currys. As soon as an order went out, a tick went on the board to show how many portions were left. There are too many pubs trying to emulate the high end restraunt trade and getting it so wrong. Give me a pint of Sam Smiths and a bowl of stew and dumplings and I'm yours for life.

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