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Best pub snacks in London
Evening Standard 18.03.09
Pub grub: cold cuts and duck scratchings at Terroirs
Huge: The Bull & Last's speciality 'runny' Scotch eggs
Look here too
As publicans and restaurateurs look for ways to perk up trade, well-made bar snacks are getting more and more fashionable. Now some are so tempting that they make a great cost-effective alternative to a full meal. Simply pitch up for few drinks and turn to the bar menu. The front runner is the humble Scotch egg which has been turned into an art form. You'll find good examples at four of the places listed below. Oysters and seafood are widely available and there is also a good selection of home-baked pasties and pies. Here are the top 10 bar-snack venues, places where you can eat informally and well without breaking the bank.
The Bull & Last
168 Highgate Road, NW5 (020 7267 3641)
The huge Scotch eggs (£2.50) have been on the menu here since opening day. The kitchen takes a pride in leaving the yolks slightly runny. Also good are the arancini — deep fried risotto and blue cheese rice balls — (two for £2), the sausage rolls with black pudding (£2.50) or lamb pasties with mint relish (two for £2.50).
Rivington
28-30 Rivington Street, EC2 (020 7729 7053)
Sit up to the bar at the Rivington and you can order anything from the main restaurant menu. The bar snack favourites, however, are the Scotch egg (£6.75), the Welsh rarebit (£5.50), a rather more sophisticated dish of devilled kidneys on toast (£6.50) and a serious bacon sandwich (£5.95).
Brown Dog
28 Cross Street, SW13 (020 8392 2200)
At the Brown Dog in Barnes they offer a “raw bar”. This is an American concept and the “raw” refers to an array of shellfish and crustacea. A tempting selection of competitively priced cold grub is laid out on a mirror including Irish rock oysters (six for £8.75), dressed Dorset crab (£7.75), a pint of prawns (£7.75), a wild boar prosciutto (£7.50) and pickled herrings with red cabbage (£8).
St. John's Tavern
91 Junction Road, N19 (020 7272 1587)
There's another epic Scotch egg on offer here. They are a great favourite with the locals and impressively large (£3.50). Also try home-made pork scratchings (£2.50), oysters (six for £7), the Serrano ham (£6) and globe artichoke (£4), or how does baked camembert with pickled onions and toast (£6) sound?
Charles Lamb
16 Elia Street, N1 (020 7837 5040)
Regulars at the Charles Lamb are a lucky lot. On Sunday afternoons, should there be roast potatoes left over from the lunch service, they end up on the bar for free. Decent beer and a crisp roastie is a great combination. All the bar snacks are home-made and include sausage rolls (£2), various pasties such as pork and apple (£3) and freshly made puff pastry tarts — goats' cheese and onion at £2.50.
Coach & Horses
26-28 Ray Street Clerkenwell, EC1 (020 7278 8990)
The Scotch eggs at the Coach are contenders for the best in London. Perfectly cooked (crisp outer, cooked sausage meat, slightly runny yolk), served with mustard £4, also a home-made pork pie (£4.50), and herring roes on toast (£5). Or there's the Coach ploughman's which teams ale-cured ham with a changing cast of British cheeses and home-made bread (£8).
Terroirs
5 William IV Street, WC2 (020 7036 0660)
Terroirs is a bustling wine bar with an idiosyncratic wine list that ranges from straightforward good-value bottles to more obscure options. The bar snacks are agreeably French: duck scratchings (£2.50), tapenade with crostini (£2.50), cervelles de canut — the Lyonnaise speciality based on soft cream cheese (£2) — or a magnificent brandade de morue, which comes with Romesco sauce and crostini (£4).
The Prince Arthur
95 Forest Road, E8 (020 7249 9996)
The Arthur is a stalwart gastropub on London Fields. The bar snacks range from a pint of prawns (£7.50, a half pint is £4) to a pair of oysters (£3.50) and a green chilli stuffed with feta cheese (£3.95). But some would argue that there is no better partner for the decent real ale than a portion of the thick, hand-cut chips (£3).
Cecconi's
5-5a Burlington Gardens, W1 (020 7434 1500)
Cecconi's is more renowned for its Negroni cocktails than accessible prices but the “cichetti” (bar snacks available through the day) are remarkably good value. Try the chicken liver crostini (£4), meatballs in tomato sauce (£5), rock oysters (three for £6), quails' eggs with tonne (£5), aubergine parmigiana (£6).
Carpenter's Arms
91 Black Lion Lane, W6 (020 8741 8386)
The Carpenter's Arms is a laid-back gastropub and main dishes can be served at the bar. So there is pickled egg with celery salt (£2.50) as well as rock oysters (six for £8) and roast bone marrow with parsley salad (£6.75).
Reader views (2)
A nice article, some of these sound great & may be worth looking up. A few, however, are just plain laughable.
£6.75 for a scotch egg at the Rivington? Please! I don't care how good it tastes, no scotch egg served at the bar of a pub is worth anywhere near £6.75!
- John, London
'roast bone marrow with parsley salad'
I see. Why not go to St John (EC1) instead and have the original at the bar? Often there are scaled down versions of the dishes served in the main restaurant so for £7 you can have snails, chickpeas and chorizo served in stock on toast with rocket for piquant greenery. Great value.
- Anthony Abdool, London, UK
