Eating Out by Phil Widdows Great Pub Grub

If you were taking foreign visitors out to visit a typical English pub, The Royal Oak would be a perfect destination. It sits in beautiful countryside and looks mellow and inviting. Inside it`s just what tourists would expect - low beams, comfy nooks, handpulled ale and strange and amusing objects hanging on the walls. The welcome is warm, the atmosphere deliberately old fashioned - no music, no juke boxes - and the menu a clever mix of old favourites and the more adventurous.

I and my partner-in-dine (PID) arrived for a midweek evening meal to find the car park almost full, which is always a good sign of quality. Indoors, the pub was busy but not crowded, and we squeezed into a corner, PID sitting on a bench which was a little low and left her peeping over the tabletop like Chad. Wot, no button cushions?

The regular menu was full of the kinds of dishes that have been pub staples for as long as there have been pub meals - home made soup, black pudding, gammon, pies, ploughman1s lunch - while the specials board was for the more adventurous, featuring game, steaks, some shellfish and the like.

We started with smoked salmon for PID, black pudding for me. The salmon was plentiful and tasty, and not to heavily smoked, and reasonable value. The pudding was as it should be: two thick, dark, succulent discs, hot and glistening with naughty fat and quite delicious. The wholegrain mustard sauce which accompanied it was more like a flavoured mayonnaise and could have been a good deal spicier for me. Both dishes come with a mound of that ubiquitous pub salad, all shredded lettuce and bits of bell pepper, which looks better thann it eats, but thats a very minor moan. For main courses, PID went to the specials board and chose the chicken and asparagus in a champagne sauce. It arrived looking pale, interesting and rather under represented on the vegetable front, but another bowl, crammed with peas, carrots and cauliflower cheese, arrived a couple of minutes later.

The Large breast of chicken was good, The asparagus could have been crisper and a little more plentiful, however the champagne sauce drew particular praise: tasty, smooth and refusing to hide any hint of a "skin". The vegetable bowl proved popular too, although the carrots were overdone for my taste. Many diners, however, do not want any hint of a crunch, and I`m sure a word to the kitchen on ordering would help get things to one`s liking. I ordered battered haddock, chips and mushy peas. What I got was a whale - a fish at least a foot long by four inches wide by an inch deep, covered in a batter which was thin but crispy right to the last mouthful. The fillet was simply gorgeous - and huge flakes of fish cooked to perfection. The chips were magnificent, and the peas were fresh, natural and delicious.

This was the fish and chips of champions, and well worth the drive out on its own. At more than £10 pounds, it`s not cheap - but its worth every penny.

We finished with a couple of reasonable coffees, and paid £38.20.



Source: Eating Out - Preston Citizen 2004.