Beef, Pork & Turkey @ The Cunning Man 26/10/2014

Moo you looking at?

I decided to go for a walk along the River Kennet on Sunday afternoon – it was a reasonably pleasant day and there was a handy pub an hour’s walk from Reading town centre called The Cunning Man.

It looks nice on the outside, with a presumably fake thatched roof (forgive me for my lack of thatch expertise – Thatcher yes, thatch no) and plenty of outdoor seating – a rather pleasant setting.

 

I decided to enjoy a pint outside in my very own tepee hut area, albeit still rather dirty with last night’s cigarette butts everywhere, whilst awaiting my dining partner for the afternoon.  It was pleasantly warm – for a northerner – at around 15’C.

The menu sounded good – as you may have worked out by now if there is an option for more than one meat, it is very difficult for me to avoid choosing this.  I am yet to conclude as to whether this is a wise idea – does my greed obstruct my ability to appreciate a particular roast?

We were quickly seated, albeit with some confusion by the staff – our order was taken pretty much straight away, I went for a pee, came back and it arrived.

First impressions upon viewing were of a more generous helping than The Moderation had managed – 4decent baby carrots for a start, which is 3 more than the aforementioned had considered appropriate.

The cabbage was…bland.

The roast potatoes were average at best.  They kind of tasted like they were microwaved.  More soggy and solid than crispy – but I have had worse efforts.

The herb-crusted loin of sweetcure pork was just a slice of pork with no immediately obvious hint of herbs.  I have no idea what sweetcured means.

The chipolator unwrapped in bacon was fine, the stuffing was a very round circle of very average stuffing-meat.

The beef and turkey were fine - turkey probably the best meat of the 3 - but probably only a slight upgrade from the Toby Carvery.  All the meats tasted roughly the same.  1 slice of each around 3-4mm thick.

And the reason why everything tasted the same?  The gravy.  We did ask how thick the gravy was before ordering, and the waitress said it was quite thick this week.  I like a good consistency.  The thicker the better.

This was a good consistency.  It looked promising and we got extra gravy upon request – not sure why it wasn’t poured in the Yorkshire, which is close to a criminal offence, which by the way seemed very similar to a slightly-larger than normal Aunt Bessie’s frozen Yorkshire pudding.  But the flavour of the gravy was so over-powering – again a tomato-based taste, as you can see from the hint of red.  I really don’t get this wannabe-fancy different tasting gravy.  Just some beef or chicken stock will do.  Hell, even serve me Bisto granules if you have to.

So overpowering that I had to have a rest halfway through, despite not having eaten anything prior to this.

Had the gravy been reasonable, then it would have pushed the high 6’s.  A decent amount of food and the quality was fine.  As it is, it was marginally better than The Moderation and it receives a score of 5.4 out of 10.

All that leaves me to say is, if moo enjoyed my review, please share, like and invite.

Sorry.  That was worse than the gravy.

Beef Sirloin @ The Moderation 19/10/2014

The last time I went to The Moderation for a roast, I was disappointed.  It was a couple of years ago so I felt it was time to try again.  They used to do very good roasts 5-6 years ago.

Available choices were chicken, pork or beef, so I plumped for the beef sirloin, to give its exact name, and went for 2 dishes for £12, instead of the £10 roast, which seemed reasonable value.

There were around 15 of us seated and our dinners arrived at the same time which is always appreciated and the waitress had understood my request for extra gravy despite not acknowledging it.

So in the order that I ate it, the one piece of cauliflower was fine.  Crunchy but fine.  As was the one piece of broccoli.

My one baby carrot was really nice.

Photo clarifies that I did get a carrot.

3 of my 5 a day done.

The selection of roast potatoes were reasonably decent.  The larger one was fairly tough inside, but the others well-cooked and reasonably crispy on the outside.

The Yorkshire pudding was disappointing.  A decent size but it was filled like a dumpling.  I am struggling to describe it well, but it was a filled, fluffy bowl.  Not what I class as a Yorkshire.

It was a decent piece of beef sirloin – in steak format as opposed to carved from a joint of beef.  A little pink inside, it was cooked nicely.

The gravy however, was tomato-flavoured and rather watery.  An attempt at modernisation where it is not required.  The extra gravy was surplus to requirements.  Well…mostly.  I certainly didn’t bother asking for some bread to soak it up.  Nor was I tempted to hide under the table and lick the remaining gravy doggy-style.

Inconsequentially, as this is a roast dinners around Reading blog, not a roast dinners and desserts around Reading blog, the chocolate brownie, though unsurprisingly limited in size considering the generosity of just one carrot, was very tasty.

I didn’t hear anyone in my group expelling excitable endorsements about the meal, but likewise nobody complained either.

It was decent and I wouldn’t recommend against it.  But there are better roasts out there.

5.2 out of 10.

Next up might be somewhere slightly outside of Reading.

Turkey & Beef @ Toby Carvery, Reading 28/09/2014

Roast Dinners In Reading is back.  There will be at least one roast a month from now on.  Maybe.

And a real domain name.  Maybe a Facebook/Twitter page too.  I might even amend the name slightly.

So after a nice walk near Ascot on Sunday just gone, I decided that I required a big pile of food on a pre-payday budget.

Toby Carvery was the choice.

It wasn’t as cheap as I had thought it would be - £9.49 for a carvery and an extra £1.50 to go KING SIZE.  I went KING SIZE.

KING SIZE gets you two chipolatas, an extra Yorkshire pudding and a bit more meat.

Either normal size or KING SIZE gets you up to 4 different meats – turkey, gammon, pork and beef were the choices.  The pork didn’t looked like it had been there for a few hours, so I chose beef and turkey.

The vegetable choices were pretty basic – carrots, cauliflower ‘cheese’, peas, runner beans, onions.  There were 3 different types of gravy – vegetarian, mint and meat.  I drenched my plate in meat.

So onto the food.  And boy was I hungry.

The beef was ok, it tasted like the turkey, which was so thinly sliced that the server should really have a job at Bernard Matthews doing their wafer-thin turkey slices.  The potatoes were ok, they tasted like the turkey.  The stuffing tasted like the potatoes, but at least had a different texture.  The sausages did taste like sausages but the cauliflower ‘cheese’ tasted like the beef, or the turkey, or the potatoes.  Certainly not of cheese.

The gravy was brown water.

The crackling was inedible.

Thankfully a dining experience isn’t all about the food.

The waitress was very helpful (and quite hot), the wait for a table was just 10 minutes or so and the clientele were friendly, though the two ladies near us seemed a little confused as to why Muslims tend not to have western names such as Harry or Fred.  I considered suggesting that neither do the French or Germans but decided against.

The beer choice was not great - I plumped for Amstel but it tasted of chemicals.

Thankfully the company was excellent.

Things can only get better.  Malmaison next weekend?!

A more-generous-than-their-meat-serving score of 3.5 out of 10.

Oh wait a minute, the Yorkshire pudding were pretty good.

The Trio Of Roasts @ Griffin, Caversham 16/03/2014

When a trio of meat is on offer – there is no decision to be made.

The Griffin does very good food so I was particular hopeful and expectant of a cracking roast, sat in the very pleasant early Spring sunshine, beer on table, in their sizeable garden area.

It arrived in good time and there was a decent portion for the £10.50 paid for the roast.  A reasonable sum in Berkshire.

There were many other options, ranging from £7.99 to £13.99 - the menu is here.

Starting with the vegetables – carrots, broccoli and cauliflower.  All decent, but nothing exciting.

The potatoes were rather on the soft and soggy side – they looked good but didn’t quite meet hopes, no crispy edges.

The Yorkshire pudding was a decent size and there was unlimited gravy on offer – none of this poncey thin runny stuff but not too thick to scare your average southerner either.

Finally, the meat.  Beef, pork and turkey (if I recall correctly!).  The pork was disappointing – it was just slices of cooked pork.  The beef and turkey were standardly average.  There was enough meat but it was crying out to be a little more special – just the odd herb perhaps?!

There wasn’t anything bad about the roast but I have eaten at the Griffin several times and their food is normally very, very good – the roast was only ok.

I wouldn’t recommend the roast – stick to the other meals as they are far nicer.

6 out of 10 – distinctly average.

I expect I will return and would definitely consider the Sunday Best as they look rather more interesting.

The quest for the perfect Sunday roast in Reading continues…if you want to join me or have a recommendation then please post below.

Roast Carvery at The Crown, Playhatch 09/02/2014

Next up in the very occasional series of Roast Dinners in Reading, was a trip to The Crown in Playhatch, just slightly out of town.

The building itself was rather pleasing on the eye but would the roast be pleasing to the taste buds?

 

It is a carvery that they do, and the choice of meat on offer was beef, lamb, pork, turkey and gammon.

I chose the beef, lamb and pork (you are allowed 3 types) – the beef and lamb were excellent and the pork very good, perhaps just a touch on the dry side.  The pork crackling – wow.  But there was only a small pot to share between all carvery-goers so it was a sparse treat.

It being a carvery, it was a case of as many vegetables and potatoes as you like.  And very importantly…as much gravy.

The potatoes were nicely crispy on the outside, though perhaps a little more squidgy than ideal. Good but not perfect.

The choice of vegetables was carrots, purple cabbage and broccoli and chesse.  I only sampled the broccoli and cheese – it was really tasty.

The Yorkshire pudding was large, home-made, and made to perfection.  A superb effort.

The gravy was unlimited, and had a decent consistency.

 

Overall this was an excellent roast dinner, and worth the extra effort to drive slightly out of Reading.  At £13.49 it provided excellent value for money too.

The service was excellent at all times, the pub was clean and the waitresses were very attractive.

I would advise booking in advance as there were no tables available in the restaurant and only one in the bar.

A thoroughly excellent roast dinner - 8.8 out of 10.  I highly recommend it.

Maybe I will manage more than one review this year?