Food 2 - Pretentious Pubs

New restaurants are not always purpose-built — for as long as they have existed, new ones have appeared in converted houses, especially public houses (pubs) and even the odd deconsecrated church.  Those with home-style cooking may become fine-dining establishments, and vice versa.  Thus, there was always a rotation of cuisines in a variety of restaurants — some would go out of business and be replaced by others, caused mainly, by market forces.

In recent years, many people have become more interested in the quality of food, not only nutritional values, but also organics and freshness, and this has had an affect on restaurant menus, especially in pubs.  The plough-man’s lunch accompanied by a pint of ale has been elevated to the squires-lunch accompanied by a glass of white Zinfandel.  This has created a pretentious craze amongst a certain group of people who may be heard referring to the gastropub where the ‘gastro’ prefix increased the prices, embellished the menus, while not actually raising the activity in the kitchen.

In a number of cases the pub cook whose pièce de résistance was bangers and mash continued with sausisse et purée and the customers became bored.  But it is one thing to say that gastropubs have gone from being trendy to being overdone, another to try to consign the gastropub to history, as if it had never existed, or had no more value as a concept.

People began to realize that good food was available at a good price in an informal atmosphere.  No more smoke, questionable curry, or the need to wear a jacket and tie.  Innovation spread like wildfire, and happiness was evident at the dining tables.

The old pubs were challenged to improve their kitchen staff, and regular restaurants were required to pull their socks up.  After all, why go to a fine-dining establishment when you could eat equally well at the ‘Dog and Fiddle’ for a third of the price?


There is a famous culinary publication that contains menu descriptions such as, “... a cohesive natural empathy” or is “... as acutely calibrated as a Rolex watch”. Salads are “... vibrant” and “... worth exploration”. Desserts “... mobilise a lot of chocolate”. A roasted pigeon breast with beetroot is part of “... a cornucopian assemblage”.  Yes, I know, you’d prefer to go to the ‘Dog and Fiddle’.

Obviously, there are good and bad pubs just as there are good and bad fine-dining restaurants ... people aren’t idiots.  The ‘Dog and Fiddle’ may advertise itself as a gastropub while the nearby ‘Lion Inn’ doesn’t.  The ‘Lion Inn’ may make a delicious pheasant cooked in wine, while the ‘Dog and Fiddle’ may be run by posers called Cedric in black T-shirts ... who knows?

One thing is for sure, the quality of food in many pubs is here to stay, and if you intend to visit London, Ontario, let me know if you would like an introduction to a good example.