So this week is British Pie Week, with pubs and eateries that serve the traditional dish doing up special pie menus and such to capitalise on the occasion. I think marketing initiatives like this are kind of silly and a little bit annoying. But hey, I love pie as much as the next guy and reckon early March is as good a time as any to indulge in this heartiest of dishes. Besides, making mention of the week is a perfect excuse to talk about one of my favourite pubs – Punch Tavern – and to rave about its award winning pies.
Not my first (or last) time to dine at Punch, I recently paid a visit to see if this 118 year old Fleet Street mainstay still lived up to the 2014 Great Taste awards it had won for its pies. I can vouch for the cauliflower cheese pie (£11) and the steak and Doom Bar Ale pie (£13) – both served with ample and satisfying mash, veg and gravy. Puds are ace here too – love the sticky toffee pudding (£4.50).
Another smart date to write about Punch would be during Gin Week (assuming there is such a block of days in the calendar) as the tavern has a fantastic list of gins – close to 50 varieties actually, served in a 50ml measure with fever tree tonic in Copa Glass from £5 to £10. Back to the vouching, the Ophir Oriental Spiced Gin with added ginger beer kick is a flavourfully refreshing drink, while a G&T made with Boodles (allegedly Winston Churchill’s preferred gin) was an especially delicious cocktail.
And another great reason for you to read this post is that (to the best of my knowledge), Punch is still running its 25% discount for customers mentioning the tikichris special that I sorted out with the pub last year.
Punch Tavern is located at 99 Fleet Street, EC4Y 1DE. Find out more at punchtavern.com.
