Roast Pork @ The Moderation 07/04/2013

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Roast Pork @ The Moderation 07/04/2013
3rd in my occasional series of local roast dinner reviews.
I haven’t been to The Moderation for some time, it is a nice, modern pub just about in Caversham.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the roast dinner listed for only £9.00 – I am sure it used to be a higher price.
Pork, chicken and beef were the options on the menu.  Except they only had pork left.
We didn’t have to wait too long, around 15 minutes – the pub was moderately busy for a Sunday early evening, plenty of seating available.
The roast dinner was well presented, if a tiny bit on girlie size (or is that just my above-average belly talking?).  A very impressive looking Yorkshire Pudding.
The cauliflower and broccoli were fine, a little tougher than I personally prefer.  The carrots however were sensational, some of the best I have ever had – if only there were more than 6 thin strips of carrot.  Not often I say that.
Good roast potatoes.  Roast potatoes at a pub seem to be the easiest thing to get wrong but they were good.
Onto the important bits – the pork was nice and tender however with only two slices, this was a little disappointing.  It seemed like it was an attempt to conserve the meat as they were running out.  Decent bit of crackling, and the Yorkshire Pudding was excellent.
Finally, the part you have all been waiting for – the gravy.  It was one of those homemade gravies which doesn’t really sit naturally with a Northern palette, but this was a good gravy, a decent consistency and there was plenty enough on the plate.
The empty plate would suggest that it gets the James Winfield seal of approval as a roast with good value for money, with room for improvement.
7.7 out of 10.

Roast Lamb @ The Lyndhurst

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Roast Lamb @ The Lyndhurst

I thought I should bring back the search for the perfect roast dinner in and around the Reading area.

I went to the Lyndhurst, on the edge of the town centre, a nice, friendly locals pub which is well-run and has a very good choice of drinks.

As you can see, they had a good choice of beef, pork, lamb and roast chicken – along with a mega roast!

Had I not had breakfast, I would have attempted the mega roast.  I went for the roast lamb, which at £10.50 is a decent price.

As you can see below – it was well-presented and tidy.

I shall start with the least important – the vegetables.  Thankfully no peas.  There was 4 different vegetables, one I didn’t recognise, some kind of yellow stuff.  The vegetables were a little too cruncy for my personal tastes, but generally good still and not a criticism.

The potatoes however were rather rubbery in texture and though edible were not good.  This however was the low point of the roast dinner and it gets much better from here.

One yorkshire pudding, and it was a decent size and a tasty yorkie.

There was three slices of lamb, a perfect thickness and nicely tasty.  A good cut of lamb.

And last but certainly not least – the gravy.  It was very tasty gravy, and the consistency was nicely thick – but not too thick (I do like my gravy super-thick but most people don’t down south so this is probably about as thick as could be acceptable).  None of this water gravy crap that many places serve up.  Proper gravy – and no skimping on the amount.

As you can see below, it was the perfect thickness to do a little gravy art.  Good job I went with friends and not my mother.

A friend of mine also had the pork roast which looked even better than the lamb (and another friend had the sausage and mash which also looked superb but doesn’t count as a roast dinner).

I am going to give it a rating of 7.5 out of 10.  A good roast dinner at a good price, and I will be back to try the pork or maybe even the mega roast one day.

Recommended.

Abbot Cook

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Abbot Cook

We start our search for a perfect roast dinner in Abbot Cook, which previously used to be the student pub Up In Arms.

Abbot’s Cook does look very nice both on the outside and on the inside, perhaps not quite in keeping with the exact location of Cemetery Junction which I would suggest is not the most salubrious part of Reading.

James ordered the lamb, it was presented well and a decent sized portion, I guess, for £10 or so (I am getting used to these prices).  The lamb was slightly too fatty, definitely not the best bit of lamb I have tasted.  The roast potatoes were crispy, yeah they were quite well done (in duck fat I believe).  The vegetables were decently done (no peas thankfully!), and the yorkshire pudding seems to have been properly made and was a reasonable size.

The gravy was ok, it had a taste to it, but not a taste that I wanted with my roast dinner.  There was just about enough of it.

I can just about recommend it, I expect it to come in the higher half of the places we visit in our search for the ultimate roast dinner in Reading, but only just.  One would expect to get far better up north, for far less.

No complaints about the venue, the staff were good, service was good, it was clean, and good functioning toilets.  It was noticeably not that busy.

My rating 6 out of 10.  James.

JP would have to agree with James on his rating, I think a 6 out of 10 is more than fair.

A little over priced for the quality of the meal. The beef I had was well over cooked and very gristly, not enough gravy, roast potatoes only slightly over cooked.

The veg was the only thing that was right.

I do have to say the service was good, friendly staff and very helpful.

The venue itself is very relaxed, and a little quiet for a even for a sunday. I would not recomend this to anyone I like or be visiting again in the near future.