| Perfect Pub Meal 14:39 - Sep 28 with 10102 views | westwalesed |
I am likely to be taking over a rural pub soon (gulp!!!) and was wondering for some feedback around what peoples expectations of a perfect, traditional pub meal would be.
To give you a bit of context, I have for many years in the past worked as a Private Chef, and although recently I have changed careers (Mental Health) cooking is my main love. Just waiting for a good opportunity to along and I think this is it.
The pub is very, very old, and I am thinking of going down the uber-traditional route - makin it an eating pub rather than a boozer. It's got a big beer garden for the summer months.
I have my own feelings on this and I suspect they will be similar to what crops up again and again on here.
Thinking of running dementia friendly lunch services and also meals on wheels for the local community.
Also, and this is one of my pet hates, whatever happened to a proper bar menu - homemade Scotch Eggs, Quiches, Pies, simple doorstop sandwiches. All thoughts greatly appreciated? |  |
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 17:36 - Sep 28 with 1451 views | jacktar |
You could consider a Welsh/local version of Tapas, serving small dishes of Welsh themed foods as well as full meals. (like your cawl, maybe laverbread, Glamorgan sausage, Welsh rarebit, bara brith, welshcakes etc.)
I hope all goes to plan for you.
Best of luck |  |
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 18:32 - Sep 28 with 1408 views | Pegojack |
Good luck with your venture, Ed.
I'm very partial to a very spicy chili con carne, but served on top of a perfect baked spud rather than a splodge of insipid boiled rice. I appreciate you can't knock this up fresh from scratch, but I wouldn't object to the items being frozen and re-heated in the micro, as long as it was well cooked in the first place. |  | | |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 18:41 - Sep 28 with 1391 views | ItchySphincter |
Don't have one of the massive cardboard menus with photos all over it.
Five or six mains, couple of steaks, sausage and chips in a basket, scampi, lasagne....you wouldn't believe how hard it is to get simple tasty food. |  |
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 18:56 - Sep 28 with 1374 views | phact0rri |
Good on you for changing careers and looking after your head mate. For my Pound 25p I'd suggest also looking into something easy (maybe frozen or storeable) for vegitarian/vegans who might wander in.
My inital thought would be a pasta or like a frozen burger of some sort. Though I tend to keep curry and curry rice in the icebox for ages at my gaff, so thats always an option as well. |  |
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 19:10 - Sep 28 with 1365 views | Flashberryjack |
1 Home made steak & kidney pie (short crust pastry )
2 Shepherds/Cottage pie.
3 Gammon egg & chips
4 Bangers & Mash (proper sausages)
5 Fish chips & Mushy peas
6 Home made Cawl with crusty bread.
7 Local Welsh Lamb chops.
8 Liver & onions.
9 F*ggots & Mushy peas and gravy
10 Locally caught fish of the day (Sea Bass, Salmon, Sewin, Trout etc |  |
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 19:11 - Sep 28 with 1362 views | BrynCartwright |
I understand pubs now need to focus on food simply to stay alive, but a small, welcoming area with a fire near the bar for the drinkers would be recommended. Scampi Fries hanging suggestively, and a KP Peanuts cardboard dispenser with a 'Page 3 cracker' winking and beckoning behind.
As far as menus go, think Dicky got it pretty much spot on. Smallish menu to reduce inventory, making the most of the brilliant local produce.
A very restricted,( i.e. 1 dish) specials board for interest.
One vegetarian and one vegan dish is essential, and some thought needs to go into making thems sound both tasty and delicious as so many veggies are so bored of the usual, mundane offerings, when they go into a meat-centric pub/restaurant.
Tough call this. I have always loved boozers for great beer, pool, music and the craic, but they are so difficult to find these days as they have all either closed down because of home drinking or been replaced by gastropubs. What a sad, and bland indictment of life in the 21st C. Sheeite.
Oh and Phil S can you hoik that coont Brexithomas off this site sharpish for being an offensive racist twunt that like taking narcotics in the afternoon! |  |
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 19:42 - Sep 28 with 1342 views | Dr_Winston |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 16:01 - Sep 28 by westwalesed |
Ahh, thanks for the warm words mate.
It's been a long time coming and many nights of "could I actually do this" but now financially in a position to buy the place and, if it goes completely tits up, it would be a pretty unique place to live in!!!!!! I've already contacted ST Fagans, hopefully get some feedback soon!
What other old touches do you think would be unique? Also, what are your views on proper bar snacks not just nuts and crisps? |
Owning the place outright will be your biggest asset. Easier to get the best beer deals and no extortionate lease fees to deal with.
Don't know how much land is coming with the place, but maybe offering camping/camper parking space during the summer months might get you a nice, captive audience too.
This post has been edited by an administrator |  |
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 20:11 - Sep 28 with 1312 views | Garyjack |
It's pointless asking peoples opinions on here. What you need to do is simply open up, sell shite frozen food, speak to your customers like they're rats from the sewer, don't clean the place and generally run the place into the ground.
Next step is to call Ramseys Kitchen Nightmares. He will visit your restaurant and you can call him all the useless tvvats under the sun, and you will be rewarded by a complete facelift of your restaurant, new ovens etc and an award winning menu all paid for by the TV company. |  | | |
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 20:18 - Sep 28 with 1295 views | WarwickHunt |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 15:39 - Sep 28 by Lohengrin |
Forget about ethnic cuisine, nobody does it better than the Asians themselves and you will suffer by comparison. “It was alright but not a patch on...”
Keep it traditional as regards food and ales and carve yourself a proper niche and reputation to match would be my advice. They do a lamb shank at The Skirrid Inn near Abergavenny that I drive up there for quite often, get that cawl on the go, mate, with lightly toasted sourdough to accompany it and I’ll be winging my way down to you.  |
Spot on.
Two of my favourite pubs changed ownership and changed their menus. One did superb crab sandwiches with fresh crab from Brixham and the other did a great steak sandwich with excellent chips. One went downmarket and served crap and the other tried to go upmarket with Thai fishcakes and similar nonsense - if I want Thai food, I’ll go to a Thai restaurant.
Stick with classic pub food with the accent on quality local produce. |  | | |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 20:24 - Sep 28 with 1284 views | WarwickHunt |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 16:06 - Sep 28 by Scotia |
The idea of a bowl of cawl on an open fire is brilliant, so is the welsh cakes. That's the kind of thing that'll get people talking.
Another must for me is home made chips, can't beat them. |
Properly cooked homemade chips.
VERY important... | | | |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 20:26 - Sep 28 with 1274 views | builthjack |
If you do chips, whatever you do, don't use frozen. Proper chips will get you people in. So many people now won't put up with crap. |  |
| Swansea Indepenent Poster Of The Year 2021. Dr P / Mart66 / Roathie / Parlay / E20/ Duffle was 2nd, but he is deluded and thinks in his little twisted brain that he won. Poor sod. We let him win this year, as he has cried for a whole year. His 14 usernames, bless his cotton socks.
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 20:31 - Sep 28 with 1264 views | Garyjack |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 20:26 - Sep 28 by builthjack |
If you do chips, whatever you do, don't use frozen. Proper chips will get you people in. So many people now won't put up with crap. |
And if you do decide on a dish that requires rice like a good Stroganoff or Goulash, don't use Uncle Bens. Cook your own rice. | | | |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 20:35 - Sep 28 with 1252 views | builthjack |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 20:31 - Sep 28 by Garyjack |
And if you do decide on a dish that requires rice like a good Stroganoff or Goulash, don't use Uncle Bens. Cook your own rice. |
That's him about sorted now Gary | |
| Swansea Indepenent Poster Of The Year 2021. Dr P / Mart66 / Roathie / Parlay / E20/ Duffle was 2nd, but he is deluded and thinks in his little twisted brain that he won. Poor sod. We let him win this year, as he has cried for a whole year. His 14 usernames, bless his cotton socks.
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 22:42 - Sep 28 with 1166 views | TNT |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 20:35 - Sep 28 by builthjack |
That's him about sorted now Gary |
Cawl
Welsh cakes
Dog friendly
Let me know where and when. | |
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 22:59 - Sep 28 with 1158 views | dickythorpe |
Ask Castell Howell to send a food rep down plus a booze rep.
I wish you the very best of luck.
Where in Pembrokeshire? Some great produce available down there. Forgetting Tenby, Saundersfoot for one minute, it's still underrated. [Post edited 28 Sep 2018 23:01]
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 23:02 - Sep 28 with 1155 views | dickythorpe |
Also, vegetarian, vegan, gluten free options are VITAL!!!! Plus allergen knowledge is HUGE!!! | | | |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 23:25 - Sep 28 with 1133 views | Jack_Meoff |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 23:02 - Sep 28 by dickythorpe |
Also, vegetarian, vegan, gluten free options are VITAL!!!! Plus allergen knowledge is HUGE!!! |
Top shout this. Any good vegan stuff especially will get shared on various social media groups and potentially increase your customer base. It's definitely a growing market to consider. As an example I was well impressed with The Westbourne in Swansea on a recent visit.
http://www.westbourneswansea.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Vegan-Menu-To-Print.
Good luck squire. [Post edited 29 Sep 2018 0:52]
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 23:36 - Sep 28 with 1123 views | pikeypaul |
Just make sure you have sour grapes on the menu.
They will go down a treat with the likes of Bryn,Warwick,and meoff
The losers love them and you will make a fortune off the leftie ,remoaners. |  |
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 23:47 - Sep 28 with 1115 views | TNT |
One shot decaff skinny latte for my missus when we arrive please. | |
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 23:50 - Sep 28 with 1111 views | Jack_Meoff |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 23:36 - Sep 28 by pikeypaul |
Just make sure you have sour grapes on the menu.
They will go down a treat with the likes of Bryn,Warwick,and meoff
The losers love them and you will make a fortune off the leftie ,remoaners. |
Edit - not rising to the tw*t and not derailing the thread.
As we were. [Post edited 28 Sep 2018 23:52]
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| If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--forever. |
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 00:04 - Sep 29 with 1096 views | pikeypaul |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 23:50 - Sep 28 by Jack_Meoff |
Edit - not rising to the tw*t and not derailing the thread.
As we were. [Post edited 28 Sep 2018 23:52]
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Thanks for taking the trouble to reply meoff
Enjoy your 🇠| |
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 00:08 - Sep 29 with 1092 views | Jack_Meoff |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 00:04 - Sep 29 by pikeypaul |
Thanks for taking the trouble to reply meoff
Enjoy your 🇠|
Bump one thread where I've extolled the virtues of the EU, or even intimated that I was a 'Remain' voter.
One. Just one. Go on. Over to you champ. | |
| If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--forever. |
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 00:13 - Sep 29 with 1087 views | trampie |
WestWalesEd seems to be focusing on food, what about the beer ?, a good selection of real ales with regular guest beers is a must for a traditional rural country pub. |  |
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| Perfect Pub Meal on 00:19 - Sep 29 with 1079 views | majorraglan |
I think free snacks at the bar now and again is a good idea, we were in the states recently and a few places did this, either rustic type bread or nacho type chips, one place did peanuts in shells, goes a long way.
In terms of menus, there are gastro pubs out there where you pay a higher price for quality food, but it’s a smaller market and I think there is more money to be made aiming at the mass market with good value home cooked food, personally I hate frozen chips and I always ask if they serve real chips when ordering or making a booking. I once phoned a pub to make a reservation and I asked the proprietor what kind of chips the served, he told me frozen and he must have been able to tell from my reaction I wasn’t impressed, so then said he would make me and the group real chips as long as I didn’t tell anyone else! Winner, we had a nice meal with real chips and have been back numerous times, the owner know only serve real chips so it does make a difference.
I think you need to have a pub curry option and a veggie option. | | | |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 06:30 - Sep 29 with 977 views | zedlep |
| Perfect Pub Meal on 00:19 - Sep 29 by majorraglan |
I think free snacks at the bar now and again is a good idea, we were in the states recently and a few places did this, either rustic type bread or nacho type chips, one place did peanuts in shells, goes a long way.
In terms of menus, there are gastro pubs out there where you pay a higher price for quality food, but it’s a smaller market and I think there is more money to be made aiming at the mass market with good value home cooked food, personally I hate frozen chips and I always ask if they serve real chips when ordering or making a booking. I once phoned a pub to make a reservation and I asked the proprietor what kind of chips the served, he told me frozen and he must have been able to tell from my reaction I wasn’t impressed, so then said he would make me and the group real chips as long as I didn’t tell anyone else! Winner, we had a nice meal with real chips and have been back numerous times, the owner know only serve real chips so it does make a difference.
I think you need to have a pub curry option and a veggie option. |
No garnish! Two eggs on my gammon please. The very best of luck. | |
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