6:36pm Wednesday 20th January 2010
By Ruth Meech
PUB food can be a hit and miss affair, although it is rare to get both in the same meal.
In all fairness, the starters at the Old Ship in Upwey were more of a near miss than wide of the mark.
But when your stomach has been rumbling at your desk all morning and you are looking forward to a mid-week treat cooked by someone else, the last thing you want is for your food to taste of gentle disappointment when it arrives.
There were just two starters on the menu boards so we went for both – prawns in filo pasty with a chilli sauce and crispy mushrooms with lemon mayonnaise.
Both were nicely presented and the chilli sauce had a welcome kick, although the mayo tasted as though a lemon has been waved over it, rather than squeezed into it.
But the overall effect was of mass-produced supermarket party food, especially with the mushrooms which were rather small, slippery and lost inside their generously-sized breaded overcoats.
However, what the starters lacked, the main courses made up for in abundance. We opted for dishes on the blackboard rather than the everyday menu, which included more standard fare of sandwiches, burgers and steaks.
The weather outside lent itself to filling, warming sustainance so although the choice of breaded plaice, salmon en croute or veggie sausages and mash appealed, it lost to the hearty robustness of steak and kidney pie and chips and faggots made by Howell’s, Weymouth’s excellent family-run butchers.
You couldn’t have got more filling in the pie if you tried, and it was tender and lean, surrounded with light pastry. The peas and carrots were cooked just right and the chips were perfect too, crispy on the outside with fluffy insides.
I can’t remember the last time I tried faggots, but these were a delight – solid and herby and utterly delicious on a bed of creamy mash with oceans of gravy.
In the end our dishes defeated us and I am ashamed to say we left our plates unfinished, though not through lack of enthusiasm. Now, all The Old Ship needs to do is get its starters right and they are sailing.
* The Old Ship Inn, 7 Ridgeway, Upwey, Weymouth, DT3 5QQ, 08721 077077.
My Old Ship Inn bill:
Prawns in filo pastry: £4.50
Crispy mushrooms: £3.60
faggots with gravy: £7.95
Steak and kidney pie: £8.95
Draught cola plus bottle of alcohol-free beer: £2.75
TOTAL: £27.75
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/trade_directory/