Delicious scran... when it arrived
WHEN Mrs Eats stressed the need for some early Christmas shopping on a brisk Sunday morning in November, my brain simply could not conjure up a ready-made excuse.
Instead, soon I found myself traipsing around the centre of Newcastle looking for stocking fillers, toiletries and sweets which, once received on Christmas Day, will probably never see the light of day.
The only thing keeping me going during that time was the promise of some proper Sunday scran – and a pint, of course.
So, ensuring I chose the opportune moment, I suggested to She Who Must Be Fed that we broach the subject of lunch. At the time, we just so happened to be on Pink Lane, with The Forth Hotel in view.
With Mrs Eats eager to get herself out of the cold, we ventured inside and took a booth by the window.
While I supped a refreshing pint of Great Heck Mercy (£3.75) and Mrs Eats sampled a glass of agreeable pinot noir (£4.85), we scanned the menu.
It is an eclectic Sunday lunch menu, of that there is little doubt. For mains there are the usual roasts (prices ranging from £10.25 to £12.25) – beef, chicken, leg of lamb and nut – plus a variety of other meals, including chicken, leek and mushroom pie (£10), fish and chips (£9.95), and s a u s a g e a n d
mash Car park..................... Kids allowed..................... Real ale..................................... Wine by the bottle........................ Credit cards..................................... Vegetarian food............................. (£9.95). But the “sharer and bar snack” selection – or starters to you and me – included such options as cheesy chips and chicken gravy, Spanish-style Padron peppers, and lemon and thyme-infused olives.
Prices for the starters ranged from £3 to £5.25 for individual dishes, or you could buy three for £10 – and, given that we were desperate for some grub, we opted for the latter.
A cheddar sausage roll came with flaky pastry and succulent meat, while the chicken wings in yakiniku BBQ glaze were packed full of flavour – and the pork scratchings were deliciously fatty, if so durable in places that Mrs Eats almost lost a tooth.
All three came accompanied by piccalilli and a jug of apple jelly and served on a sharing platter, which could be considered a nice touch, though a little impractical. Particularly considering we had to ask for cutlery and serviettes.
Anyway, duly satisfied with the taste of our starters, we waited eagerly for our main courses. We waited. And we waited. And we waited – until we heard the chef inform the bar staff that there was now a significant delay for Sunday roasts. Yet this information was never relayed to us; without Mrs Eats being her usual nosy self, we would have been none of the wiser.
Eventually, a full 50 minutes after our starter platter had been cleared away, the roasts arrived.
Mrs Eats’ leg of lamb (£12.25) was succulent, if a little lacking in flavour – though the gravy that came with it packed a punch. While my roast chicken (£10.75), of which there was plenty, was beautifully moist on the inside, though lacking the crispy skin I was craving.
Both came accompanied by roast potatoes – some of which were deliciously crispy, others which were limp, presumably due to the backlog of dinners now piling up on the pass in the kitchen – a Yorkshire pudding, as well as a selection of vegetables including peas, leeks and carrots.
It must be noted that the dinners were also on the lukewarm side, which was disappointing.
By the time we had cleaned our plates, the afternoon had passed us by, so we opted against a dessert – though options included sticky toffee pudding, chocolate brownie, and salted honey tart (all £5).
The food and beer served at The Forth certainly met the Eats’ Sunday-scran standards, but I’m afraid the service did not. There’s certainly some room for improvement.