Armfuls of good food...but no pud
ENJOYING what may be the last of the sunshine before winter’s stranglehold ushers us towards pubs with fires in them, Mrs Eats and I met a couple of friends for a Sunday stroll.
After a brisk wander over Byker Bridge – the wind was blowing a hooley – we rocked up at the Tanners Arms.
In the four years since I crowned Tanners ‘king of the roasts’, the region has certainly upped its culinary game; nearby pubs such as Tyne Bar and Brinkburn Brewery’s new venue have started doing belting Sunday dinners to keep the east side of the Toon well fed.
I wondered whether people might have been lured away from what I remembered as a bustling pub.
I needn’t have worried. It was rammed – so
THE TANNERS ARMS
Address: 1 Byker Bridge, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2NS Tel: 0191 222 1817 Food served: 12pm until 2pm Rating: 16/20 Character...........................
Quality................................ Service................................ Value................................... much so that there were no empty tables. There was an eclectic mix of people, too – from students to families with young children to us oldies. Unperturbed by the lack of seats (Mrs Eats has cased the joint and spotted some people she thought may leave soon), we perused the menu. Meat-wise, there were three ‘proper’ roast offerings of beef, pork and chicken, as well as two sausage options, one of which was a cheddar and herb veggie option. There is even more choice with the veg – you have to c h o s e t w o Car park................. Kids allowed................... Real ale..................................... Wine by the bottle..................... Credit cards..................................... Vegetarian food............................. Disabled toilets............................. from six side dishes – and between the four of us we picked everything bar the salad.
As well as the choice of sides, each roast comes with a sizeable Yorkshire, roast potatoes and a hefty gravy boat.
There are no starters on offer, and the mains are all £9.50, or there are bairn-sized versions for a fiver.
While I ordered drinks – a Guinness for me, as no real ales caught my eye, and a fruity Rekorderlig cider for Mrs Eats – and the food at the bar, Mrs Eats swooped to nab a table from a departing couple. She’s a good ’un.
Although we were warned there was a bit of a wait on food, it didn’t take too long to arrive and we ravenously tucked in. And boy, it was good. Mrs Eats had opted for chicken, and was very impressed with the on-the-bone breast, murmuring things “well-seasoned” and “succulent”.
My beef, and that of our other companions, was equally superb: a decentsized amount of tender, flavoursome meat, accompanied by a crisp and fluffy Yorkshire pud.
The array of veg was also excellent, the savoy cabbage with bacon a particular highlight.
The only underperformer was the slightly charred Parmesan broccoli, which wasn’t in the least bit cheesy.
We’d got there at about 1.30pm, and it was lucky we did – they had run out of roasts by 2pm and switched to the usual menu. A succession of punters had their hopes dashed. However, the barmaid told us that they are renovating the kitchen, which will mean roasts all day.
The Tanners Arms menu is tantalisingly mysterious, with its instructions to ask at the bar for the day’s selection of puddings.
As anyone who has ever read one of my reviews, or met my wife, will know, she has a bit of a sweet tooth. And by tooth, I mean teeth – she’s a pudding fiend.
Her eyes dart to the dessert selection of a menu before anything else –even wine – so imagine the devastation on her face when I returned from the bar with the words: “They don’t have any puddings.”
Lack of starter and sweet aside, the one course we had was great and before we left Mrs Eats made me promise to bring back – when they have their new kitchen – for a pud.