Hillhead Bookclub
I don't usually bump folks to the front of the line, but this one has kinda grabbed my attention. It's recently become my favorite place to eat and just relax. It's a bit more popular than I'd like, especially when the rain comes down, but it also reeks of cool without attracting the wrong sort.
At lunchtime, people come in with their kids and strollers and the like, but at nighttime it has more of that bohemian West End vibe that I've come to really appreciate over the last few weeks. I first got invited on a research group night out, where I met some very cool fellow American Studies nerds, and we stayed and hung out for a few hours. Yes, yes, you cry, on to the food stuffs. Fine.
So for dinner my first night there, this immediately jumped out at me: under the heading "things yer maw almost certainly does better" (and I can guarantee you she does not), maple glazed gammon ribeye, poached duck egg, and chunky chips. Hubba hubba.
I got made fun of for taking pictures of my food, with the word "instagram" being tossed around. I assured my new friends that I ran a very serious, very professional food blog. They don't have to know. But seriously. Poached duck egg on a gammon ribeye?! I love me some duck, but I've never had duck eggs. The yoke was much thicker and richer than chicken eggs. And the whites just tasted... better. The chips were delicious. And I didn't eat the watercress. Because I am not a rabbit. I am a human bean. And the best part about this meal is that it was cheap! Seriously, 8.50 for this meal. I would have paid twice that at a more upscale locale. But these folks take pride in their "no meal more than a tenner" philosophy. Just look at my free tap water carafe:
That's strawberry and mint! This place puts an extra touch of class on everything without being pretentious. And I love it. It's got two floors, with the upstairs running the perimter. In one corner there's a ping pong cage (which sounds like a much better version of thunder dome), and on the other there's a games room, wich all sorts of old board games like hungry hungry hippos and guess who, as well as an NES, Super NES, and an old Sega. I tried to capture a shot of the old school Mario Bros./Duck Hunt screen:
I was still dreaming of that gammon and duck egg, so I went back the very next day for lunch to get another one. I was sadly presented with a lunch menu, sans the gammon. But I felt a bit better when I saw a homemade pork and apple sausage roll, beans, and chips for a mere fiver! I assumed the plate would be small for five pounds, but this enormous plateful of food shows up:
After talking with my sister, I guess it can be really hard to describe the nostalgia I get when eating baked beans as a side here more regularly than we do in the states. They're served with breakfast and just about always go hand in hand with chips. For folks that didn't grow up with it, I guess it can be just kind of quaint, but for me, it has all the feels. The sausage roll was fantastic, and I will definitely be using this local haunt for my lunchtime stop whenever I'm on campus. And dinner. And drinks with my colleagues. Pretty much any excuse will do.
Foodies never die. That is all.