Lady Ottoline and The Shakespeares Head, London

As unbelievable as it sounds, my life doesn't only consist of complaining about pubs and being disappointed by the condition of beer. In my life away from the adrenaline rush of beer blogging, I am a IT manager at a law firm, which is about as exciting as it sounds. One downside of being a manager is that I feel obliged to take my team out for a Christmas dinner. This is a problem because although my team do work hard and they more than deserve a delicious dinner in lovely surroundings, I don't really like spending money. This is not good when living in London as nearly everything is twice as expensive as you'd expect it to be. Even the Evening Standard newspaper at the low price of free is too expensive, as they should be paying me to read that toss. So finding places to eat that serves really good food, has a lovely atmosphere but is also reasonable is a bit of a nightmare.

After much indecision searching through the SquareMeal website trying to find a restaurant where the prices didn't make me fall off my chair in shock and awe, and convincing myself that I probably wouldn't get away with treating the team to a KFC family bucket, I took my team to a gastropub in Farringdon called The Lady Ottoline. I'd been here previously with a vendor who treated me to a pretty decent lunch. I remembered the food being very good, but I wasn't paying and everything tastes better when it's free. Would I enjoy it as much when at the end of the meal I would have to pry apart my dusty wallet and hand over my Visa debit card while desperately resisting the urge to weep?

The short answer is yes. We had a lovely meal at the Ottoline. I'm going to avoid going into much detail about the food because I can barely talk about beer coherently let alone pretend I can string together sentences describing dinner. But all the dishes, in particular my pork belly main, were well prepared, looked great and tasted delicious. Best of all the bill didn't cause me to have a heart attack, just maybe a bit of mild angina.

"Gastro" wise the Ottoline is a success. But for the "pub" side, I think outside of the Christmas season this would be a nice place to pop in for just a drink, which is unusual for a gastro. Although food is the focus there is a area set for drinkers in the atmospheric ground floor room and it doesn't make you feel isolated. But during December, with all the Christmas parties piling in, this place is pretty much just a restaurant. It's a shame it's not really possible to stop in for just a drink at the moment as  they do have a nice selection of ales, and my Dark Star Winter Meltdown and Purity Mad Goose were both in good condition. I did find the Winter Meltdown to be a little bland, but it seemed to be kept OK. Maybe it's just the way the beer is.

One place that is definitely catering to drinkers this Christmas season is The Shakespeares Head in Holborn. I came in here for the first time in a long time on Friday. This massive Wetherspoons outlet was absolutely heaving. I was fearing the worse as past experience has proved that 'Spoons staff in their Central London pubs seem to have trouble coping with pressure (e.g more than three customers waiting at the bar.) However I have to give credit to the team here, they were absolutely spot on. Despite a busy bar they were keeping things going smoothly. They even managed to smile and be polite, I had to pinch myself that I was actually in a London 'Spoons on a busy Friday night.

The beer was also in very good form. Apache IPA from Portobello was a hoppy, boozy treat and it sold out deservedly quickly. A half of India Pale Ale by Devils Backbone, a US brewer, sadly wasn't as good with a watery, limp flavour. Greene King's Abbot Reserve was on, and as I'd never tried this I gave it a go. I found it quite good, and I enjoyed its warming, fruity richness. Santa's Darkside from Naylor's Brewery was a standard dark ale but pretty tasty, and JHB from Oakham Brewery was a solid brown bitter to finish with. It's a credit to the staff that I was able to enjoy these beers served quickly. Food wise this is light years away from the classy Ottoline but my Wethernachos were edible.

Sadly the general atmosphere was the usual 'Spoons, bland, joyless and overlit. The crowd seemed to be even louder and annoying than the usual Friday night 'Spoons punter, probably because the Christmas season is in full swing. It wasn't really a place I'd want to spend a long time in. But if you're nearby and looking for a place to kill time with a pint or two, you could do worse than pop in.

Tapping the Admiral

As I type this I am seething with rage as one of those bloody awful BT adverts has just come on TV advertising broadband and wi-fi and other internet shenanigans to the innocent British public. When will advertisers realise that ISP adverts don't need to involve kooky flatmates or brass bands. All they need to show is a chap on his computer saying "blimey that downloaded fast" before masturbating furiously to the filthiest porn while the the price per month flashes in massive letters on your television screen.

None of this has anything to do with Tapping the Admiral, a new venture from the team who run the Pineapple. I'm just easily distracted by terrible adverts. Tapping the Admiral, like the Pineapple, is in Kentish Town which is rather spoilt for real ale establishments.  I'd been reading good things about the Admiral from various beer blogs so as a responsible blogger myself I thought I'd give it a shot.

One day I'll take a decent picture on my phone. Today is not that day. Here's the interior of
Tapping the Admiral.

The walk to to the pub was a little bit hairy as I walked through the finest estates Kentish Town has to offer. As a gangly, middle class, nerdy bloke I was obviously shitting myself. I saw two young boys kicking a football against a wall and I got a terrible feeling that they would accidentally kick the ball towards me and expect me to kick it back. A horrifying premonition filled my head as I would attempt to kick the ball with my useless legs and fall over flat on my face while the ball veers off in a ridiculous angle straight into a window, while the kids point and laugh at my crumpled, crying frame on the pavement.

Luckily this didn't happen and I popped into the pub. A welcoming atmosphere awaited. This is a cosy looking pub with a large bar and pleasant decor. About eight handpumps offered a solid selection, if a little uninspired. Adnams was promiment with three ales on offer. I'm not a huge fan of Adnams so I went for a pint of Purity Mad Goose, which was in good nick and was a tasty pint. This was followed by a pint of Redemption Trinity which again was very good indeed. Some local ciders and perry were also available and a wide bottled beer selection was on offer. To be honest I couldn't see anything you couldn't get in the supermarkets, who are getting ever better at offering a interesting range of ales.

There hasn't been a picture of The Lovely Jemmas nails (and a pint) in a while so here you go.
This is the delicious Oscar Wilde I enjoyed at The Harp recently.

Despite playing it safe with the ale selection I had a very pleasent time at the Admiral. To be fair I didn't get the impression they were aiming to be a real ale mecca, I think they are just aiming to be a decent local and there it succeeds (WARNING: PUN ALERT) admirably. A grumpy Thai lady dropped a menu on our table and I thought I'd order some food in an attempt to cheer her up. The Thai starter selection plate we plumped for was pretty good. The Sunday Lunch menu also looked good and was reasonably priced, and I'm tempted to return and try one of their roasts. Overall this is a first class local and worth a visit if you're in the area.