Further in our mission to achieve gastronomic excellence by means of overeating, your scribe and Karen from Finance just revisited stalwart pub the Tommyfield in Kennington Cross. We invited Karen as she was upset after someone in the office laughed at her when she asked “if Claude is so helpful, can’t we just hire him?”.
Karen ordered her go-to item of Chicken and Leek pie as it’s been on the menu for years and Karen hates change. For the uninitiated, a proper pie is fully encased in pastry and in this case filled with chicken chunks in a creamy, leek filled sauce. Karen found that the only thing better than the filling was the pastry itself: buttery and flaky without being too flaky. The substantial pie sat atop smooth mashed potatoes and a serving of sauteed cabbage. Karen observed that “the miniature jug of gravy allows soothing lubrication to be added to the plate”. So the pie continues to be a classic but Karen, please never again use that phrase to describe gravy, or anything else for that matter.
Your ever virtuous scribe ordered chicken skewers on a bed of quinoa tabbouleh with tenderstem broccoli and a tiny mango salsa. The chicken was plentiful and marinated in lemon and olive oil and just the right char. Your scribe generally loathes quinoa, but In this format it worked as it was tossed with parsley and mint. The broccoli was plump and plentiful and the mango salsa a sweet surprise. On the wine front, the waiter guided us through the list and recommended a chewy and cheap red. His oenological knowledge was in fact so comprehensive that it left us wondering why he worked there.
The Tommyfield is run by independent south London based Three Cheers Pubs, who operate nine other swishy yet beautiful pubs, mostly in Clapham/Balham. It’s also the venue for the now almost legendary comedy night Always Be Comedy, where we’ve seen the likes of Joe Lycett, Sarah Pascoe and Harry Hill. At the end the bill was reasonable but we nevertheless tried to score a discount by explaining our role as anonymous yet highly successful influencers*.
*This never works
