On its opening night we paid a clandestine visit to Elephant Square’s newest baby, The Rosy Hue pub. The Hue is the seventh offering of independent chain Livelyhood, all being based in south London. The pub is modern and airy, in the ‘exposed ducts and wires’ manner that’s all the rage at the moment. The eating side is divided by the pub side by a useful screen. And the place is so deliciously on trend that they even brag about their MISMATCHED and RECLAIMED cutlery! And they even show you just where in south London their beers and spirits come from ON A MAP!
The draught beers and ciders on offer are diverse and all come in at around £6, which seems surreally normal nowadays. The usual complement of spirits line the bar and wine list not too damaging on the pocket, and we had a Spanish white. The menu is short but interesting, featuring veg and vegan options. For starters, we enjoyed brisket croquettes (£8) and were presented with five two-bite croquettes that had a lovely smooth and soft Spanish quality to them with a meaty brisket twist.
For the mains, your scribe had a crab & haddock fishcake (£15.5) which was thickly breaded and very generous with the meat. A well poached egg mounted the cake. The real zinger came with the sauce, which was lobster and champagne. Fancy! Karen from finance had the bavette steak (£18.50) which was cooked perfectly rare as requested, sliced and served with a chimichurri sauce with pomegranate. That added sweetness was unexpected but worked. Rosemary fries alongside were crisp and plentiful. Any more details escaped Karen as she’d had too much Spanish white.
As for the vibe, as we went the night the Queen died we couldn’t actually describe it as ‘zany and upbeat’, but it certainly tried. The crowd was predominantly white 30 somethings with nice teeth who probably reside in those new Elephant flats with geographically bizarre names such as ‘Central Park West’. But those who do not fit that demographic (like us) are welcome. There were also a curious number of dogs.
The service staff at the Hue were surprisingly knowledgeable about the joint considering they’d only worked there for about five minutes, but be warned. The place also has huge, looming TV screens. So you’re forever at risk of the horrifying spectacle of, in the middle of your burger, the screens switching over to Sky Sports. But those looming screens will also be showing the Queen’s funeral on Monday morning which sounds a bit morbid. We’ll be there.
