"..a great pub and I will return"
Added Thu 24 Feb 2011 by KimT
This is a great area of London – the historic Smithfield meat market on one side and St Bart’s hospital on the other. A stone’s throw from Farringdon station and a cluster of great eating places (e.g. Club Gascon, Carluccios, Gauchos, Smiths of Smithfield, Vivat Bacchus etc) and other bars (e.g. Butcher’s Hook and Cleaver).
The Distillers is a monumental pub right on the corner overlooking the square and the market – with wide semi-circular steps up to the front door. The traditional large bar area you enter into is spacious, with high ceilings and a light-red-on dark-red wallpaper. There are chandeliers – strangely, with each sporting a mirror ball beneath. Around the sides and looking out of tall, nicely draped windows onto the street are high tables and chairs – and there are mostly couples in these. Within the room there are sturdy wooden tables, with sensible spacing between them, all equally capable of seating two to six comfortably. There’s a large bar to the rear with plenty of space and through a slight archway there is another extensive seating area.
On a Tuesday evening around eight, it is pleasantly busy – mostly with pairs of young people, probably after work drinkers – but there are still some spaces at the bar and at tables. Good to know somewhere round here where you can pop in on the off-chance and find a table.
One of my favourite features was a side stair case leading up to a large open minstrels’ gallery with tables looking down onto the main bar area. There were one or two small groups of girls happily chatting up there. Closer inspection reveals a tucked away smaller and self contained bar area which would be perfect for a party.
There’s a 2-4-1 cocktail deal every day between 5pm and 8pm and the menu offers short and sexy, tall and slender or martinis (£7.95). My friend tried the Passionfruit fresh fruit mojito which was really nice – so good that she was tempted to try the strawberry version. I had a glass of primitive di Puglia 2006 (£4.45 for a small glass) which was fruity and smooth. There’s a good selection of wines here if the beers and spirits at the bar don’t tempt you.
The ambience is good – a level of background chatter that still enables you to talk without shouting, and the occasional awareness of the music which was an eclectic mix (I later learned that it was one of the barmaid’s personal play lists) spanning everything from blues to country to reggae (There are signs up indicating that they have a DJ on Thursday evenings).
I noticed that no one else was eating. This seemed a shame as the menu looked pretty good – solid pub fare with a few flourishes. My colleague chose the starter/small plate) of roasted vegetable salad (£6.95, £8.95 if you add chicken). Well presented and a substantial portion of leaves with a light dressing. A little disappointing that the roasted vegetables were mostly peppers and tasted a little soft and well done. My starter was a great success – grilled chorizo with truffle oil on rocket leaves and spiced mayonnaise (£6.50). Great if you are on a protein rich diet. Five huge, thick slices of chargrilled chorizo that were chewy and strong in flavour.
My companion decided to try the roast beef and horseradish deli sandwich with brown bread (£5.95 – an extra 75p for fat chips which of course she ordered). Two substantial slabs of well done beef were presented for her to create her own sandwiches. She was happy.
My choice – the chicken and mushroom pie (£10.50) was less successful. I was pleased to see that it was presented well – a bed of mash, then the puff pasty top and a good amount of chicken and mushrooms on this – surrounded by gravy. Now whilst this was fine, personally I didn’t like the flavour of the gravy. But I am sure that many would.
We shared a dessert of tart citron with berry coulis (£4.50). The pastry was sweet and the topping was suitably tart. The garnish of strawberry was good. I then had some strong (Twinings) Earl Grey tea. I had to laugh though – as I descended down the red stairs to the loos I was slightly surprised to find a large chandelier at floor level. I wondered, for a moment, just how much I had had to drink!
It’s a great pub and I will return – it’s rare to find a well appointed, spacious pub with some really nice features in this part of the City with space to sit, where you don’t have to shout and with friendly staff who are keen and fast to serve.
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