The Jugged Hare (Round Two)

Earlier this month, I wrote of my dining experience at The Jugged Hare on Chiswell Street in the City (review here), and I decided to give it a try again.

Once again, both the restaurant and the bar areas were completely jam packed. And even after 10pm, there were still incoming diners (they had the option of post-theatre menu).

We sat on the side of the restaurant by the window, overlooking the open kitchen. A lovely waiter came to greet us and brought us a bottle of sparkling water following as we had requested. He introduced the specials to us - pie and soup of the day, daily specials on the rotisserie. The daily specials were actually written on the blackboard, but it was not visible to us from where we were sitting.

We ordered the Black pudding croquettes with Guinness sauce to share; as for starters, we ordered the Breaded Skate Knobs with Tartare sauce and Bath chaps with Langoustine.

The Black pudding croquettes were really appetising, and it is certainly a change of how black pudding is usually cooked.
The Breaded Skate knobs were well executed, the fish was meaty and batter was cripsy but not overly oily, the tartare sauce was complimentary.
The Bath chaps - as expected quite fatty, made from pig's cheek or jaw, but it was perfectly balanced along with its golden thin crispy texture; the Langoustine was succulent and its fresh taste helps to wash away some of the chaps' fat.

Both starters were top notch, and I would be more than happy to have them as main; though I did find that the size of the starters were rather generous, in fact, we were pretty full after devouring those tasty starters.

As for main dishes, we had Monkfish tails with cockles and caviar butter and a 350g Rib-eye on the bone steak, accompanied with chips and gravy. We also ordered a green salad and Parsnip and garlic gratin as sides.

 

The Monkfish tail was cooked on the bone so that it remained succulent and sweet. Monkfish is a very meaty fish, some even say it is a cheaper version of lobster. The caviar butter was not as buttery or creamy as I had expected, but the dish needed a sauce. Apart from a few bites of sand while eating the cockles, all in all, it was all right, but I found the dish to be too fishy, from the Monkfish, cockles and the caviar. It sort of needed a kick from something or another texture to complete the dish.
As for the steak, it was just a steak with chips. The highlight of the dish was probably the gravy, perfect to dunk your chips in. However, as for the steak itself, it was average, but of course this is no steakhouse.
The Parsnip and garlic gratin was a yummy sidedish, both parsnips and garlic were cooked right through, but yet still have a slight crunch. 
Usually when we order a green salad as a side, we would expect it as a much healthier option (in comparison to chips or mac and cheese), but there were just far too much salt in this green salad. I could literally taste the coarse salt when I bit into the crunchy vegetables. It was just too salty for anyone's taste.

 

Desserts were Chocolate mint pot and Bread and Butter pudding with vanilla ice cream. The Chocolate mint pot was really rich with a thin layer of mint at the bottom of the pot. The Bread and Butter pudding was much bigger than I thought! Made with layers of pain au chocolats (which is more exciting than plain old croissants!), custard and currants, along with butterscotch sauce; along with the homemade Vanilla ice cream, the dish was complete.

Food rating: 5/10

Budget rating: 5/10

The Jugged Hare 

49 Chiswell Street

London EC1Y 4SA