Half Measures at The Plough

Pint-size portion stops us shelling out for the prawns

'Pint of Prawns' was the billing on the menu. Now, call me a pedant but I took that to mean a pint.

On this occasion it wasn't. It would have been better described as a prawn shandy.

Half the pint glass was filled with lettuce. That can't be right. In fact it was more of a lager top, because the shell-on prawns were nestled in amongst a mountain of extra antenna and other inedible bits.

Our other tapas style starters were fine. Chorizo and grilled peppers were not bad at all and the whitebait was up to scratch .

General consensus appears to be that the Plough food is hit and miss, but it has other draws. For families, there's an outdoor play area. And this is where we sat, at a table within the enclosure, pretending it was summer, and awaiting our mains.

Mine was a game pie and whilst this wasn't as disappointing as the starter it did fall short. We're back to trade description because game pie should be a mix of meat, not just one or shouldn't it have read, 'venison' pie. This one also included all my five a day quota, in carrot form. A bit of variety wouldn't have gone amiss. Particularly since carrots were also the accompaniment, along with some apologetic looking parsley mash.

The other half had lamb shank and was full of far more praise. Not bad for pub grub.

But there's no such thing as pub grub anymore. You pay the same prices in Ealing restaurants and in this climate should be able to expect quality on a par. Or at least for dishes to match up to the menu description.

But in the final hour, The Plough redeemed itself - the lady in charge took the price off the bill and asked for some feedback to take back to the Chef. That customer service is the reason we will definitely give The Plough another go in the future. That and the kids' play area.

Charlie Canniff

March 26, 2009