Grace and flavour: The Jugged Hare

I was hoping to adore The Jugged Hare in the Barbican, a gastropub from the stable of Ed and Tom Martin, because I’m an ardent supporter of another of their havens, The Prince Arthur in London Fields.

By ‘supporter’ I mean I’ve frittered enough cash in there on pints o’ prawns, deep-fried raspberry jam sandwiches with condensed milk ice cream and Symonds’ Cider to keep the Martin children in plump gymkhana ponies. Coincidentally, since The Prince Arthur opened in East London I’m often mistaken for wearing jodhpurs, when in fact they’re merely regular skinny jeans, with Sunday lunch-related ‘padding’.

Happily, I was right. The Jugged Hare is rather marvellous. It’s a large, vibrant, comfortingly British dining room with an open kitchen and a menu teeming with British meat, game, wild fish and shellfish. If you’re a noseybonk as well as a greedy-guts, request a hotspot at the kitchen bar facing directly into the flurry of barking chefs wrestling the eight-spit rotisserie and charcoal grill. Sounds like a bloody nightmare to me but a lot of people become very giddy when I mention this. Personally, I’ve no desire to see my chef, unless it’s those handsome, intense Spanish boys who cook behind the bar at Barrafina in Soho (another absolute favourite) and believe me, they take a dim view of women, after four glasses of vino tinto, leaning forward, mumbling, ‘You’re very pretty, I love the way you flambé’ while trying to feel their ears.

I didn’t see who made the Dorset white crab, brown crab mayo, served in a tiny glass jar, delicious, sharp and with a zing of spring onion, with delicate thin croutons, but I declare them very clever. Sautéed chicken livers on toast with a fried pheasant egg were an unctuous delight. I vanished half a Cumbrian chicken, with sides of parsnip and garlic gratin and beetroot and fennel slaw. I’m a big fan of comforting sides such as broccoli in almond butter, cabbage and bacon, and chips and gravy. My guest had a Tamworth pork loin with fennel crust, apple sauce and crackling. Purely to be sociable, I helped with a side of cauliflower macaroni cheese. The Jugged Hare does Kendal Mint Cake chocolate mouse with raspberries and I’d considered it silly not to order it. Now my gluttony has paid for a pony, I can move on to funding a racehorse.