Fox & Anchor
115 Charterhouse Street, London, EC1M
foxandanchor.com
As Blackadder's Baldrick might say, lunch at the Fox was a cunning plan. This smartly revamped pub next to Smithfield meat market, in the heart of Clerkenwell, oozes personality both on and off the menu.
The pub, which closed two years ago, used to be the local of bloody meat traders from nearby Smithfield market, city traders and night-shift doctors from nearby St Bart's.
But after being reopened by the Marylebone Warwick Balfour Group, owners of the Malmaison hotels, the pub is now attracting more of the "bloody good" set.
Décor details inside this listed art-nouveau beauty of a pub include doors of mahogany, wood panels, etched glass and heavy brass,
a long public bar of dark shiny wood and mirrored partitions.
At the rear of the pub is the Fox's Den,
a back room with three private snugs, a lovely spot for a group meal.
From the beer served in pewter tankards,
to the wooden trays laid up on tables with British condiment classics such as Colman's mustard, HP Sauce and Sarson's vinegar,
the Fox celebrates Britishness in everything
it does.
The menu, which is headed "Hops & chops, cuvées & duvets", proudly focuses on great British classics such as split pea and ham soup, steak and oyster pie, and cod in Battersea beer batter with fat chips and mushy peas.
Sections on the menu include bar snacks, an oyster bar and the increasingly trendy "on toast" section, which includes Cromer crab on toast (£7.50) and Welsh rarebit (£4.95).
The bar-snack menu features pork scratchings with Colman's mustard, pickled eggs, and cockles in vinegar, which are displayed in jars on the bar (all £1.50 each).
Another great feature of the menu is the "From the trolley - today's roast" option. The menu prompts you to "ask one of our foxy bar staff for today's roast". Indeed I did. Staff were not only foxy, but friendly and helpful and delivered with aplomb a list of daily specials, which included Lancashire hot pot (£10.50) and pork and pistachio sausage with mash (£10.50).
I decided to be a trolley dolly and went for the perfectly pink roast beef (£13.95), from top-notch butcher the Ginger Pig, served with goose-fat roast potatoes, light and fluffy Yorkshire puddings and perfectly-cooked vegetables.
Steak tartare with chips was my friend's choice. Presented on a rustic wooden board with goose-fat chips served in a pottery pot, it didn't disappoint.
Puddings on offer are of the school-dinners genre and include knickerbocker glory and sticky toffee pudding with English custard.
The drinks offer is also first class.
Beers on offer include six cask ales, plus
an adventurous selection of bottled beers.
The list also features black velvet (Guinness and Champers) and buck's fizz. The wine
list is big on personality and features headings such as "For rappers, starlets and elegants" and "For bishops, vixens and rolling stones".
The menu states: "Our menu: tasty, satisfying, local and proud. You: properly fed and happily watered." I couldn't agree more.
Jo Bruce
Pub facts
Owners: Marylebone Warwick Balfour Group, owners of Malmaison hotels.
On the menu:
Starters: Split pea & ham soup (£4.50); Secretts farm thyme-roasted root vegetable salad (£4.95); duck egg, celery salt and mayonnaise (£4.95); prawns by the half pint (£4.95) and pint (£9.95) and potted beef and piccalilli (£5.95).
Mains: Ham hock & colcannon mash with parsley sauce (£10.95); steak tartare with chips (£14); grilled spatch-cock with lemon and garlic (£11.50); cod in Battersea beer batter with fat chips and mushy peas (£12.50); steak and oyster
pie (£10.95); and traditional fish pie (£11.50).
Desserts: Sticky toffee pudding with English custard
Menu innovation: From the trolley - today's roast. Sexy sides section includes goose-fat chips, carrots and thyme, and chicory with honey-mustard dressing. Breakfasts are also on offer, including English kippers and a full English option.
Standing out from the crowd: The pub also offers six letting rooms featuring Egyptian cotton linen and copper roll-top bath tubs.
