REVIEW: The Ship Tavern, Gate Street, Holborn, London

I absolutely love a good old-fashioned pub. Over the years London has sadly lost so many pubs to make way for flashy new restaurants or opposed council renovations. Instead people are turning to trendy, casual bars with cheaper booze and more often than not, standard generic food. Thankfully however there are still some little gems left, such as The Ship Tavern in Holborn. A traditional ale house complete with a sumptuous upstairs dining room and a site history dating as far back as 1549. The strangest things about this place however is that from the outside it looks just like your busy, traditional boozer – and it is. But just to the side of this pubs entrance is a hidden door, hiding a gorgeous upstairs dining room dimly lit by candles. Very busy too. In good old British fashion we ordered a pint of ale to start.

The food here isn’t going to be the best meal you’ve ever eaten, but it may be the best food you’ll eat in a traditional pub, in this part of London. It’s rich, portions are gargantuan and it’s all very hearty. Sitting ourselves in one of the burnt orange and mahogany wooden booths, we started with a soft shell crab fritter with a fresh crab salad, roe & chilli oil. This was probably one of my favourite dishes here. Very vibrant, full of flavour and the crab, both salad and fried variant were very juicy. I loved the touch of heat from the chilli too. Slightly less succesful was the wild mushrooms flashed with brandy, parsley & garlic, toasted brioche and a rocket salad & herb oil. It sounded good and the flavours and the mushroom were excellent, but the bread needed to be much more toasted to hold everything together. In fact the bread needed to not be brioche. No matter what you do to brioche it soaks up everything that touches it and for us it felt too soggy. Perhaps a little less sauce would have helped too.

Main courses were incredibly rich and portions larger than anything I’ve eaten in some time. This was food for giants. In fact they could easily save themselves a few pennies by cutting back on size. Beef short rib with horseradish mash, maple glazed carrots and rich jus – it looked juicy and it was. Very well cooked, and for a very long time I’d imagine. The meat was falling off the bone anytime my fork got near it, had a lovely deep flavour running through and the jus was excellent. A dish worth returning for. Priced at £17 this was a bit of a bargain. A trio of lamb came with braised lamb shoulder, lamb fillet, crisp belly, mashed potato, garden pea & mint purée, roasted vine tomatoes and mint oil. For all this dish promised in its description I was expecting a lot more excitement in the mouth, but as it was – still very enjoyable indeed. I failed to detect much of the mint oil – a flavour which I’d want to be prominent with my lamb.

Our desserts came in the form of sticky toffee pudding and a cheese board. Two dishes you can’t help but ordered in a pub. They’re very British and can give so much. I’ve been going on about sticky toffee pudding over the last few months and on my quest for the best – this is my 26th example I’ve tried since the beginning of December. So how was it? It was nice. Certainly not the best but fits in about mid-way on my list. The sponge was good but needed more saturation with toffee sauce to soak all the way through. There should never be a dry moment in this sticky British experience. The ice-cream was notably good.

We finished up on a cheese board, opting for a Perl Wen and an Irish Gubbeen. Both were very excellent, as was the chutney and glass of sweet wine we paired it with. Something worth seriously considering to end your meal with here. As far as pub dining goes, The Ship Tavern is a hidden little gem in the hustle and bustle of London. The food is rich, very filling and well priced. If you’re looking for a romantic evening or simply catching up with friends then I couldn’t recommend this place enough.

7/10

I was invited to review