Walk in the park, pint, Sunday lunch.

Today was almost perfect. 


We took the dog and little M for a long walk in the park where they both got pooped out and then, on the way home, walked past our favorite pub and, on the spur of the moment, decided that we both deserved a pub sunday lunch. 


One glass of red wine, one pint, two pork loin lunches later we waddled home, full, happy and with a universal feeling of good will. Some hardcore napping on the sofa followed and sod the budget.


Sunday lunch in the pub is one of those meals that can be totally wonderful, or totally rubbish. It's such an abused meal. The reality is that most people could (or at least should) do it better at home, but it's sometimes really nice to be cooked for and a groaning plate of meat, gravy, roasties and assorted veg, when you haven't had to buy, peel, prep and cook them, can be bliss. 


Now... look... I know that just a few posts ago I had a go at most, if not all, pub food as being less than great. If you haven't realized by now this is not going to be a balanced or measured blog and I reserve the right to often and fundamentally contradict myself. 


However I do stand by the fact that pub food is often pretty poor, and that goes just as much for sunday lunches as any other meal. In fact... probably more so. A busy pub will clear as much as 50% of there food profit over a weekend and most of that is on Sunday but it's an expensive meal to make both in terms of food costs and staffing (all that extra prep, waiting staff... ) so the temptation is to pile the plates high, but often with less than great produce, especially meat, and to turn tables. The more people that you can get through the doors - the more profit you make and that is why you never have to wait long for your Sunday lunch and the veggies can seem a little over cooked. 


Fortunately we are lucky that we have a particularly good selection of food pubs close to where we live. 


But when a pub sunday lunch is good... it's very, very good. 


And, lets be honest, it's about who you are sitting with, more than what you are eating, that makes it perfect.