While I think the Top 50 Gastropub list is largely great, every year when it's announced there is the same grumbling about how some of the nominated places are best described as 'restaurants that operate out of a pub building' than pubs. I have long argued that to be considered for inclusion in the list punters should be able to go in and order just a drink and a packet of crisps (Scampi Fries ideally) and not be made to feel bad for taking up valuable eating space. So this then would exclude the Sportsman (who haven't allowed 'just drinks' for ages), the Hand & Flowers, the Crown at Burchett's Green and many other admittedly very nice places that just aren't pubs.
The good news about the Pelican (number 92 on the list) is that it's very much a pub. You can just pop in for a drink - plenty do - and there's a good sized bar area (and very handsome bar) for just mingling with friends without being made to feel like you're denting their gross profits. But while you can go to the Pelican just for drinks, at the same time you'd be silly to, because the food coming out of their kitchens is up there with the best any gastropub offers anywhere.
First to arrive, which also neatly reflected the enthusiasm in which it was ordered, was spider crab toast. A generous amount of crab, dotted with chives and dusted with paprika, came slathered on house sourdough and divided into four portions. The very existence of 'spider crab' toast on the Pelican menu speaks to a kitchen attempting to do something a little above the usual gastropub offering. The last time I saw spider crab on a menu, in fact, was at the Parkers Arms - not bad company to be in.
Monkfish "scampi" were tender, meaty little nuggets of fresh fish with a very addictive marie-rose style dip. One of the defining charcteristics of the most recent (and most successful) gastropubs is that the pescatarian, the vegetarian and the omnivore are all given equally attractive options across the board - no token mushroom risotto and 'fish of the day' (that will farmed seabass then) here thankyouverymuch.
But of course meat-eaters, and specifically offal-lovers, don't have anything to complain about at the Pelican either. Bone marrow - two huge portions - came expertly roasted in the St John style, with a brilliant sharp parsley dressing and more of that lovely house sourdough. £2 cheaper here than St John, too.
It was with the arrival of the mince on toast - in of itself an impressive bit of work with deliriously butter-drenched beef topped with grated parmesan - that we realised we had accidentally ordered quite a few dishes that involved bread. This is nobody's fault but ours, but my advice to you is to keep the number of "things on toast" to no more than two so you have more room for other lovely things.
Beef tartare was dressed, quite innovatively, with gentleman's relish (anchovy paste), thus neatly combining two of my favourite things in the world to eat. I also always admire the effort that went into making their own house crinkle-cut crisps, which were a great foil for the beef.
And finally, "5th quarter" (offal) pie, a splendidly bronzed thing packed full of offaly bits and pieces, and served with one of those wonderful glossy meat sauces that has clearly taken someone a very long time to make. With it, in case we hadn't quite ingested enough carbohydrates by this point, was a pretty little portion of mashed potato boasting a ratio of potato to butter of (I'm guessing) around 1 to 10. This is, of course, a good thing.
We had, as you might have gathered by now, ordered way too much food for two people, not out of greed (well alright, not JUST out of greed) but also because the fairly large menu had way too many things on it we'd regret not ordering. I'm already making plans, perhaps after pay day, to go back and try the £75 lobster and monkfish pie (for two), and I bet the duck leg with red cabbage is worth a look-in too. But even with over-ordering the bill only came to £60 each including service, which is pretty good going these days.
Gastropubs - proper gastropubs - like the Pelican do not come along very often, and even more rarely (for a reason I'm yet to fully fathom) do they land in central London. In fact, I think only the Drapers Arms in Islington and the Red Lion and Sun in Highgate, both longstanding favourites of mine, can give it a run for its money and provide that glorious combination of unpretentious watering hole and top-tier modern British food, where how much advantage you take of either is left entirely up to you (and maybe the Audley in Mayfair, although that's pushing the definition of 'unpretentious' somewhat). So thank God for all these people who truly 'get' how to do gastropub, and let's hope they all continue to get the custom - and plaudits - they deserve.
9/10
Apologies, for one final time, for the terrible iPhotos. I have finally been reacquainted with my camera battery charger, and future photos will be (slightly) better.