18 Grove Hill Rd, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 1RZ
01892 523030
I discovered that the old Orson Welles pub had been turned into a swanky gastropub when I came across a damning review of it on the Restaurant Spy website. The reviewer's bugbear was not the food itself, but the fact that Black Pig was charging an astronomical £30 for steak and chips, poncifying the chips by calling them "pommes allumettes", misspelling wine names, and - worst of all - adding an obligatory 10% service charge to the bill. However, seeing as its sister pub is the fabulous George and Dragon at Speldhurst, we decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and check it out for ourselves.
It's been done out in textbook airy, tasteful gastropub fashion (always a sucker for a bit of black wood), encouraging you to while away the hours over a few pints, and the staff are the friendliest, most efficient I've come across. Mind you, I agree with the restaurant spy reviewer - it would be nice to be able to give them a nice fat tip off your own bat instead of being strong-armed into it. (marks docked from Service for this)
Anyway, looking at the menu, we couldn't find the infamous £30 steak and chips, which may have lulled us into thinking the prices were reasonable. We shared a starter of Game Terrine with Indian Military Chutney & Toasted Brioche. This was a beautiful, ballsy terrine - lovely huge chunks of meat and loads of garlic. I actually dreamed of this terrine last night. Being a working class boy (milky, sweet tea and bread with everything), I always think they skimp on the bread, and Black Pig was no exception.
I had Bavette Steak with the infamous "Pommes Allumettes" and Tomato Salad, served in true George & Dragon style on a wooden board with a metal pail to hold your pommes. No doubt it was a lovely piece of meat, but definitely not rare as requested. Goodness knows what would happen if you ordered medium - would it come back cremated? My wife enjoyed her Slow Roast Belly of Pork with Bean & Bacon Stew immensely, but being a working class girl, she likes her pork scratchings, and this beautifully tender, flavoursome piece of meat would have been elevated from really, really nice to perfection if only the chewy skin on the pork had managed to crisp up a bit. Absolutely no gripes about the delicious lemon posset we shared for pudding, and one pudding proved more than enough for two people.
I doubt this will be the last time we eat here, but until our numbers come up, we can't afford to make a habit of it. Sixty quid for two mains, one starter and one pudding, plus a couple of gins and beers is the kind of bill we expect to fork out at Thackeray's or Hotel Du Vin, and the food, as impressive as it is, is quite simply not in this ballpark. And small details like thumb prints on the side plates (ugh!), and the state of the gents toilets do nothing to help justify their steep pricing policy. As much as we enjoyed our meal, we will probably treat it just as a pub without the gastro from now on.
UPDATE 1Q2008 - We've had a bit of a run on the Black Pig recently, finding it a nice place to stop for a beer on the way home from a long walk. Most recently we decided to eat there again for lunch. It seems the prices have been adjusted in line with most peoples pockets these days, and a lunch of scrumptious venison pie with mash and the marvelous scotch egg and piccalilli with a couple of beers coming in at a bargain £25. Nice place to be, nice place to eat. Star ratings have been adjusted for this update.
UPDATE 1Q2008 - Another visit to the Black Pig has reinforced our feelings that this place has become a firm favourite, this time we had the steak and chips which was served with a really tasty salsa verde for dipping, it must be tried. The beauty of updates is that we have decided to ignore our own initial advice and treat this is a gastro pub with the added bonus of a nice place to sit with a beer to read the paper.
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