Pork Belly & Barbour.

Sorry it's taken me so long to write this post, I have been pretty busy for someone without a job! Although that front is looking up, very up actually, so fingers and toes crossed please.

So over a week ago I was pretty excited and also quite nervous. The nerves were due to my parents and T's parents meeting for the first time (my Grandmother came along too - double nerves) and the excitement was due to going to Roast which I was already salivating over due to Neil's post and Denise's recommendation.

It had been quite a warm day so I decided to get the legs out. This H&M skirt always seems like a great idea at the time, but I should have learnt after my Maze trip, it isn't - there is NO room for food. I could eat a riveta and soon end up bursting out of it. Never mind, the zip is always unfastened by the end of the starter, nicely hidden by the waist belt. I was itching to wear my new Barbour jacket from ASOS, even though it probably doesn't go at all, I still felt freakin' cool. I kind of want it to stay a bit cooler as this jacket is my new addiction.

(Skirt - H&M, Top - ASOS, Jacket - ASOS)

B picked me up and we went for Champagne in their hotel room in St James Park - I have stayed there before, it makes me feel like I should speak in arts and thous. Arriving at Roast was interesting - Borough Market on a Friday night is MENTAL. There were millions of suits lining the streets with a Guinness in one hand and a fag in the other. I liked it, so much so I tried to persuade the parents to have a pre-dinner drink with the buzzing crowd but they just laughed at me. Snobs.

The restaurant was gorgeous inside with a great atmosphere. The piano player was brilliant and the gin to settle every ones nerve was even better. I like it when people ask the preference on gin. Tanqueray all the way. T and his parents arrived and when the awkwardness passed we all went to the table and everything was fine (too fine, they wouldn't stop chatting! T and I felt left out!).

This is when I got annoyed. I always think the most important thing for guests at a restaurant is to have fully topped up drinks - waiting for booze is far more annoying that waiting for food (especially when it's a parents meet parents scenario!) so 25 minutes later when our starters had turned up and not our wine, I got a bit pissed off. The waiter was great and fetched it straight away, but it meant I had eaten half of my starter by the time I had the much needed pinotgrigio. It was lovely when it arrived, though.

On to the food. I went for the deer and it was gorgeous. Moist, flavoursome and well spiced with a zap of beetroot and then a creamy horseradish sauce - really bloody good.

T's prawns were just as good. I have only just started to like prawns and can usually only have one or two without getting grossed out, so the fact his came in a creamy tomato sauce made them really attractive to me. That annoyed T.

G ordered the sprats and I had to try one after Neil's tweet. He was right, they were bloody fantastic.

Next up I had already made up my mind what I wanted a week in advance, helped by some recommendations. Slow roasted pork belly with mash. B'jesus it was good. I am the sort of girl who would order steak and chips everywhere I went, if I could. But this blog has pushed me to try new things, and I am so glad I did. The pork just slid off and the crackling was perfect against the fondant of potato which was beautifully seasoned and the tart apple sauce. The only downside was the temperature, which is my pet hate. I don't even care if it's absolutely boiling, at least I could wait for it to cool down instead of ramming it down my throat before it got too cold. I would order it again... and again... and again, though.


T ordered the duck and all was well until he tried the veg - they had been served with pickled onions and they ALL tasted of onion! It would have been find for me - I would eat an onion like an apple, but put the poor boy off a little. Great duck, though.

Dessert was a simple treacle tart to be shared by T and I. It was good, not great, but how crazy can you really go with a tart? The clotted cream went well but it was very, very rich. Especially as I thought it was ice cream so took a huge scoop first off...

I had a bit of dessert envy, as usual, of B's trio. 3 desserts in 1, what was I thinking?! I could have had 3 DESSERTS.

A really enjoyable evening was had by all and new friendships were made. I want to try the take out section they do soon. I do hope they have the belly on the menu.