If you follow my Twitter or Instagram feed then you’ll know that I love my food. At the moment, with the weather being what it is, Sundays often leave me wanting good old roast dinners. Herein lies the rub. What do veggies have for roast dinners? I think this is why a lot of pubs don’t bother with this, as it’s a bit of a minefield. All I’m looking for is roast spuds & gravy made without animal fat, veggies & something else in place of meat. I’m not adverse to a nut roast, which was the offer of the day at The Old Anchor pub in Abingdon-on-Thames. The menu also stated that the gravy & potatoes would be vegetarian too. Fantastic!
Everything was cooked perfectly. The veg was just right, although my OH wanted a few more roast potatoes (he was only given two). The service, as always, was great & the place has a fab feel. I love going there.
What staggered me was the fact I was given a veggie burger. It was a nice veggie burger, and it somehow worked with everything else, but it was a veggie burger. Not a nut roast. And no one told me. When we ordered, no one said there was no nut roast. While we waited, no one said they were out of nut roast but would a burger be ok. When they brought the food, no one said there was no nut roast. They just served me a veggie burger, with the roast trimmings & not a word about it.
Now, all the sunday lunches are £9.95 for one course. I’ve written about this before. I don’t think that veggie food should be charged at the same price as meat. There is no way a nut roast lunch costs as much as a pork lunch. If it does, then the pork can’t be good quality. This wasn’t the case. My OH thought the pork was delicious & loved the black pudding that came with it. Compare that with a veggie burger. Not exactly the same.
I really like The Old Anchor. It has a lovely feel & has great views of the river. The food was tasty, the service was good. I just wished someone had explained the mystery of the absent nut roast!
UPDATE: The manager of the Old Anchor got in touch with my via twitter & has sent me a voucher to use the next time I eat there, which will be very soon!
ANOTHER UPDATE: We ate Sunday lunch at the Old Anchor again a few weeks ago, on Father’s Day, to enjoy the voucher. I have to say it was THE best veggie roast I’ve ever had. The veg were plentiful & delicious, the nut roast was awesome and all the trimmings…Perfect. I will always recommend this place for roast dinners from now on as even my meat-eating OH was impressed. Can’t wait to go again!