the narrow

i like running. i'm totally devoid of speed, self discipline, perseverance or the ability to follow a training plan and the slightest hint of rain puts me off running outdoors (which as you can imagine, happens with unmitigated frequency in english weather). but i still like running. it gives me the time and the space to clear my head and it's a good way of seeing the sights (which sometimes comes in the form of a really fit bloke running in the other direction). best of all, I kid myself with the delusion that I’m running up a calorie deficit which then justifies eating large comforting pub meals.

i’ve recently taken to running a route that takes me along the thames to tower bridge and back, and on the way, I pass the narrow – it marks the point where I’ve done a quarter of my run, and had for the past month left me curious about its food. it took a couple of phonecalls and a month’s waiting to finally find a date that was mutually acceptable with me and the narrow and we finally tottered over for saturday brunch.

having surveyed the concise menu at length, y eventually went for the oxford lamb steak which came with a rather large portobello mushroom and a nice melting pat of anchovy butter. the steak was tender and very well seasoned. i indulged with the braised lamb neck and turnip pie with a thick meaty gravy sweetened by the turnip, topped with a large crispy puff pastry hat. despite the large serving of creamy mash that my pie came with, I couldn’t resist the extra portion of chips which came all crisp and fluffy.

i did slightly regret my potato-on-potato action because it left me too full to order a separate pudding, but the lovely y let me eat quite a lot of hers - which was a refreshing lemon posset with cherries. it came in a wine glass - a layer of cherry jelly and whole cherries, topped with generous lashings of lemon posset. lemon posset is a simple dessert made out of lemon juice, sugar and cream and thankfully nothing like its medieval origins of curdled milk.

on the way out of the narrow, I passed the spot where a month ago i had the chance opportunity of meeting g ramsay in the pub and remembered how he had in jest said I was a slow runner when somehow the conversation veered towards our running times. well, g ramsay, if I keep eating meals like that in your pub, I don’t see how I’m going to lose the weight to be a faster runner. but that’s okay with me. I like food more than I like running.