Not Your Usual Sunday Lunch

We often go out for Sunday lunch, then go supermarket shopping in the afternoon. Today we had booked into one of our favourite pubs. We've been there five times before and have recommended it to people who have subsequently enjoyed a meal there. I am not going to name it because if I read what I am about to say about it I wouldn't go there, and I don't want to risk our opinion adversely affecting their trade. After all, if you do an internet search for the pub you want to go to and find that a fairly regular customer says standards have fallen, would you make a booking? Suffice it to say that it's a village pub in the Barnsley area. I began to worry when we sat at our table and noticed that the usual cotton tablecloths were there, but covered on every table with disposable paper tablecloths.  That kind of laundry economy sends the wrong message to the customer. Anyway, we thought we'd forego starters in the hope of a pudding later so I had the roast Beef, Mary the roast Pork, our usual choices. I'm not putting the photographs in the report in case they give anything away. While the beef was disappointingly just  OK, the pork was terrible, sliced thinly and dried out. The yorkshire puddings on both plates were quite burnt. We looked at the dessert menu but, not being tempted by any of them, Mary said she'd rather have a toffee sundae at McDonald's. I agreed, so we paid the bill and left. Once in the car, we freely expressed our opinions and agreed not to go back, and to tell our friends. Let's hope TV news microphones did not pick up our private conversation when we thought we were alone.

We set off for the McDonald's branch in the Barnsley Asda car park. The restaurant was packed with children so we joined the busy drive-thru queue. Ten minutes later we had reached the order point. "Sorry, no ice cream" said the metallic voice of the order taking robot. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait in the queue before we were able to drive away.

So, pudding was to be at Morrison's in Barnsley.  Mary had the apple pie and custard, while I had an Almond and Raspberry Muffin and a jam doughnut. We both had a cup of of coffee. Total cost was £5.16. (A single portion of one pudding at the pub would have been £5.45). The muffin and doughnut were nice, as were the coffees. Mary loved the crumble, despite the skin on the custard. I tried a bit, thought the custard OK, but the crumbly bit horrible.