The phenomenon of the gastropub is about to come of age. Most commentators agree that its genesis can be found in London twenty years ago. At the time many pubs in Britain were seen exclusively as places to drink and little emphasis was put on serving food. The ones that did meals had a distinct \u2018Rovers Return\u2019 feel and the choices were limited to the odd hotpot, cold dishes such as a ploughman\u2019s lunch or very ordinary sandwiches served without any real passion. In the 1980s and into the 1990s pub grub expanded to include traditional British dishes such as steak and ale pie, shepherds pie, bangers and mash, fish and chips, homemade burgers and traditional roasts. We saw a similar rise in the popularity of eating in pubs here although it was mainly dominated by a lunchtime trade. It was certainly a way for any pub to grow its daytime business and of course with less and less people going home in the middle of the day there was a need. The menus also expanded to include the slightly more exotic \u2013 chicken curry, lasagna and chili con carne.<\/span><\/p>\n So what is the story here these days? Well we got the bug early, being so close to Britain and the idea was indeed a good one. A welcoming establishment, less formal than a restaurant with excellent food and the casual \u2018drop by\u2019 atmosphere of a pub should add up to a pleasant combination. It often is a great formula, but for my money too many of these places concentrate on the d\u00e9cor and good food presentation but the soul of the food is missing. In many of these places you can be let down and the first bite and as the surroundings and presentation are usually good, that fall is quite great as an expectation has been built up.<\/span><\/p>\n I could go on but this isn\u2019t about finding a good or bad gastropub, it\u2019s about asking what we can learn from them and translate it into our own home cooking. The first thing is to look at the menu. There is a common thread; and that is familiar and fairly common inexpensive dishes. Braising steak, mince, lamb shanks, sausage and battered fish seem to be the basics. All these are relatively inexpensive meats. Some of them require long slow cooking and the general feel is quite rustic so, unlike scientific baking, there is more flexibility in method and ingredients. Finally the big lesson comes in the presentation. It is very true what they say in that we also eat with our eyes. The same dish presented a few different ways can make all the difference. Many gastropubs have given this area a great deal of thought and it works. Chips come in various vessels, dips are on the side in tiny dishes, sometimes plates are dispensed with and small tiles, slates or chopping boards are used in their place. Shape or colour is often unusual, vintage or just mismatched with great effect. There is often a little culinary theatre employed \u2013 the steak knife appears speared through something within the dish, you get a part of the food wrapped up in some way that you have to participate to open it and put it on the plate, things have to be spilled and poured to create the finished meal. It\u2019s all great fun but when we strip it back it just requires a little thought. For the average family buying little buckets for the chips or tiny dip dishes is not prohibitive at all. You can find allsorts of vessels and containers under \u20ac2 each that can be used for food presentation. All it takes is a little imagination. It\u2019s not about trying to create the gastropub experience every time you serve steak pie or fish and chips; it\u2019s about surprising and mixing it up every now and again. It\u2019s about taking an easy and fairly common family meal and turning it into something special. It is often the case that we save our best cutlery, good delph, crystal glasses and excellent presentation skills for when we have people over. So we go to all this trouble for people that drop by rarely and that we see occasionally. Yet for the ones we love the most and those that support us the best, our own family, we are happy to give them the ordinary glasses and everyday plates! Of course I appreciate that it\u2019s not always possible, but every now and again do something special for your nearest and dearest just to surprise them. The bangers and mash will still cost the same but it will feel like an entirely different meal. Bring the gastropub experience home and make it something that all the family can enjoy. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We hope you enjoyed reading this post by Pat Whelan of James Whelan Butchers. Pat is a 5th generation butcher, cook book author and the director of \u00a0James Whelan Butchers with shops in Clonmel, the Avoca Handweavers Rathcoole and Kilmacanogue, Dunnes Stores Cornelscourt, Rathmines and Swords in Dublin.\u00a0Sign up to our newsletter for more updates from James Whelan Butchers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018Gastropub\u2019, a word that would give you the idea that it is an establishment that is a pub but should you also want to eat, then the food is going to be above average. It should always prove to be a good gastronomic experience and not just an astronomic one when it comes to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25],"tags":[283,282,99,281,48,47,127],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n![\"Braised](\"https:\/\/www.jameswhelanbutchers.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/guinness-stew.jpg\" "\\"Braised")
<\/a>In 1991 two men, David Eyre and Mike Belben, took over the Eagle pub in Clerkenwell in London. They went a step further with the food and created a restaurant within the pub and it was here that the term \u2018gastropub\u2019 was coined. It would take five years to gain popular usage and for the media to jump on it and then it exploded. Suddenly many pubs in Ireland and England took another look at the food they served and aspired to be a gastropub. New York is still enjoying a love affair with the term and Scandinavian countries got the bug around 2009 and the sector continues to thrive there.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n