I’d visited Jeremiah’s Taproom, formerly the Elm Bar, a few weeks ago, after watching MJ and her Cannon Belle colleagues crush the roller derby life out of some poor unfortunates from Helsinki. For those who haven’t watched a roller derby bout before, I can heartily recommend it.
Soup
I digress. On the previous visit, we just sampled from their drinks menu, which has a nice range of ales. The place has a very smart array of seating options, too, from high seats, regular tables, booths, and armchairs. On today’s visit, we sat in the high seats. We were soon brought menus by our friendly waiter/barman.
Their menu is extensive, with burgers and sliders as the centrepiece. Jane, who’d joined me for lunch, today, is a mac and cheese fan, so was immediately taken by the notion of a side portion being available for £2.95. After asking advice on how big it was, she decided to opt for that, accompanied by some skinny fries, after joining me in ordering a soupy starter. I chose the “black and blue” (blue cheese and cracked black pepper) veggie burger.
Mac n cheese
Soups soon arrived looking neat, and accompanied by nice, soft bread. While the consistency was good, it had a curious lemony sourness to it, which really didn’t work for either of us.
Jane really enjoyed her nice, cheesy main course, with the side portion amount proving ideal for a lunchtime bite. Her fries were given the thumbs up, too.
Burger n fries
My veggie burger was less good. It was small, a little over-charred on the crispy crumb coating, and the middle was entirely too soggy. The “black and blue” topping was far too subtle for me, drifting in to the background of what was a bland disappointment. This was a shame, as the fries and the bun were both pretty good.
So overall, it was a decidedly mixed bag from Jeremiah’s Taproom. I really like the place and the welcome was warm and attentive. There’s work to do on the food, though, and with the veggie burger such an integral part of their menu, they really need to focus their improvements there, in the first instance. I’ll certainly pop back for a drink, and hope to find their food is on better form, next time.
Scores
Blythe scores Jeremiah’s Taproom
2/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
4/5 for setting
3.5/5 for service
giving an overall 13/20
Jane scores Jeremiah’s Taproom
3/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
3.5/5 for setting
3.5/5 for service
giving an overall 13.5/20
Today’s quester were: Jane, Blythe
We ate: mushroom soup (2), mac and cheese, veggie burger, fries
We drank: sparkly water, espresso
We wore: green dress, white shirt
Total bill: c.£26
