Knocker's ostrich sausage and mash

Tuesday 1 July 08

Starter
Tuna and roasted hazelnut and coleslaw with french bread

Main
Ostrich sausages, potato and parsnip mash served with fresh asparagus tips and light gravy

Overall Rating 6.79/10
Washupability 5/5

I went to a pub near Trafalgar Square, a delightful little Irish pub called The Harp, where all they have on their menu is different types of sausages - including ostrich sausages. I thought, nice. So I phoned them up a couple of days later and asked if it was possible to get some ordered; they are apparantly umade exclusively in Chester. The lovely staff said no problem and only charged me cost (£1 per sausage). By the way, they do a nice drop of Timothy Taylor, which was a nice change for me as I'm a Carling man. I had to pick up the sausages on a wednesday, which was a pain as I had to hide them until the following tuesday in the freezer.

The coleslaw recipe I picked up online while I was searching for salads. I can't remember whose recipe it was. Finding the hazlenuts turned out to be harder than the ostrich sausages!

Knocker's verdict 7.25

I will be brief. All i can say is that the plates were so clean at the end of each course they even ate the pattern off them so a full belly is a happy belly. See you soon.

Clare's verdict 6.625

Overall, I was rather disappointed with Knocker's meal. The menu excited me, with the different ingredients and flavours and the sourcability. However, when it arrived on the plate, the presentation lacked any inspiration and the taste was dull to the palate. Obviously, I had to score him high on originality, which includes sourcability, see above re finding the sausages.

And what's more, the host's feedbackability was poor, poor, poor. Instead of appreciating the positive criticism levelled at him, he had a positive hissy, or should I say, himmy, fit......

James' verdict 6.5

This was a simple meal but done well. I've never had ostrich sausage before and to be honest I was a bit sceptical. But I'm converted now and if it was easy to get hold of them I would have them as a sausage of choice. Knocker gets most of his points from me for the effort of getting hold of them. There's still a lot of scope for presentation but this really isn't Knocker's style. Fair play though, it's hard to grumble with bangers and mash with a twist.