Perfectum in Simplicitate...

Went over to Biwmares today for lunch: Bass & chips for me, of course: not in the same receptacle as that would be slightly gross and a less than pleasant experience. Initial pint a tad hazy, but tasted OK anyway: I wish they'd teach their bar staff to waste a couple of pints to ullage at the start of a session to clear the lines, let alone get them all to adhere to the legal requirement of a full imperial pint serving of ale to the rim of the glass [not all are guilty in this respect, to be fair]. Whatever, bitch over; the chips were particularly good, even though cutlery failed to materialise; sometimes, modern hospitality seems to follow the model laid down by Fawlty Towers all those years ago: the 1970s with a twenty-first century veneer - and prices - applied. Frankly not at all convincing on the customer service front, but wryly endearing in a masochistic, self-denying kind of way.

This seems to be pretty much the default for most standard food-pub/hotel-based establishments these days. In some ways I'd rather a return to an era when the idea of a pub lunch was three or four pints of properly conditioned and served real ale, a buttered, fresh crusty cob [you can tell where I came from with that word 'cob' alone, and they should look like the above; possibly even darker in crust] with a good slab of sharp cheese between its two halves, and a dish of soused, sliced Spanish onion to go with it. That's all that's required. And definitely no salad, garnish or other cheap fripperies with which to elevate the cost. And they're called cobs, not bloody sliders, as if. Lunch in a nutshell. Occam's Razor duly applied, patent applied for, as seen on TV, etc., etc...