Two Gastropubs in Southwark, London

[limster]

• Hartley
A well made salmon fish cake where the filler wasn't excessive. Nice oil and acidity on the frisee salad, the bitterness a good contrast for the fish cake. Pretty good fries too.

A very good sticky toffee pudding, moist and soft, with penetrating sweetness, even if it wasn't as formidable as the massive one at The Gun that I had a couple years ago. Loved the thick creme fraiche that came with it.

• Anchor & Hope
Rustic rillette, solid flavour, nice pink threads of pork. Good contrast with pickled turnips, the refreshing crispness of the turnips, their hard snap, and soft acidity, all playing well against the rillette. Equally rustic slices of toasted bread.

A well made beef stew, rich and complex and balanced, in one of my mouthfuls I even imagined the flavour of orange peel in the stew. The chunks of beef was cooked properly, low and slow, all of them still moist and tender, with none of the dry ropey texture. The clarity of the cream and cheese in the polenta was lovely, and rounded off the stew very nicely.

Almond and cherry pie was basic and served at room temp, with a decent scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The chocolate truffle was fine, and at £1.20, more expensive than many of the elegant chocolatiers in London e.g. La Maison du Chocolat. Not bad by any means, but one could get better elsewhere.