A Taste of England: Queen and Beaver

Today I went to the Queen and Beaver for lunch.  I’m pretty sure I saw a news clip last week of the fans watching England’s second game on the second floor.  Not surprisingly, there were no camera’s here today and the second floor was showing the other game for group D.  I got there just after the restaurant opened and had second choice of seating.  A small group had already claimed the big couch in front of the TV.  All the other chairs had been wisely rearranged to face the TV.  I grabbed a seat and table off to the side of the couch so that no one could block my view. 

I’ve been here a couple of times before and both times I ordered the mushroom pithivier.  It was really good.  I didn’t write anything else down the last time I had it so that’s I can really tell you about it.  I’m sure I’ll end up having it again.

This time I started with a Pimm’s cup and ordered the rabbit and potato pie.  The pie turns out to be very similar to the pithivier.  The only difference I could see was it had rabbit instead of mushrooms.  Both dishes are served with a small salad that has been tossed in a light vinaigrette.

The rabbit seemed to have been cooked with some tarragon which I could taste when I bit into the meat.  I do think they slightly overcooked the rabbit pie though as the crust seemed a little overdone.  Aside for that it was good.

I’m pretty sure this is only the second time I’ve had rabbit in my life.  If I had been told it was chicken I doubt I would have thought twice about it.  I think I’ll stick to the mushroom pithivier though.  I don’t feel bad about eating mushrooms but I do kind of feel bad about eating rabbit.

If you are going to the Queen and Beaver to hang out with friends and have some drinks, go upstairs.  The main floor looks like it’s more for dinner service or at least what I’ve seen of it.

Day 8 - A Taste of England

Germany VS Serbia
Slovenia VS USA
England VS Algeria

I got up a little earlier this morning and headed out to The Football Factory. It was time for an English breakfast. I ordered my meal with English sausage because for some reason I though an English sausage was something other than what came on my plate. Everything on my plate was familiar.



My friend ordered the bacon and brown sauce sandwich. The brown sauce was HP sauce. I’ve never heard of having that with breakfast.



So nothing really surprising here but the place is a great spot for watching soccer. They had very friendly staff, at least one of which is from England. There are two TVs that face the patio and some speakers have been extended onto the patio for sound. There was plenty of interaction between the patrons on the patio and the pedestrians and motorists passing by, many of which stopped to ask the score of the game and responded in shocked disbelief. The location also provided some traffic “entertainment” as we watched the odd confused driver heading East off of the side street (which is actually Richmond) try to head into the four lanes of one way traffic of West bound Richmond.

I’ll be going back for simply for the atmosphere.