The Grange

4.30pm on a Saturday. Probably one of the worst times of the week to be looking for food, except at the same time on a Sunday. Most places are closed since it's between lunch and dinner.

After The Angel went south and then closed, The Grange opened in its place, an Irish public house. We decided to try it out.

I started off with a nice Guinness. It was well poured and tasty. J got some Victory hoppy Belgium thing though he was jealous of my Guinness and eventually got his own.

For a main, I got the meat pie which, surprisingly or not, was basically ground beef in a pastry pie. Most of the dough was completely chewy and seemingly undercooked and not flaky and light as I had hoped. The beef n onion gravy that came with it was heavily spiced with ... cinnamon? It was a little weird. The smashed potatoes were good, mixed with butter and topped with dried chives. A curious mix of sauteed zucchini (green and yellow), carrot strings, and sliced red onions were good but an odd composition. The red onions added a nice sweetness, but ... they seemed out of place.

J got the shepherd's pie which was actually cottage pie since it was filled with beef. You would think that an Irish pub would get this right. was a little on the dry side and needed more sauce to really be juicy and succulent, and J thought that the radio of potato:everything else was too heavy on the potato side. Not bad though.

To finish up (amazing that we eat so much, I know), we got a bowl of Irish lamb stew. Big tender chunks of lamb, chunky potatoes, and smaller pieces of carrots filled the bowl nicely. A lot of barley dominated the dish which tasted fine and likely contributed to the heaviness and lack-of-sauce in the bowl, but I really like a little soup in my stew and I was sad for its absence. There was dried thyme both cooked in the stew and then on top. Beyond the barley which is really a chef's preference, the overuse of thyme was my only complaint.