Game-focused bar snack menu at London pub

A London pub has capitalised on the game season by introducing a bar snack menu that includes venison and wild boar.

ETM Group’s Jugged Hare, in the City of London has launched the bar snacks to complement its overall game menu, which has a wildfowl focus.

The bar snacks include: game chips with gravy (£4.50); Clonakilty Irish black pudding croquettes with Guinness sauce (£5.50); Venison scotch egg with Cumberland sauce £6.50; and wild boar head croquettes with apple caramel (£6.50).

Changing daily, the pub’s game menu offers a selection of wild game birds, roasted whole and served with the traditional garnish of game chips, liver pâte ‘en croute’, Savoy cabbage and game jus.

Recent items on the menu include: red legged partridge (£24); mallard (£32); English grey legged partridge (£34); Diver duck (£34); widgeon (£34); and a pheasant for two to share (£48).

All of the game has been shot on or around the heather moors of the Swinton Estate, in North Yorkshire.

Wine matching

The ETM Group-owned pub is also putting on two British game and fine wine matching events this month.

Ben Weatherall from Yorkshire Game and the Blackface Meat Company, and ETM Group executive chef James Lyon-Shaw will be on hand to guide guests through fine wines “that are strong enough to stand up to the gamey flavours”. The dinner costs £75 per person.

Matching items include: pheasant breast, popcorn leg, cauliflower purée and jus gras with a 2012 Château Lestrille; and Swinton Estate red grouse ‘Wellington’, sautéed ceps, smoked beetroot, sage potato galette and mulled wine jus with a 2009 Les Charmes de Kirwan.

Bambi burger

Another innovative London venue, Mews of Mayfair, has launched a venison burger inspired by Disney’s doe-eyed deer, Bambi.

Available until Christmas, the Bambi burger is said to be offer a “twisted take on a childhood classic”.

Costing £16, the burger comes in a glossy brioche bun, with a gin and redcurrant chutney, crisp gem lettuce and a gherkin. It is served with a bowl of triple-cooked chips.

  • *National Pheasant Week – the first National Week to celebrate all things pheasant – runs 17 to 23 November.