For those of you who don’t know me, I am a dual citizen of Great Britain and the United States. I grew up in England until I was 8, and my family still lives there. A few weeks ago, my husband and I were able to travel across the Pond and see my family (it has been over 10 years). We stayed with my cousin and her beautiful family in Gawcott, which is a little town near Buckingham. They live walking distance (I mean it’s next door to them :P) to The Crown, which is a local pub that they frequently go to for drinks and dinner.
My husband, Joe, really wanted to try Steak and Kidney Pud while he was in England. We only had few nights there and it was not looking like we could make this happen. Then my cousin spoke with the one of the employees of the Crown and although it was not on the menu, they made it just for him. They truly went above and beyond doing this for Joe.
I was pleasantly surprised how delicious and fancy the food was. I thought it would be more like our bar food back home, and it was the farthest thing from that. It feels like you are in your own home or at a family member or friends house. Laughter filled the dimly lit room and the men are cheering for their football team and having manly sized pints as if they are in a man cave. On the other side of the Crown is a little room with a pinball machine and arcade games, and a small section of the bar peeks through so the adults can order their drinks.
My cousin Claire and I shared a bottle of Rose wine, while Mark and Joe had a proper pint. We started with three appetizers Lamb Koftas , served with a tzatziki dip, mushrooms cooked in a chardonnay cream sauce over crostinis with melted cheese, and fried mushrooms (closest thing to bar food on the menu). The mushrooms in chardonnay were mouth watering. I wish I could have some more of them right now. I am not a big fan of Lamb, but I will say that these had a ton of flavor and my husband loved them.
For Dinner Joe got the Steak and Kidney Pud. You can see the steam coming out once it was cut open. He is still talking about how much he enjoyed this meal. My next adventure in the kitchen is to learn how to make this :P. It was perfectly doughy, and the gravy was heavenly.
It was hard for me to decide what to order. The menu had so many great sounding meals, from fish and chips ( you have to get these at least once when visiting England), aubergine schnitzel, served with buttery new potatoes and a Greek salad, baked camembert, studded with rosemary spears and garlic, served with warm crusty bread, burgers ( veggie, chicken, beef) and even steak.
I ordered the lasagna. I know it was odd, being in England and ordering a pasta dish, but I was really in the mood for a filling hearty pasta meal. It was extra saucy and cheese, just how I like it. One thing I noticed when traveling overseas is the portions. You can see here that the lasagna was a perfect one person sized portion, not enough to feed two or even three people.
My cousin Mark got a burger, because its AMERICAAAAN, and we are from America haha.
If you happen to be in the Buckinghamshire area when visiting England stop by The Crown and have some great homemade British food and say hi to Ian and Lisa (the owners).
Until our next British meal,
Lisa Annie
XOXO
P.S. They have proper English beer on tap, and have a 4.5 rating out 5 with 103 reviews on Trip Advisor.
Hillesden Road, Gawcott MK184JF, England
Leave a Reply