By Lucy Gorman, FoodGoblin Central Correspondent
Proper pub’s names always start with ‘The Old …’ something. Almost any series of words can follow without any questions asked The Old Mardy Cow? The Old Swan and Custard? All seem plausible, but this one is called The Old Nun’s Head.
When you walk into The Old Nun’s Head its everything you want from your traditional local, a big old bar, a nice warm fire, warm wood panelled walls and a man in the corner that looks a little like Captain Birdseye. The bar had a nice amount of rotating ales on draught so I decided to try some recommendations. The first one I tried was the ELB (East London Brewery) Pale Ale, really nice and light and citrusy with a bitter finish; it was pretty refreshing and easy drinking. I also tried the Caladonian Coast to Coast, full of fruity and hoppy flavour and extremely moreish. So far, so good.
Rather than regular pub grub, The Old Nun’s Head has a trusted group of London pop-ups to cater for punters, on my visit the food was by Burger Bear. Now, in recent years I have spent a large amount of time in America, and to my waistline’s detriment I spent a large amount of that time eating. Whilst snob and burger might not be two words you might associate, Los Angeles did turn me into a bit of a burger aficionado, and since my return back to blighty I’ve been a little underwhelmed by the great British burger. It is therefore with some trepidation that I tried the Old Nun’s Head’s Burger Bear menu.
I tried both the ‘
Grizzly Bear’ and the ‘
Angry Bear’ burgers. The golden yet neglected rule in burger making is getting the patty right, dry, overcooked spongy patties make me so sad. However, I am glad to report the patties are good! Good quality Grass fed beef patty cooked medium!! Thank the lord, because if you’re not going get the patty right you should just put down your spatula and go home. The ‘Grizzle Bear’ boasts a bacon bonanza, bacon jam and slices of bacon, for me the bacon jam wasn’t really there much, I expected my palate to by hit my smoky salty sweet jam but it didn’t really show up. However, the slices of bacon were a delight; streaky, perfectly cooked and smoky, really smoky. The ‘Angry Bear’ probably gets its name from the people that order a burger that’s too hot for them and make a tit of themselves; when it’s a cheese burger topped with Helluvapino relish and Ribman
#HolyFuck sauce its your own fault really. After years of attrition I now have a pretty high spice threshold so I enjoyed the ‘Angry Bear’, it was sweet with a nice balance of spice that was more tingly rather than dry or fiery.
For sides I went with Chilli fries and Mac N Cheese balls (I was clearly trying to give myself a coronary). The chilli fries were nice and spicy but could have been richer and sloppier, I expect my face and hands to be a mess from fries saturated with cheese and chilli sauce but it was a little too dry for me to achieve that goal. The Mac N Cheese balls has a great garlicy crumb on the outside and were lovely and molten on the inside although the cheese they used was a little bland for me.
To summarise, Great British Pub, Great British Beers and refreshingly Good British Burgers; The Old Nun’s Head is a warm and welcoming place to spend a casual evening.
Piece by Lucy Gorman, Food Goblin Central Correspondent
