A rare sunny day today and I feel quite fortunate to have a working lunch booked in my diary with Partner Ian for which I headed out to Cirencester.
Ian said ‘why don’t we go somewhere else for lunch’ and I said ‘yes but where?’ he then reiterated ‘somewhere else’ and proceeded to explain that was the name of the pub! We took a 10 minute leisurely stroll from our office, along market place and into Castle Street.
We arrived just after 12pm while it was still quiet and so had our pick of the tables, to be fair I think most people were sitting in the beer garden. I was drawn to a long window seat with plenty of cushions which gave a great view for people watching and we settled down to order. The staff were extremely friendly, happy and helpful and we gave them our orders from the Munch by Munch menu. Ian selected ‘Oui Chef’ 2 dry aged, hand made, locally sourced beef patties topped with cheese in a brioche bun with caramelised onions, pancetta and mustard mayonnaise. Although very tempted by the ‘Vegan Dog Dirty Fries’ I was worried I’d be so comfortably full it would definitely lead to a sleepy afternoon and not much motivation for working so I picked the lighter option of a Caesar salad with gem lettuce, sourdough croutons, parmesan and Caesar dressing minus the crispy bacon.
The bar has a relaxed environment, the food was really tasty, Ian’s burger got a big thumbs up, and all too soon our plates were empty. Just as we were heading back out into the sunshine I faltered as the barman was crushing mint leaves and making Mojitos! Ian informed me that it’s very popular venue at night, could it have anything to do with the mouth watering cocktail menu?
We sauntered back to Dyer House via the walled garden of Bathurst Estate and I had a peek in the windows of Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen’s shop, oh if only all working lunches could be like this!