REVIEW: The Stag, Psalter Lane, Sheffield
NOW I'm not a pub man. You're more likely to see me in a wine bar.
I get snobby about boozers. If I see even the faintest glow of blue light from a telly I turn around at the front door.
But when I'm not in 'little- ole-wine-drinker-me' mode I have a favourite fantasy about my ideal pub.
For a start it wouldn't have a screen. And there'd be lots of real ale at the bar, a wooden floor and stacks of newspapers to read.
There would be no loud music and perhaps a comfy sofa or two.
It goes without saying there would be a decent food menu, nothing fancy, and a friendly pub landlord.
I thought this was going to stay a fantasy until I popped out to The Stag on Psalter Lane to interview an old American journalist who once had his arm squeezed by Marilyn Monroe.
No, I'm not in la-la land and neither was he.
But we were in what looked something closely approximating my fantasy pub. It was ticking all my boxes.
I went back a week or so later to see if I was right.
Geoff Walker is the landlord – an old fashioned tenant – of this Enterprise Inn and he took over three and a half years ago.
Now Geoff, who has spent a lot of his life in the licensed trade, had his own fantasy of a pub at the time and The Stag was not it.
"When I came I chucked out seven TVs including a big screen," he recalls. Out, too, went the juke box, fruit machines and, a year before the smoking ban, the smokers.
"It totally changed my clientele," he says with the air of a man who is convinced he did the right thing.
"Initially I ended up with nobody but we built up a good relationship with the locals. It's turned into a local pub rather than somewhere people come to watch TV."
The Stag has a history my American friend would have loved. It was built in 1805 to replace another pub on the site, on the old turnpike road to Chapel-en-le-Frith.
Times have moved on since then but I like to think the atmosphere hasn't.
The pub is all those warm and welcoming things in my fantasy with a menu to match.
Turnpike travellers might not have eaten chicken stuffed with goats cheese and wrapped in pancetta but they would have been at home with steak and ale pie, lamb shank and sausage and mash.
The menu, with a fancy cover seemingly designed to match the frilly pub curtains, has the words 'home made' scattered about in profusion and if smoked haddock and salmon fishcake, home made chill and beefburger don't appeal there are always the specials printed on cards behind the bar.
The chef is Rico Jafarian, who turned up one day asking if there was a job going. Geoff cooks when he's off.
I started with a special of grilled whole mackerel (6.50), ultra fresh with bags of taste, with what seemed to be half an allotment of roast and grilled vegetables. That would have done me for an ordinary supper.
My wife had another special, crumbled goats cheese with beetroot (4.50).The quality of the cheese and the sweetness of the beet gave it lots of appeal.
I ordered the cheese and onion pie (7.50) because the menu said it was Rico's speciality. At first I thought I wasn't going to like it because it was one of those pies with just a pastry lid but this was good and crisp. Underneath was just a cheesey, oniony white sauce. That's it. But strangely it grew on me.
We'd been recommended the other main, a seafood risotto (11.50) which is one of those dishes you describe as rumbustious or gutsy to signal that, while it might not have been as sophisticated as some, every mouthful was enjoyable.
We finished by sharing a chocolately bread and butter pudding (3.45) while I reflected that my fantasy pub had, in fact, been just around the corner.
The food cost 33.45.
Food review – The Stag
15 Psalter Lane, Sheffield.
Tel: 0114 255 0584
Food served Mon-Thur 12-2pm (Fri until 3pm) and 6-9pm, Sat 12-9pm, Sun 12-7pm. Credit cards. Gentle music. Ample parking.
My star ratings:
Food ****
Atmosphere *****
Service ****
Value ****
Pub category. Do not compare ratings between places of different style/price.
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