The Turk's Head, Twickenham

(Her)
This evening we went out for dinner in the Turk's Head, Twickenham. The pub is a big, old open pub - it has lots of rugby tickets glued to the ceiling, presumably to signify that it's a rugby pub, and it has several screens which were, when we arrived, showing the football. Overall the atmosphere was nice and friendly, if a little 'sporty' with all the big screens

Having looked at the menu in advance we ordered a sharing platter of nachos with chilli beef and then I got a pint of scampi and chips, while he went for the special steak and ale pie. It should also be noted that the bar had a large selection of ales and wines to choose from (I went for a merlot that was ok, but nothing special and was quite pricey at £6 a large glass)

When the starter arrived we felt like we were off to a good start - the plate of nachos was HUGE and it looks as though a bucket of salsa, sour cream and guacamole had been poured over the top. The salsa tasted like it had come out of the bottle, but the chilli beef was simply delicious and the whole dish just worked. That said, it was just ridiculously large and there was no way that it was a starter for two people - I had to call it quits after a while to save room for my main course!

Now I love scampi, I'm not going to lie - I know it's a cop out option when you can't decide, but it always tastes good and tartare sauce is a great accompaniment...usually. Here's where things went wrong.....let's be clear, I used to be a really fussy eater and I've trained myself out of most of it, but I just can't stand raw onions, especially red onions, so a homemade tartare sauce that seemed to consist entirely of red onion wasn't really for me....not the end of the world, I can cope, but annoying nevertheless. The chips were thick cut, the ones on the top of the dish were a bit doughy and undercooked, but the ones on the bottom were really crispy and fatty - TBH they weren't that great and with no tartare sauce and no ketchup on the table I ended up leaving most of them. Unfortunately the fatty, greasy texture continued with the scampi and for the first time in my life I left most of them too.

Sadly, being intrinsically British I didn't have the balls to complain and instead smiled politely and paid the bill at the end....

So for me the Turk's Head wasn't an ideal meal - I'll let him describe his pie and mash