Matthew Lewin finds an old favourite offering hearty, fresh variations on gastropub (and gastropod) dishes that keep pulling in the punters

It’s pub food Jim, but not as we know it. From the moment I laid eyes on the Bull and Last’s homemade Scotch eggs and sausage rolls, I have been plotting to sneak off and have lunch there.

Imagine a Scotch egg as big as your fist, fresh cooked and containing a soft-boiled egg, which allows the yolk to run enticingly when you cut into it. Then think about a sausage roll with utterly buttery flaky pastry containing really good sausage meat with – wait for it – little specks of black pudding to liven it up even further.

Need more enticing? OK then, let me tell you about their triple-cooked chips, wedges really, which are not exactly in the same league as the A1 frite stall in Antwerp (the best chips in the world, trust me), but pretty damn good anyway.

The Bull and Last has been a good gastropub for a long time, but it got even better when, around October 2008, it was taken over by the people who also run a pub called the Prince of Wales in somewhere called Putney. We went on a Wednesday night and the place was heaving – recession, what recession?

The pub has always been famous for its charcuterie and fish boards and the new owners have been sensitive enough to keep those on the menu – the former featuring such goodies as duck prosciutto, chicken liver parfait, ham knuckle terrine, pork rillettes, and (a good one, this, for that maiden aunt of yours) some breaded pigs head, all served with some remoulade and toast.

My Chief Culinary Adviser eschewed all that and chose instead a starter of French snails in garlic butter and croutons – and was rewarded with a gargantuan salad under which hid at least a dozen good shell-less snails, bits of bacon and croutons.

I managed to order some deep-fried shredded lamb fritters in breadcrumbs which came burning hot from the fryer, screaming their freshness and just begging to be dipped in the salsa verde and consumed.

The menu, which changes constantly, was offering main courses such as a cote de boeuf steak, slow cooked pig cheeks, roast Cornish cod and a lamb gigot steak. My Adviser chose the shin of beef – another huge plate of food with nicely braised beef with shitake mushrooms and a large marrow bone containing an intriguing mixture of roasted bone marrow and breadcrumbs together with spicy fried shallot rings.

I had a wonderfully arched beer battered haddock, served with a semi-mashed pea puree, tartare sauce and a bowl of those chips. Like everything else, it had been freshly made to order and – oh joy! – it all arrived burning hot.

For desserts they have things like rhubarb fool with stem ginger ice cream, a fromage fraise parfait with lemon sable and strawberries, a chocolate fondant and a toffee banana clafouti with banana ice cream, but we were too stuffed with food to even think about dessert. Our bill came to £55 for our two courses each, including three glasses of wine but not service. Perhaps a little steep for pub food but, as I said, this is superior pub food.

Folks, this is not haute cuisine – a lot of things are fried and deep fried, or just grilled – but it is jolly good nosh, served in impressive quantities, and as fresh as could be. And when you are in a pub, what more could you want?

SUMMARY 

Superior gastropub serving generous plates of good – if simple – food.  Open for lunch and dinner in the bar all week, and also in the ­dining room upstairs on weekends. 

Rating: 4/5
The Bull and Last
168 Highgate Road, NW5 1QS
020 7267 3641
http://www.thebullandlast.co.uk