Tuesday 4 September 2012

The Pigs at Edgefield, Norfolk

We had been to the food festival at Holkham Hall when we decided to head to the Pigs at Edgefield on the way home for lunch. This was our second visit and I remembered the first being filled with porky delights so we were looking forward to it. We had friends visiting so there's always that added pressure when suggesting somewhere to eat! The Pigs is a relaxed pub with chunky wooden furniture and a laid back atmosphere. We had a look through the menu and settled on the 'Iffits', The Pigs' version of Norfolk tapas. They're served on long boards and at £11.95 for 4, good value. I had forgotten that they provide a gluten free menu so we'd made a guess at what I could eat and then checked at the bar. The waitress checked this against the gluten free menu and we were good to go. Except for one slight problem, the menu refers to low gluten rather than gluten free, so unfortunately that meant I couldn't have anything that was deep fried due to the risk of cross contamination. It's a real shame as some of these dishes looked great, crispy fried pigs ears and the hand cut chips were unfortunately off limits. I'm not sure if they're always off limits and I'm planning on writing to them to confirm. I understand the pressures of a commercial kitchen and they obviously have to cater to the majority but it would be great if they could introduce a gluten free fryer.

'Iffits'
Those minor niggles withstanding the food is great. We tucked into tender ribs which were coated in marmalade which made a tasty change to BBQ sauce. Locally smoked prawns were another favourite, as was the smoked salmon and beetroot. The only one which received mixed reviews from my gluten eating friends was the Binham Blue with toasted muffin; lemony flavours with the blue cheese clashing rather than complimenting. All in all though, its good tasty local food which showcases some great Norfolk produce.

4 comments:

  1. I tweeeted @PigsPubNorfolk and received the below prompt reply:

    "Hi I believe the term gluten free is no longer correct and has been replaced by low gluten as produce prepared in an area of contamination, all food and safety legislation states it to be now called low gluten, we will look into the gf fryer!!!"

    Seems like the law is making things more confusing for restaurants rather than less.. Would be interesting to hear your thoughts!

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  2. I don't think the law is making things more confusing for restaurants: they just have to read about it and learn it. It's not that complicated: health and safety regulations are, I imagine, far more complex and they deal with those, don't they?

    Anyway, the restaurant clearly needs to do some work on it. They need 'no gluten containing ingredients', I imagine. Would suggest you direct them here: http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/glutenfactsheet.pdf

    A.

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  3. They also do some fantastic ales... If you can tolerate gluten!

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  4. To see these pics I also fell very Hunger, Such a Nice ,Beautiful and Full of entertaining blog, Thanks a Lot

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