The Gardeners Arms & Jongleurs
A couple of Mondays ago, it was a lovely sunny spring day and we weren't sure what to do for tea. I knew from my earlier visit that the Gardener's Arms, under its new management, claimed to do food every evening, so we thought we'd give it a go.
We got there slightly later than intended (after getting back from daughter's swimming lesson) so we ate indoors rather than in the garden. They've not got around to redecorating inside yet, but it is still pleasant enough, there's plenty of room and they welcome kids until 9pm, or later if they are eating. The landlord is friendly, the place was a bit quiet, but with enough customers to save it from feeling dead, and the beer was excellent. I'd never heard of Morris Mayhem before, but it's a really tasty pint. I found out on another visit that Greene King, the brewers and landlords, run their own microbrewery which does a different beer every month. Morris Mayhem was their May beer. I'm a bit disappointed that I won't be able to drink it after this week, but looking forward to trying June's beer.
The food was brilliant! All four of us had a different meal, and each was excellent food, well prepared. I had a Thai curry, surprisingly hot for a pub curry, which I really enjoyed. The others had pie, rump steak, and cod. All beautifully prepared, absolutely first class. I can definitely recommend The Gardeners Arms for both food and beer.
The photo's not mine, by the way, but it does show the pub very well (although now the dark-looking table to the left has been replaced by a swish-looking wooden smoking area). Click on the picture to see the original photo.
At the end of the week, on Friday evening, BlackLin had a works outing to Jongleurs in Reading, to which spouses were invited. Jongleurs is a chain of comedy clubs which has a good reputation for promoting stand-up comedy in the UK, so I was quite looking forward to this.
This being a works do, I was expecting to have to listen to a lot of 'shop' talk - teachers are no better than any other profession for this. I needn't have worried. Jongleurs in Reading is clearly a venue aimed at works outings for colleagues who don't want to talk to one another. The tables are very long and thin and crammed together like a family pack of chopsticks, so half your party you can barely even see, never mind converse with. Then there was the background music - horribly loud and intrusive. People were shouting just to talk to their neighbour ... which made the background din even louder.
There were three comedians doing stand-up: two before the interval then one with a slightly longer set after. Irritatingly, I can't find out what their names were. Anyway, the first two were very funny (although a little 'blue' for BlackLin) and the third was fairly dire. Still, "two out of three ain't bad', as the big man said.
I'm not in any hurry to go back to Jongleurs, the venue is just too grim. But I enjoyed the stand-up enough that I'll look out for other comedy around town: I believe that South Street sometimes do stand-up, and they are a far better venue.