Wednesday, 20 March 2013

At the next Junction take the cheeky ox pie to the right...

Ox Cheek Pie Review from The Junction Pub in Harborne


It may not feel like it, but winter should be on its way out and spring should truly be beginning! Which is why I thought I best get a nice winter warmer of a pie from a local pub before they changed their menu. And with a recommendation of The Junction Pub in Harborne, Birmingham, when out for a meal with my pie friends Caroline and Justin, I wasn’t going to say no! The research had already been done and a cheeky pie was on the menu.

Ox Cheek Pie Review at The Junction Harborne
Ox Cheek Pie Review at The Junction, Harborne
It must be pointed out at this point that the busy hustle and bustle of the pub was a great sign of good quality food and a nice welcoming atmosphere. We just about managed to find a free table and with a slight vantage point over the kitchen wall we could see some of the meals being made. It was sadly at this point that the evening took a slight downturn as, unfortunate to say, before the pie was even presented onto my table it could be seen that they were in fact making me not a proper fully encased pie, but instead just a casserole with a puff pastry top crust. This was disappointing to say the least and would have to be reflected in the final score, but I’ve had to eat plenty of top crusts in my time and as they say in show business, the show must go on! So what about the pie...

Ox Cheek Pie Review at The Junction HarborneI delved through the nice, golden flaky puff pastry crust and got my first taste of ox cheek. And it was definitely worth the wait! The meat was deliciously tender and mixed beautifully with the red wine gravy inside the bowl. Flavoursome and not at all chewy, the ox cheek was delightful and certainly worth the price, for this was more on the high end of the cost scale. However as mentioned, the quality of the meat made it totally worth every penny. The pie was very filling and the content was packed to capacity, but sadly without it being a fully encased pie it did leave me wishing what could have been. I certainly was left with a lot of meat and no pastry to eat it with quite early on, and while the meat was delicious this pie was screaming out for more pastry! Certainly a recommendation for the chef there, as this could have been one of the highest ranked pies had it been fully encased!


All in all, this pie was at the higher end of the price market, but worth every penny for a great atmosphere and filling to enjoy. There’s not much I can fault with this pie in terms of the delicious filling. It’s just a shame they didn’t execute on the fully encasing pastry to turn this from being one of the best top crusts I’ve eaten, to one of the best pies I’ve eaten.


The Junction Ox Cheek and Red Wine Pie
Score: 5.95/7

RAS


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