21 Sep Revamp and new menu Pint Shop Cambridge review
A few weeks ago, a slight shock was felt in Cambridge. The Pint Shop on Peas Hill was closed. How could a successful business all of a sudden close down? All for the good reasons actually. The Pint Shop had burst out of their jacket! The highly popular pub and restaurant needed more space and with so many people visiting over the last 4 years, it needed a new lick of paint too. A new look requires a new menu of course too.
We were invited for the press launch this week to sample some of their food and taste their own brewed beer, Appalachian Green. Not everything on the menu has changed, many of the popular food such as the slowly overnight cooked pork, the chicken brined in beer and roasted lemons and their famous kebabs on flatbread are still on the menu. What’s new on the restaurant menu are the more grazing options. More Tapas style food such as delicious wild mushroom croquettes, deep fried squid, cured meats and cheese platters. Perfect for sharing with your dining partners before the mains or maybe as a Tapas style meal? Even the kebab is perfect for sharing.
More space was definitely needed, especially for parties over 8 guests. Previously this was the maximum they could accommodate on one table. With 2 new private dining rooms, which could be used for meeting rooms too, you will be able to dine with a maximum of 16 guests. The two rooms have a connecting door so you could use both rooms for one event. I love the new colour scheme of the rooms and the restaurant. The dark grey gives it a nice and cosy feeling.
The idea of the Pint Shop came from the Beer Houses in the 1830’s in an attempt to reduce public drunkenness, improve the health of the nation and encourage free trade, The Beer Act was passed. The act allowed anyone that paid a small fee to brew beer and sell it in their home, Beer Houses were born, also known as ‘the Tom & Jerry shops’. In line with the ‘boozy’ character of the venue, they have created some interesting sauces and butter, beer mustard and cider mayonnaise are 2 of them.
Now on to their Curry! When you go to India they call it meat with gravy as that is what the English wanted when they came to India. I’m very difficult to please with Indian food as I’ve been many times to India, learned from the locals and I have almost every Indian spice possible. Indian Curry is as English as you can get it as it is a fusion of English and Indian cuisine. Hence I’m not surprised it’s on the menu at the Pint Shop. And it’s very good! One of their Craft beers (Dutch one for me of course) and a curry, that’s your Friday night sorted! Correction, why should you wait till Friday if a curry is so good! Did you know that Scotch eggs are originally from India! They call it Nargisa Kofta and make with lamb and serve it a warm sauce. It was first introduced in England by Fortum and Mason around 1750 and they sold it through the hatch as street food.
One of the courses on the menu is rather intriguing. When I had a meal the other day at the Pint Shop, I googled it and it came up with all kinds of creepy crawlers. Silk Weavers Brain is a delicious creamy cheesy and in fact a very old French recipe.
Keen to find out what is new? Check out the menu here.
Last but not least, the beer garden is now open in the winter too. The Pint Shop has covered the terrace and installed heaters so you can enjoy a drink and food outside over the next few months too.
Gerla
p.s. We are a big fan of the Pint Shop, we have included them on 3 of our tours for either the Gin or the Craft Beer. The Cambridge Food Tour runs tours 6 days per week and we have 6 different tours at the moment and will be launching ‘Hidden Cambridge’ soon.
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