New Mason's Arms, Oulton, Leeds

Last Sunday brought an impromptu pub crawl round Oulton and Rothwell. One of my closest friends has lived in Rothwell for 8 years and this was the first time we've ever explored it's pubs. Long overdue but other than for a quick pub lunch I can't say we'll be rushing back to any of them.

The New Mason's does traditional pub grub, very much along the same lines as the Three Horseshoes round the corner. Grilled meats and chips aplenty are the order of the day. I opted for the steak pie, primarily because the menu description confirmed it as being made with shortcrust pastry. I have an aversion to the all too common ceramic-bowl-of-stew-with-a-puff-pastry-lid type of pie served by many pubs. It's not a proper pie and puff pastry is the wrong type of pastry for a steak pie. Stop it.

Shit pie, good chips

Unfortunately what turned up was a ceramic-bowl-of-stew-with-a-shortcrust-pastry-lid. Not very good shortcrust pastry either. Limp, insipid and undercooked, I'm not sure a few extra minutes in the oven would have really improved it much though as it was very dense. On the plus side the stewy filling was good, packed with shreds of flavoursome slow-cooked meat. The chips were great too, home-made and fried well.

Chips and beer, commonly found in Yorkshire pubs

Everyone else around the table declared their meals (a Barnsley chop and a nice piece of gammon amongst other things) a success, so I think I was a bit unlucky. No excuse for such poor pastry though. A pint of black sheep was well kept and prices are reasonable, the pie was around £8.

Thanks to Rach for suggesting this place to me, I'd certainly go back for a pub lunch. Sandwich, chips and a pint springs to mind. Just don't order the pie.

5/10 (poor pie, other things may rate higher)

26 Aberford Road
Oulton
Leeds
LS26 8JR

The Three Horseshoes, Oulton, Leeds

An outdoor pub lunch just had to be done this week. On Tuesday I had a lot of work to get through and there was no way I was missing out on the sunshine stewing in the office from 8 'til late.

The Three Horseshoes is a steady sort of place. Very popular with the pensioners due to their OAP specials. The food is nothing special but it's better than what you'll get in the Hunslet/Stourton area which is nearer to my office.

Ham sandwich, chips, salad

I had the hot roast beef sandwich, and my mate had the cold roast ham sandwich. No idea ff the ham sandwich was any good, but it looked ok. Decent quality ham in generous proportions. Chips frozen but fried properly. Salad probably rubbish.

Beef, onions, gravy, bread. You don't win friends with salad.

For some reason the hot roast beef comes unadorned. Just bread, meat and plenty of oniony gravy. It was pleasant enough. Soft, open textured bread but sturdy enough to handle all the gravy. Overcooked but thinly sliced beef. Thick, salty gravy. This is exactly as I expected it to be by the way, so it's not a criticism. Overcooked beef works with loads of gravy, and that's how the pensioners like it. I'm sure there are some elderly folk out there somewhere who like their meat pink, but not in Yorkshire there aren't (not in my family anyway). Maybe in France or London or somewhere. With a good dollop of hot english mustard I quite enjoyed it. And the sunshine was grand. Both sandwiches were about 6 quid each.

6/10

16 Leeds Road
Oulton
Leeds
LS26 8JU
(by the roundabout at the bottom of Rothwell)