The Woodman is a nice pub in Battersea, not completely ruined by its recent refurbishment. It is odd though when you end up drinking with a local who has been going to the pub for twenty five years and you get a more than thorough overview of pub fashions over the last quarter of a century. He admits we are at a lowish ebb Woodman-wise at the moment, mainly because the food is indifferent and a number of locals seem to have drifted away (the Fullers pub over the road is also pretty good). On the food issue, I can concur:
I ordered the beef casserole with thyme and mustard dumplings. I was asked how I would like the beef done. Not unsurprisingly I replied “in a casserole”. No, the young lady countered, rare, medium or well done. “Um” I replied not quite sure haw a lovingly prepared casserole of braising steak would work if the meat were rare.
But okay, I put her naivety down to the fact she was waiting cum bar staff cum potman. However my disappointment grew when, halfway through the perfectly acceptable casserole I still had not discovered any dumplings.
I let this slide but the final straw was the dumping all of my tonic into my G&T. The Woodman is a nice pub, but they really need to sort out the service.
But on the bright side we won the quiz.