So, um, it's been a while.
Within the space of 18 months my job was gone, we moved out of Cambridge and I got a temporarily soul destroying job before setting up a business in Winchester. A lack of time and money doesn't really cover my apathy, more a lack of enthusiasm for the food. There are some wonderful restaurants in Winchester and they are reliably good but after some exciting cookery adventures of my own I was starting to get a little jaded.
This changed for me last week and I came to decision that I have to have another go at this.
The Italian has been recommending Union Jacks to me since he took his parents there (I know, an Italian recommending a British pizza place?...) so TH and I decided that we should give it a go. The decor is a nod to our not so glamorous kitchens and dining rooms of the past with formica tables in bold 70s prints and chunky glassware. It sounds hideous, but somehow Jamie Oliver's team have pulled it off and it looks really smart.
The menu is pleasingly simple, starters are modern British tapas style dishes with more than one nod to Oliver's cookbook Jamie's Great Britain. At 3 for £12 it was hard for us to resist giving them a go and armed with a Damson Gin Fizz we dug in. If we had to be picky we could pick a couple of holes in the starters - the smoked trout with baby yorkies needed a touch more pepper, the potted shrimp and crab needed more toast and the black pudding was a little too 'crispy' for our liking. That makes it sound like we didn't enjoy them - we really did.
The mains consist of a selection of 'pizzas' and a few more traditional options (again, a few recipes from Oliver's book can be found here). The pizzas are like nothing you've seen before, and trust me, you've never tasted anything like them. We had an old spot (slow roasted pork with bramley apple and quince sauce with crackling, watercress and Stilton) and a red ox (oxtail and brisket cooked in Worcestershire sauce with red Leicester, watercress and fresh horseradish). Now might be a good time to mention my dislike of both watercress and horseradish. Luckily for me these recipes have been finely crafted to ensure that both these flavours complement everything else and do not dominate. They were, quite frankly, two of the best pizzas I've had in a long time. The sour dough base was fantastic - light, firm and crisp, the perfect vehicle to get food into your mouth effectively.
The wine list needs a mention. It seems that Union Jack's has bowed to their customers and have sourced a range of wines from other countries (previously the wine list was entirely English wine producer Chapel Down). I was slightly disappointed by the other countries selection, the list is provided by Berry Bros. and Rudd who have a stonking wine list but as a diner I wouldn't want to pay £22 for a wine named 'Good Ordinary Claret'. We enjoyed a bottle of Chapel Down's Flint Dry with our food - the staff couldn't have been more helpful in trying to find out what exactly was in this wine (predominantly Chardonnay, Huxelrebe and Schonburger). Without food it was unremarkable - a little too flinty and dry for my taste, but pair it with the English cheese on those pizzas and suddenly the gorgeous peach and clementine fruit was allowed to shine.
All in all, a very good meal. The staff were fantastic - friendly, helpful and well informed as to what they were serving up. The only thing stopping me going back there tonight is the cost - £75 for two. It's worth it, just not every night of the week.
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