The Prince Albert
85 Albert Bridge Road, Battersea
London SW11 4PF
The Prince Albert
Two dogs at the door and a cow on the roof
Nice great Dane
Great statue
The main entrance
The Prince Albert is a surprising-looking pub with two big statues of dogs outside and a cow on the roof. If, like me, you like to see Meerkats at Battersea Park Zoo and feel hungry after watching them eating (the feeding time is 11am by the way) the pub is very well located right in front of Battersea Park on the Albert Bridge road side.
The counter
Another view
Inside it is spacious and there is also outside seating. It seems the pub is frequented by many parents taking their babies out at the park but we did not hear any babies screaming etc. It was fine.
We ordered chicken liver pate, apple chutney (£6.50) and onion and thyme soup with Cheddar cheese toast ($6) as starters. They were followed by a cheese burger, dill pickle and chips (£9.50) and a Kilravock pork chop, Irish black pudding and duck egg (£10). As drinks we had a lemonade (£1.60) and a pint of Stella (£3.50).
Ketchup and mayonnaise in the little cups
Other interesting meals were the Berkswell cheese, pickled walnuts and beetroot salad (£7.50), the smoked trout, green brean and soft boiled egg salad (£8), the Scottish mussels, cider, leeks and bacon (£9), the 28 day aged rib eye steak on the bone, parsley butter and chips (£18.50), the roast skate wing, brown shrimps and capers (£13) and the Welsh lamb rump, roast garlic and white bean stew (£12.50). I was interested by the Ploughman’s lunch but unfortunately it contained stilton cheese and I have not been converted to it yet despite living here for over 5 years now. I still remember the spoon of vegemite on a toast I ate in Sydney while visiting a friend. It was horrible but compared to stilton it was quite edible.
The two starters
Chicken liver pate
The chicken liver pate was quite large and thick. It came with 4 slices of toasted bread but they were still not enough to accomodate all the pate. Another slice would have been welcome. As for the pate itself, it was very rich (it was surrounded by butter-like fat on its side, if not just pure butter) but was nice and smooth. Conversely, I really did not like the apple chutney. It was like baby food and I stopped eating it after half a spoon.
Onion soup
The onion soup wasn’t too good either. It was made with a sort of caramelised onion that rendered the soup itself sweet (really not what you want with onion soup). The cheese was fine, but the toast it apparently was on was well and truely disintegrated within the soup, so hardly noticeable. Overall, a rather strange and not especially nice dish that I would not choose again.
The two main courses
Kilravock pork chop
The Kilravock pork chop was a little dry and bland. Full of fat too and little meat, and I am not a fat meat gourmet. It was well cooked at least but no taste at all. Maybe they forgot to add some salt? The Irish black pudding was good, not too strong as can happen with black pudding. The duck egg was perfectly cooked. Compared to hen eggs, duck eggs contain less water so the white looks more gelatinous which is the case here.
Cheese burger
The cheese burger had potential – but the “medium” cooked burger was rare to the point of nearly being a tartare! I could have lived with that, but had asked for it medium expecting – as is usual in the UK – to get something well done, as I wanted my meat well cooked. It also seemed a little sad that the burger arrived rather empty looking with just the meat and cheese inside the bun, with a little squirt of mayonnaise, whilst the remaining contents were outside on the plate. The chips it came with were fine and crispy, if a little floury.
Cost and conclusion: it was £37. The food was average, nothing exceptional but it is conveniently located and has a pleasant clean surrounding. The service was friendly and it is kid friendly.
