The Old Blackfriars, Aberdeen: oh dear.

[Quartz]

One of the basic tests of a pub chef is the ability to cook a steak.

This pub used to be one of my favourite places to take people. For some reason I hadn't been in several months, so decided to remedy that. A big mistake. I ordered a steak, rare. What was delivered was a steak that was somewhere between well done and case-hardened. So I sent it back. Now I know mistakes happen: the chef might have read the order wrong, got it mixed up with another, etc. But the replacement steak came back as medium. Nowhere near rare. So I sent it back and asked for the bill for the two pints I had consumed. One of the basic tests of a chef is the ability to cook a steak and this chef failed big time.

It's a real pity as the young man who waited on me there was exceptional.

 

[pogofish]

That's a shame but I'm afraid its been on the skids a lot longer than just a few months. It used to be an excellent place for food but despite promises to keep things the same, shortly after Belhaven took it over, the quality went downhill drastically. It must be about 4/5 years since I said never again.