Having eaten on Elm Row for over twenty years while putting up with the peculiar eccentricities of Pearce's (where they refuse to brown the toast or cook the flat steak anything else but flaming rare, and the chef rather than the written menu always presides), The Jolly (where the indomitable Vito does something special to take the fizz out of the coke and the pizza sometimes seems to have been taken out of a bin), and Jeremiah's Tap Room (where the food was substandard and the beer full of slops until the barmy manageress drove out my writing group with the help of an awkward customer with an awkward dog), I find the tasty and inexpensive fare offered by Kevin Lewis and his domino-playing mother Linda in the Thirsty Pallet to be most refreshing. The atmosphere is basic and convivial, with lots of genial customers who buck the recent trends towards hipsterisation.
For breakfast, I find the muffin to be very substantial, and the full breakfast sometimes lasts me into the evening. For lunch, the large bowl of soup with bread is enough for many, and I also enjoy the tuna crunch, the meat monster (for just £7!), and the Reuben. My lunch can always be supplemented by a variety of tasty morsels from the delicatessen.
On Friday and Saturday evenings Kevin is currently experimenting with a Tapas /beer bar. The selection of eight Tapas's for £10 is outstanding and would cost £40 at the very least in any New Town restaurant which was capable of preparing it. The people at Brown's Brassiere would just stare and wonder. And the dark ale from Ferry's Brewery is the best I have ever tasted !!
