Shinner And Sudtone, Sutton

Skip The Nonsense

I get to all corners of London eventually – and this week I wandered to Shinner And Sudtone in Sutton. South…like even more south than Croydon.

You know, there’s a parallel universe where Susan Hall just gave a magnanimous speech following her being crowned mayor of London, after a positive campaign where she led the argument on improving the environment, reducing pollution of our city, introducing a road pricing scheme, mass building of council housing and the real clincher – a signed agreement from the RMT not to go on strike for the next 5 years.

Yet another election victory for Dishy Rishi, celebrating how thankful the British public are to the Conservative Party for a successful Brexit, achieving a close relationship with the EU whilst striking important trade deals around the world – leaving us with economic growth overtaking the US, with European businesses clamouring to move their headquarters to the UK.

Lol. Yeah.

There’s also a parallel universe where I’ve just had a top 10 hit with “Gravy Rave”. Want a listen? Oh yes you do.

Lord Gravy
He’s a man of taste
Roast dinner champion of the human race
He’s got a hunger that just won’t quit
Plates piled high
He’s ready to commit

He dives right in with a knife and fork

There’s also a parallel universe, sigh, another parallel universe, I know, where I didn’t go for a roast dinner this Sunday gone…at least not in London. Damn this was a confusing weekend for plans.

I was supposed to go to Hastings on Saturday but apparently their water supply company had got bored of supplying water to the town, though one assumes they still had plenty of working pipes to put shit in the sea.

Then I had 3 different plans for the Sunday, decided I wanted to do them all but instead chose the “easiest” one which involved a 1 hour 45 minute walk to Sutton…well, one of the other options was a proper 4 train mission and would have involved no…roast…dinner…in…London. Well, maybe one on the way home.

Anyway, I arrived at Shinner And Sudtone – no table booked but it was rather empty, and I had a wide range of seating to choose from.

They also had a wide range of beers, I had a decent hazy IPA – not a brewery I’d heard of, but it was my cup of beer. I only noticed afterwards but they also had a really good selection of cans too.

I mostly appreciated the decor and vibe inside too, there was a shabby clutter feel to the main room, and a stylishly smashed-up vibe to the bathroom.

Good beer, good vibe – all I needed was a good roast dinner and it was happy days, maaate.

No time to waste, he’s on a pork, beef, chicken, lamb, it’s all the same

All roast dinners listed were under £20.00, which is a modern miracle – I don’t yet have a plan for next Sunday, but the 3 roasts after are all in the 30’s.

On the menu was striploin of beef for £19.00, chicken supreme for £18.00, pork loin for £18.00 or veggie wellington for £15.00.

I went for the chicken, based on the recommendation from the young lady serving. Just think, in a parallel universe, the other young lady might have served me and recommended the vegan…and I would still have ordered the chicken.

10 or 15 minutes later, this appeared:

Good beer, good vibe…hmmm. So, starting with the carrots, a few long sliced carrots, nicely roasted though really lacking any flavour or seasoning.

The cabbage was blandness central, just semi-blanched cabbage with zero seasoning, zero flavour, zero cream, zero…life. Such a waste of the potential of one of my favourite vegetables.

Lord Gravy’s gonna eat ’em all, no shame

The roast potatoes weren’t horrendous, but they were pretty crap. Some scorched bits on the outside, the larger two were pretty dry inside, and they had the feel of having been made earlier, though also were suspiciously hot. Did I hear someone say microwave? Maaate.

Interestingly (or not), Shinner And Sudtone used to tag me every week on Twitter and Instagram. They’ve long given up, but for a good 2-3 years this happened every week, and it was the only reason why I eventually succumbed to putting it on my to-do list. Then I bought a flat in Croydon especially so I could walk here…there was no way I was ever doing the Harrow to Sutton mission.

Though they haven’t posted on their Instagram since they conjoined solemn Remembrance Day services with roast dinners. Not forgetting the two exclamation marks.

The Yorkshire pudding looked burnt but actually was quite soft – and in terms of texture I enjoyed eating it. However, it was rather on the floury side…which detracted.

Chicken supreme was on the puny side, and also you could tell that it had been cooked a while earlier – if you had said yesterday, I would have given a knowing nod with my bottom lip furling out as far as it will go. On the flip side, it was nicely herby – yes, something at Shinner And Sudtone had some flavour.

It should, apparently, have come with veggie stuffing – but I didn’t note any. Maybe it got lost in a parallel universe.

Finally, the gravy was reasonable. In terms of it being a homemade gravy I would mark it well, there was a pleasing and moreish viscosity to it – but, you probably won’t be too surprised to hear this, little in the way of flavour.

Shinner And Sudtone

Guess what?

Yeah, there’s a parallel universe where this roast dinner had seasoning, flavour and decent roast potatoes. It kind of reminded me of The Mayflower which also had a total lack of seasoning.,

What did I like about Shinner And Sudtone? Mostly the beer choice and the vibe, though the gravy had a good viscosity and the chicken, albeit puny and cooked a little while ago, was pleasant.

The roasties were fairly crap, the yorkie a bit on the floury side, the cabbage so so bland, and it really lacked seasoning. Maaate.

It wasn’t especially offensive in any respected, it was just meh, a waste of a Sunday roast opportunity.

My score is a bland 6.05 out of 10. Decent pub for beer, but otherwise I’m not expecting even my Croydon readers to make the mission there for a roast dinner, alas.

Gravy
Gravy
The flavor supreme (ooh-yeah)
Lord Gravy Living his roast dinner dream (not this Sunday though)
Beats drop
The crowd starts to sway
In this gravy-filled ravin’ display (oh-oh-oh)

I’ll be back next week…until then consider myself banished to a parallel universe where Elon Musk cares about the environment.