The Sutton Arms, Barbican *

I’m a fan of Fuller’s pub; they’re always decent priced with good quality food and you can find one in most areas around London! I enjoy how they all seem to have different decor, the menus differ slightly as to whether they’re a Kitchen branch or a normal Fuller’s and how I’ve only experienced happy service from staff!

An old friend of mine works at The Sutton Arms in Barbican, just behind the station, and she invited me and Mike down to try their menu and experience their cute, homely pub. I’d never been before so on Wednesday night I took the walk from my office, met Mike and we were greeted by one of the nicest bar staff ever! We had a quick drink at the bar as all tables were busy – that says a lot for a Wednesday night right – and then plopped ourselves down in our home for the next hour or so.

The Sutton Arms specialises in toasties and platters which came as a little surprise to us. We expected a similar menu to the Fuller’s just down the road from my office but it was soon explained to us that the pub doesn’t have a full kitchen which limits their food options greatly, so they have worked around it!

We ordered the favourite platter and toastie of Ross, the happy barman who turned out to the Manager, as he knows the menu best. The menus are up on the wall on huge rolls of paper which feels really in keeping with the feel of the pub.

The toastie we were served was the Three Cheese and Chutney Vintage, which was filled with Cheddar, HSB Gouda, Goats Cheese and Tracklements Chutney. The HSB Gouda is exclusive to Fuller’s and I love little details like that. The chutney was the perfect accompaniment to the three cheese that had melted so deliciously. Each mouthful tasted of a different cheese which kept the eating of the toastie really interesting. When I return I shall be trying the Smoked Chicken, Avocado, Roasted
Pepper, Harissa and Mozzarella toastie at that sounds pretty tasty too – in fact, all of the menu sounded good!

Our platter was so pretty and had so much good food upon it! The meats we had were the Black Cab Ham which is ham cured in the Black Cab Stout and the Ox Springs Air Dried Ham which was a little like Parma Ham. Both super tasty and devoured completely. We had three kinds of cheese on our platter that were the Stinking Bishop, Laverstoke Farm Brie and Vintage Barbers Cheddar; all made here in the UK which I really love! I’m a huge cheese fan so this was right up my street to have cheeses I wouldn’t buy at home but really enjoy.  We also had chilli jam, bread, olives, cornichons and red peppers the complimented the platter. I think if Mike could have taken home the chilli jam and used it on all of our meals he would of!

We really love the way the team have made use of the kitchen space they have to offer really tasty British foods that are perfect to pick at whilst you have a few cheeky pints! I shall be back after work soon!