Preview: The Potted Pig

For new venues, building up public interest can be tricky.  Do you hire a PR company - which, whilst effective, costs money, or do you go it alone, rely on word of mouth and pray to the gastronomic gods that your hard work and cold hard cash is enough to see you through the first year.

The Potted Pig seemed to manage it with a few careful tweets, tantalising taste buds with hints of the menu and keeping potential diners up to date with what was going on behind the scenes.  By the time their launch party started tonight at 5pm, Twitter seemed to be ablaze with foodies clamouring to get on the guest list or find out when they could get in to eat.  As someone who'd been salivating over the menu for several weeks, I was delighted to go along and preview the menu.

Smoked Aubergine Scotch Egg

One of the few vegetarian items on the menu, this was a joy to eat.  Keeping the essence of a scotch egg it used a quails egg in the centre surrounded by a spiced aubergine puree, deep fried with breadcrumbs.  Despite this it was light and creamy, set off with the beautifully soft yolk of the egg.  I don't normally like aubergine but these were a treat.

Asparagus with Dill and Tarragon Sauce

Another rare veggie canape, the spears were wrapped in a light puff pastry and served with a fresh herb sauce.  The asparagus was cooked but served cold - yet somehow this was delicious rather than feeling limp.

Home-cured Mackerel

The mackerel was served with a sweet and sour pickled onions on toast.  The sweet, vinegar flavour worked well to cut through the oil of the fish.

Duck Hearts on Toast

Not for the squeamish, the menu is great for those of us interested in nose-to-tail eating.  The meat itself was firm, if slightly chewy, with a rich aftertaste.

Crab Cakes with Crab Mayo

Coarsely shredded, sweet crab meat, rolled into balls, breaded and deep-fried.  What more could you want?  Crab meat in the mayo of course!

Steak and Green Sauce

Thickly cut, rare steak.  This melted beautifully in the mouth and left you wanting more. 

A Feast of Pig

As the name suggests, The Potted Pig certainly loves pork.  We first sampled the restaurant's namesake - a coarse, peppery rillette, spread thick on toast.  The main event though was the whole roast suckling pig.  The gathering crowd applauded as the beast was paraded through the restaurant before being returned to the kitchen to be shredded.  We waited with bated breath.  It emerged again in canape form, the flesh served between round of white bread with a Cinnamon and apple sauce - perfection.

Launch nights can be a bit hit and miss when trying to get a feel for a new venture, but after tonight I'm certainly keen to head back and sample the menu proper.