The Crown

Pub in Mile End
The Crown image
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7 / 10 from 1 review
Address
223 Grove Road
Mile End
London
E3 5SN
Map
Telephone
020 8981 9998
Region
Mile End
Nearest Station
Mile End
0.61 miles
Category
Pubs
Other Branches
Geronimo Inns
Opening Times
Monday Open 12:00 - Closes 23:00
Tuesday Open 12:00 - Closes 23:00
Wednesday Open 12:00 - Closes 23:00
Thursday Open 12:00 - Closes 23:00
Friday Open 12:00 - Closes 23:00
Saturday Open 10:00 - Closes 23:00
Sunday Open 12:00 - Closes 22:30

The Crown is a gastro pub with a selection of real ales and a British food menu.

All In London Review

British food overlooking Victoria Park

Situated opposite the entrance to Victoria Park, this pub attracts a mixture of young Hackney-ites and trendy couples, while retaining the relaxed feel of a local, with the odd beer-sipping after- work punter.

The Crown has gone for the homely-yet-quirky look with comfy armchairs, book shelves, lamp shades and some very convincing mock rabbit-skin wallpaper.

While the lunchtime menu is pub-like, with fish and chips, gammon steak, and beef burgers, the dinner menu is a tad more ambitious. We tease our appetites with some very delicious chicken liver wrapped in bacon, and an oaky Rioja Azabache Crianza from 2006 (£19.95), which goes down rather too well.

A dish of oyster mushrooms on toast, with a fried duck egg (£6.50) on top arrives. Dripping in olive oil, the creamy yolk and nutty-tasting mushrooms are delightful.

The British asparagus salad with Berkswell cheese (£6.95) consists of a bed of leaves with fried asparagus, sprinkled with a sheep’s cheese that is made by a family in the tiny village of Berkswell. Its robust flavour and hard texture has more in common with a Grana Padano than a typical English cheese.

We plod along to the mains, with a cheese onion and celeriac pie (£9.95) that has heaps of melted Cheddar in puff pastry with sweet onion and celeriac.

The pan fried gilt head bream with mussels, prawns and wilted spinach (£12.95) may sound like too much on one plate, but it’s not. The mussels and prawns in a butter white wine sauce are perfect with the delicate flavour of this fish, which is considered a luxury food in some countries. Boiled new potatoes provide the additional stodge.

“We have a culinary disaster” we are told after ordering desserts, as the kitchen has run out of custard. However the bread and butter pudding (£5) which oozes chocolate sauce is actually more apt with just a dollop of vanilla ice cream after a heavy meal. A crunchy pear crumble (£5) arrives wrapped in a thin layer of filo pastry, a quirky touch to a wholesome pud, just like the pub itself.

Reviewed by Leila
Published on Jun 2, 2010


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