The Pavlov's Dog - Reading {Review}

Tuesday, 29 August 2017

Pavlov's Dog in Reading
Pavlov's Dog in Reading
A couple of weeks back I was invited to go and check out 'The Pavlov's Dog' in Reading, and I never turn down and excuse to check out a brand new place with my good friend Lisa from United Cakedom! Having never been to this place before I was pleasantly surprised that it very much reminded me of a pub that I used to frequent when I was a student in Aberystwyth.

The bar in The Pavlov's Dog
The bar in The Pavlov's Dog
The interior of the bar is very warm and welcoming, and I honestly took one look at this place, turned to Lisa and said, 'If I lived in Reading this would hands down be my local pub!', there's just something about the atmosphere of the place that instantly makes you feel at home. We were seated in a raised area which we were told is a little more quiet, and then the member of staff came over and set up Mario Kart on the Gamecube (not expressly for us), which we couldn't leave alone! Obviously I won, because I am boss at Mario Kart! That wasn't their only entertainment, as they also have an array of board-games behind the bar which you are welcome to borrow and play with your friends...

Tin Can Cocktails at The Pavlov's Dog in Reading
Tin Can Cocktails
We decided to start with some Tin Can Cocktails, which honestly all sounded amazing, but I decided to go for the 'Dr Meister' which was a Dr Pepper and Jagermeister cocktail. Then Lisa decided to go for a 'Canny Smith Apple' which was apple tango, apple sourz and lime juice. Both cocktails came in their original cans with cute straws and some sour sweets on the top, which went perfectly with the drinks. 

Nachos at The Pavlov's Dog
Nachos

Chicken Wings at The Pavlov's Dog
Chicken Wings
Lisa decided to go for a starter and chose to have the nachos, which were absolutely delicious and piled high. Then the staff brought us out some of their Chicken wings to try with an array of different dips, my favourite of which was chunky peanut butter, it just went so well together! They wanted to showcase these wings to us as every Wednesday after 5pm they do chicken wings at 25p each, which is ridiculously cheap considering how amazing these taste. They also have their own 'Lord of the Wings' food challenge, in which you have to try and eat 50 wings as fast as you can. I honestly don't think I could take on the challenge but it sounds like it would be a good laugh!

Dirty Burger at The Pavlov's Dog in Reading
Dirty Burger
 For mains Lisa and I both decided to go for burgers as there was a large selection to chose from. I couldn't resist going for the 'All New Dirty Burger' as it just had so much on it! The dirty burger is described on the menu as; 'A 6oz cheese & bacon beef burger, topped with a cheese & bacon-topped southern-fried chicken fillet, pulled pork, BBQ sauce and sliced gherkins'. The only thing I asked for to be removed was the gherkins which they kindly placed on the side of my plate for Lisa as she loved them. This burger has a million elements on it and I would each every single one of them individually, but together they made a massive taste explosion! Alongside my burger I went with sweet potato fries, my favourite. I don't get to eat sweet potato fries often, but these ones were so worth it, they were lovely and crispy and not soggy at all.

New York Bagel Burger at The Pavlov's Dog in Reading
New York Bagel Burger
Lisa decided to go for the 'New York Bagel Burger' which is written on the menu as; '6oz burger, topped cheese, bacon, pulled cured boneless beef rib, sliced gherkins and French's mustard, served in a toasted bagel'. Whilst this isn't the burger I went for, it again has all of the elements of something I could definitely see myself eating. I must admit I am a bit jealous that Lisa got to try the cured beef rib as that itself looks amazing! Again Lisa went for the sweet potato fries and she agreed with me that they are some of the better ones that we have tried.

Chocolate Pancake Stack at The Pavlov's Dog
Chocolate Pancake Stack
 I decided to go with a dessert instead of a starter, but I was a little annoying and decided to have something from the 'All Day Breakfast' as my dessert, and that was the Chocolate Pancake Stack. These were three American style pancakes with Nutella spread between them, covered in maple syrup and chocolate sauce. They were absolutely to-die-for... The pancakes were so fluffy and the maple syrup and Nutella went together so well, I don't think i could have honestly made a better choice. If pancakes are your thing then you absolutely must try these ones!

Churros at The Pavlov's Dog in Reading
Churros
The staff at Pavlov's also decided that we couldn't leave without trying their churros, which are caramel filled, and come with a chocolate dipping sauce. I was so stuffed at this point that I only managed to try half of one of these, but the caramel was so delicious that I wish that I'd had more room! As with the chicken wings, the Churro's are part of one of their offers. On Tuesdays they offer Churro's at 25p each all day! You can't really go wrong at that price, you could take a group of friends and order a tonne of them and it really wouldn't cost you much!

By the end of the night I was absolutely full to the brim with amazing food, and both Lisa and I had such an amazing time, so much so that I am planning on taking my boyfriend to Pavlov's for our next date night... If you are looking for a place with good food, and a cheeky atmosphere the Pavlov's Dog is hands down the pub for you. They run all sorts of entertainment, including retro games nights, and Karaoke, so there is a little something for everyone. You can check out their website and find out more information here.

**I was invited to review this restaurant and in return was given my meal and drinks for free, however all opinions in this post are my own**
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WALKABOUT - Reading {Review}

Sunday, 13 August 2017

Exterior of Walkabout Reading
Walkabout Reading
A few weeks ago I was invited to review an Australian style bar called, Walkabout. You all know how much I love food, so there was no way that I was going to pass up the opportunity. Of course I invited my restaurant review partner-in-crime, the lovely Lisa of United Cakedom! I wasn't 100% sure whereabouts in Reading this place was, but Lisa is a local so she's always great at directing me to where I need to go. Honestly I was a little surprised to find this place tucked away down a side alley, it looked amazing, and despite being well hidden there were a fair few people there.

Interior of walkabout Reading
Beach bar Interior
Once inside I was surprised to see that the interior looked much more like that of a bar at the beach, it almost felt like we weren't even in Reading anymore. We were seated in a very comfortable booth, and had a very good view of the entire bar, which I always enjoy as I love to people watch. Failing that though there were TV's plastered everywhere playing some football game or another, which a fair few groups of friends had clearly come to watch. Personally I'm not a fan of watching sports in bars, however that didn't put me off at all. The atmosphere in Walkabout was great and you could tell that everyone was enjoying themselves, and the whole place felt very relaxed.

Picture of my mocktail, the Virgin Aussie Sunset
Virgin Aussie Sunset
In Walkabout it's standard that you would go up to the bar and order your food, which would then be brought up to you by the server, very much what you would expect from this type of place. However we were very lucky to have a server come over and take our order so that we never had to leave our booth. Whilst we were navigating the menu, we decided to order a few drinks, of course I rarely drink alcohol anymore so decided to go with a Virgin Aussie Sunset, which included; passion fruit puree, pineapple juice, orange juice, vanilla syrup and grenadine. It came in a lovely tall glass, garnished with some passion fruit, and it was absolutely delicious. This was super refreshing and sweet, and was exactly what I was expecting when I ordered it. Lisa decided to be more adventurous and went for something called a Jaffa Can, which had Vodka, Kahlua, and Triple Sec all poured into a Sanpellegrino Aranciata can, which she very much enjoyed.

Picture of cutlery holder
Interesting cutlery
Once we placed our order our server brought out our cutlery and I was pleasantly surprised at how it was delivered. This may seem like a really small and silly thing to highlight, but it's something that I hadn't seen before and it was a nice touch. Basically the cutlery is delivered in a small cardboard sleeve, with a bright and colourful design and quote on it. Now I don't know about you, but normally when I go to a pub or a bar for food, either you have to get your own cutlery, or the server that brings it out just chucks it all into a pile in the middle of the table for everyone to fight over. This idea, whilst simple, definitely made me smile!

Parmi burger with fries
Parmi burger with fries
Once we had properly settled in we went right ahead and ordered our food. I was stuck between two meals and was struggling to decide. Lisa was once again more adventurous and decided to go with the 'Roo Burger' which is made with actual Kangaroo imported from Australia. We were told by our wonderful server that it has a particularly gamy flavour, which unfortunately I wasn't brave enough to try. I instead ended up going for the Parmi Burger, which is a breaded chicken burger with ham and cheese sandwiched together, and topped with salsa, which came with standard fries. This burger was humongous and every bite tasted better than the last. If you know me then you will know that burgers are one of my favourite foods, and I can be very particular about them, and this burger certainly didn't disappoint!

Roo burger with Sweet Potato fries
Roo burger with Sweet Potato fries
Lisa's Roo Burger also looked and smelled amazing, and she was very pleased with it. She decided to go with sweet potato fries with hers for a change, and honestly when they arrived I took one look at them and was so jealous! Thankfully Lisa is an amazing friend and she let me help myself to a few of hers and honestly I was blown away. Sweet potato fries are my favourite and normally they can be a bit soggy (but still delicious), but these fries were so crispy, it was unreal! Hands down the best sweet potato fries I have ever eaten, how ironic that I didn't even order them...

picture of my Gigantic Freak Shake
Gigantic Freak Shake
Once we were done with our main courses, our thoughts turned to dessert. The item that immediately caught my eye was the Freak Shake, it sounded jam packed of stuff and had so many different elements and each one sounded more delicious than the last. I decided to go for a single, but if you are wanting to share with a friend then they do offer the same dessert in a larger size. As you can tell from the picture above this dessert is full to the brim and it includes; vanilla ice cream, chocolate fudge milkshake, a Nutella rim covered in Smarties, a wedge of chocolate fudge cake, a cookie, candyfloss, chocolate sauce, a flake, and mini marshmallows. When it came out I couldn't stop myself from smiling, my inner child was bursting to eat this! To be honest I struggled to finish the dessert, I soldiered on and ate as much as possible, but I have to admit, it defeated me. Our kind server managed to find me a takeaway box though so I was able to at least bring home the rest of the fudge cake for my boyfriend to try...

I left Walkabout feeling very full, both physically and emotionally from such a laid back and enjoyable meal. If you are looking for a place to go and enjoy some beverages with your mates, and maybe to experience some interesting food then Walkabout is definitely the place for you. You can check out Walkabout's full menu here.

**I was invited to review this restaurant and in return was given my meal and drinks for free, however all opinions in this post are my own**
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