There is nothing more satisfying than hearty food; the kind where you grin as you undo your top button of your jeans. I particularly love sausages and mash, drizzled with lip-smackingly flavoursome gravy. Just off Kingly Court in London’s swinging Carnaby Street sits Mother Mash, which serves homely British dishes. Mother Mash specialises in pies, sausages and mash. I was eager to see the “varied selection” of good beers to accompany these East End-inspired dishes too.
For a Saturday afternoon, it wasn’t terribly busy so we were hastily taken to our seats by our waiter (not the warmest of characters). It’s small inside but it’s airy and flooded with natural light. You could either choose to have a pie and mash meal or a sausage and mash meal at £8 and £7, respectively. The first step is to choose from a variety of mash and whether you have a ‘mashed’ or ‘bashed’ preference, i.e., smooth or avec lumps. Then, choose the sausage/pie and finally, the all important gravy to bring all the ingredients together.
We opted for champ mash, lamb and mint sausage with onion gravy; cheesy mustard mash, beef and guinness sausage with onion gravy; and horseradish mash, pork and leek sausage with farmer’s gravy. A varied selection there! We didn’t particularly choose ingredients to compliment each other - with such choice, we were like kids in a sweet shop licking our lips to whatever sounded appetising. The selection of beers wasn’t what I imagined (not quite British ales) so I was a little disappointed with that.
The dishes arrived and upon sight, the mash did indeed look fluffy and delicious. However, the sausages were disappointingly small. Each dish smelt fabulous – the wafts of aromas from the gravys teased our olfactory senses. The cheesy mustard mash was our favourite mash. Somehow, the staff has swapped the lamb and mint sausages with the beef and guinness sausages – unfortunate rookie mistake. Our favourite sausage was the lamb and mint sausage, which had lovely flavours. However, the pork and leek sausage was standard quality and the beef and guinness sausage was dry and overcooked. For our favourite gravy, we couldn’t fault either of the two, although personally, I found the farmer’s gravy yummy with the small pieces of bacon in it.
I’m more inclined to explore other homely British restaurants, rather than return to Mother Mash now. Overall, a pretty decent cheap place that brings the simplicity of the East End to the heart of the city but somewhat lacking the spirit of a traditional place.
Mother Mash, 26 Ganton Road, London, W1F 7QZ
