But I wasn’t looking to be sold the brand – I already know what the product is. I’m aware that Aperol is a refreshing, bright orange liqueur with a smooth balance of bitterness and sweetness; and that it’s an infusion of over 30 herbs, fruits and spices including orange, rhubarb and gentian root. Yes, rhubarb. I’m already in love with its sugary burnt orange flavour, especially when it’s served in true Italian style – over ice with prosecco, a spritz of soda and a slice of orange. I even know the boring stuff about its invention by the Barbieri brothers of Padua, and how it’s related to the family of amaro digestifs (amaro means ‘bitter’ in Italian), and easy drinking at only 11% ABV. I’m less interested in these obvious facts than in the reasons why Aperol has suddenly become everybody’s favourite summertime tipple – this year it became Gruppo Campari’s biggest selling product and it’s only set to grow.

In other words, what I was looking for was some sort of genuine appraisal of Aperol’s characteristics by a non-interested party. I’m still not sure why this was so difficult to find. But after some rootling around, I managed to find a few actual opinions on what makes Aperol such a good drink for the here and now. There are fans of the bitter-sweet balance found in Aperol, who find it has a bitter bite but not so much as to put off someone with a sweet tooth. On the other hand, it also provides a pleasant middle ground for those who don’t want sickly, sugary syrups but equally aren’t fans of the more bitter, woody, medicinal taste of its cousin Campari. This is crucial to the drink’s popularity, I believe. There also seems to be a buzz about it because it’s a drink whose full potential has yet to be explored and exploited. Fans of food and drink are love nothing more than virgin territory on which they can plant their flag, and there must surely be hundreds of recipes involving Aperol just waiting to be cooked up.

Whilst it might be difficult to find personal opinions on Aperol online, it’s almost impossible to find negative opinions about it. This is rather interesting. It seems that those who do drink it and have strong enough feelings to write about it have really taken it to their hearts. As such it’s almost a shame that bloggers’ feelings on the subject get drowned amongst all the corporate marketing when this is a drink it’s worth taking notice of.

            As for the Ship, we’ll have Aperol on our drinks menu very shortly. You will be able to enjoy it on the rocks or served as the classic Aperol spritz recipe, the perfect refreshing summer drink, that’s as long as we don’t drink it all ourselves.

Salmon Ballotine, Salsa Verde, Crab Salad and Beetroot Dressing

Take half a side of salmon. It should be skinless and pin-boned. You can ask your fishmonger to do this for you if you’re tight for time. 

Next, remove the blood line. To do this turn the salmon over so that the greyish-brown flesh is visible. This is the ‘blood line’ – the accumulation of blood on one side of the fish while it has been lying in storage. Simply take a sharp knife and carefully slice it off. Once this is complete both sides of the salmon should look almost identical.

Cut the salmon in half widthways to make it a more manageable size. Cut these into lengths 2cm across down the full length of the salmon. Try to make these wedge-shaped rather than rectangular as they will fit together better.

Lay two of these pieces of salmon together. Make sure that they are the same length – trim if necessary.

Season well with salt and pepper.

Prepare a salsa verde from basil, chervil, chives, capers, shallots, olive oil, seasoning and lemon zest. Blitz in a blender until smooth. Smear the salsa verde thinly along one piece of salmon.

Press the two pieces tightly together – if they aren’t pressed tightly enough the two halves are likely to fall apart after cooking. Wrap securely in clingfilm and tie knots at both ends. Your ballotine should be sausage-shaped.

Poach for roughly 9 minutes then refresh in iced water. Serve sliced with crab salad and a beetroot dressing, or garnish as you choose.

Any questions or comments about this dish? Send them our way. We always love to get your feedback on our food, especially new recipes. Email us at ship@youngs.co.uk or give us a call on 02088 709667 and we’re always happy to chat.

On Friday and Saturday nights, the main corner table in the bar with only be available to reserve before 7pm. This is to avoid a situation where a party has been settled there for a few hours but has to be ‘kicked off’ at 9pm in favour of another party. We don’t think that’s terribly fair on the earlier group, so we’ve decided that if you’d like the table on a weekend night, you’ve got to be there early to stake your claim! This won’t apply to any other evening, and on Sundays the corner table is reserved for whoever books it in the daytime, if they still require it.

For the summer we’ll be taking reservations for tables in two outdoor areas, both next to the outside bar. One overlooks the river and is under cover, while the other overlooks the pub and barbecue and is sunnier but less sheltered. We don’t reserve them as private areas, but we can put the tables aside for you – just make sure you’re here within half an hour of your booking time or we’ll have to give them away….We’ve also decided that the decking and outside areas must be clear by 11pm so that we don’t disturb our neighbours.

If you’re booking for a restaurant party of 16 or more, we’ll request that you order from a two- or three- course set menu so as to speed up your order and those of the tables around you. You can ask for a set menu from us even if you’re in a smaller group – just give us some advance warning by email or phone and we’ll sort something out.

Other than that, things are much the same as ever here. We’ll still be giving you the same great service and the same delicious food, and we really hope that you’ll agree with us that these small changes will make everything run just that little bit more smoothly.

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            The rules for the Sandwich Challenge, as set out by Helen herself, are as follows:

“The competition will take place on 18th September and will be open to, well, not just anyone actually. See the rules for entry below:

1. The sandwich must be on the current menu of a pub, restaurant, cafe or street food stall in London.

2. The sandwich should be entered exactly as it appears on the menu.

3. Only ‘traditional’ sandwiches will be accepted. That means no burgers, no wraps, no open sandwiches, no stretching the concept. It’s filling between two slices of bread or a roll (we have to limit entries somehow).

4. A maximum of 18 different sandwiches will be selected to take part because, well, that’s a manageable number for a Tuesday evening.

5. Entrants must submit one sandwich to the judges, but 10 additional, identical sandwiches will be required on the night.

5. The final 18 will be judged on the evening according to the following criteria: appearance, taste and price.

6. Entries should be sent to (?). Please describe the bread and filling of your sandwich and state the price. Photo = optional.”

We’ll be coordinating any potential entries here at the Ship, so if you’d like to put your name forward for selection then email either Oisin or Jo at ship@youngs.co.uk. Helen will have the final say on who makes the final 18, so do send us plenty of information and some great selling points for your particular sandwich. She’ll be one of the judges too, along with Jonathan Brown of Sandwichist and a number of other lovely (and hungry) experts to be confirmed. Get tweeting #SandwichChallenge and spread the word!

There will be no meat or fish available at The Ship at all for the entire month.

Gasp perhaps? Why not? What of our famous burger, or our scotch eggs which draw hungry visitors from all across London? These meaty dishes are staples of our menu and a huge reason for our success, and they will be back on our grills and in our fryers from May 1^st. It’s simply that we feel very strongly about the fact that vegetarian cuisine is poorly represented in London’s kitchens, especially those of pubs. We’ve thought long and hard about this, and decided it just isn’t fair. With valuable input from Patrick Didster of the South Fulham Vegetarian Society, we’re doing our best to revitalise the image of vegetarian food. That said, let’s tantalise you with samples from of our ground-breaking new menu. Available from today.

Starters

Deep Fried Parsnip with Elderberry Jam

Foraged Forage and Borage (a blend of interesting locally picked leaves with secret vegetarian sauce)

Wild Mushrooms with Stuffing of the Day

Plate of Smears: Puree, Sauce and Sabayon with Candied Celeriac

Chickpea and Lentil Scotch Egg

Tofu “Au Naturale”

Mains

Vegetarian Fish and Chips – ‘Fillet’ of Bombardier-Battered Fish Shaped Feta with Hand Cut Chips

Lentil, Rhubarb and Pea Mustard Casserole

Tofu and Bean Burger, Cheese, Pickled Cucumber and Fries

Grape and Kidney Bean Pie with Swede Mash

Broccoli, Artichoke and Spinach Gratin with Toasted Walnuts

Roast Butternut Squash, Mushroom, Sage and Mascarpone Risotto

Roast Pepper, Chilli and Sweet Potato Risotto

More Risottos

Fennel, Pea and Rocket Risotto with Parmesan and Truffle Oil.

Nothing is more important to us than your feedback, so do let us know what you think of our new dishes. We’ll be launching it for Sunday lunch, so come in and ask our servers for more details. They are all very excited to discuss its content with you.

The production of a pint of beer is a scientific Milky Way. There is so much biology, chemistry and physics going on for such an apparently simple thing that it’s actually mind boggling. I want to concentrate on one tiny but very important area for this piece, that’s carbonation. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a pretty stable, mostly inert gas, a product of the fermentation process. Under brewing conditions yeast produces loads of it and much of that stays in the liquid, causing carbonation, or fizziness in the beer. CO2 is all around us, it makes up about 0.4% of the air we breathe. It is colourless, odourless and tasteless on its own. What it does in liquids though, is a marvel and there are scores of incomprehensible convoluted scientific studies all over the internet on the subject.

As we drink beer, lots of complicated things happen on the palate as a result of carbonation which affect the taste and aroma sensation, this is the key to enjoyment of it. As the gas effervesces, or turns to bubbles on the tongue, a slight “bite and burn” sensation is felt. The tingling sparkliness increases taste sensitivity to the complex flavours in the liquid. In effect, the more dissolved gas, the more intense the perception of flavour. The same can be said of sparkling water or cola. Compare the taste of completely flat to really fizzy. There is a sliding scale of tastiness going on in between.

As beer is drawn through a dispense tap, some of the CO2 naturally effervesces and comes out of solution. Due to the surface tension of the liquid, much of this forms the bubbly head. A lot of it doesn’t cause head though, it merely escapes into the air dragging precious aroma and taste out of the beer.

Brewers and cellermen work really hard to keep these wonderful flavours within the liquid. It’s the job of the person who pours the pint to ensure there are kept in during the draw, and that’s not an easy thing to do. The secret is, keep the gas IN the beer. Don’t let it escape, otherwise it will not taste or drink as well as it should. If you don’t believe me, poke me next time you see me at the bar and I’ll show you the difference between a well poured pint and one from the same barrel and tap which looks fine but tastes, well, meh.

Sausage Bap with Sautéed Onions, Mustard Mayonnaise and Fries          £7.20

Chargrilled Beef Burger with Cheese, Mustard, Pickled Cucumber, Fries        £11.50

Chargrilled Cajun Spiced Chicken Burger and Fries     £11.50

Full Rack of West Country Pork Ribs, Coca-Cola Barbecue Sauce, Fries and Salad    £13.25

Chargrilled Sirloin Steak, Hand Cut Chips, Mixed Leaves Garlic and Herb  Butter     £18.50

Chickpea and Coriander Burger and Fries      £10.20

Sides 

Green Salad       £3.00                     French Fries       £3.00

This delicious menu will be available Saturday and Sunday lunchtimes this weekend, come rain or shine. Personally we’re hoping for shine so you can relax on our decking with a cold beer. Fingers crossed, eh?

            The 17^th of March, the day set aside to honour Ireland’s patron saint, far surpasses the cultural significance and partying spirit of St George’s Day in England. A quick delve into the history of the celebration of the day explains why it is marked with so much more passion than any other saint’s day in Britain.

​      During the past few centuries, the Irish have emigrated all over the world, forced by circumstance as often as by choice. Many have been in frequent danger of disenfranchisement and of losing their culture. The result was a surge in patriotism among the Irish abroad, and the clearest examples come from America. The first ever St Patrick’s Day parade in 1737 was held in Boston, not Ireland, by the city’s Charitable Irish Society which had been founded to perpetuate Irish traditions and society in America. In spite of this, it didn’t become a national holiday in Ireland until 1903, further suggesting that the Irish abroad observed it more keenly.

The burgeoning Irish community which would come to dominate many cities on the east coast of America through sheer weight of numbers was determined not to lose their collective identity, and it wasn’t long before other Americans began to join in the festivities. It’s probably when this happened that that the day shifted from one of religious reflection to one of sociable merriment, as Irish men and women came together to celebrate what it was that made them so special – their resilience, their community spirit and, of course, their legendary drinking skills.

​      What does all this mean to the Ship? Well, with Oisin being a proud Irish publican, it means lots of beer and lots of fun. It means we will be celebrating with our huge crowd of Irish regulars who have made their mark on this pub. Guinness will surely feature. It means we’ll be serving colcannon, boxty and crubeens, and of course a ubiquitous but brilliantly conceived Irish stew. Of course, we’ll be screening the momentous Six Nations showdown between England and Ireland at 5pm. We won’t, however, be indulging the tackier trappings of this day – there will be no pots of gold, giant Guinness hats or ginger wigs, just merriment, eating and possibly some ballyhoo and shenanigans  – in the traditional Irish way of course. We reckon it’s what St Patrick would have wanted.

The trick is to have the white fully set and the yolk runny. We use large free range hens’ eggs and we boil them from room temperature for exactly 5 and a half minutes. They are then plunged into iced water to stop the cooking process. The pork used is about 35% fat and we mostly use belly cuts for the mince. Here’s the method:

Finely chop carrots, onions, leeks and celery into a brunoise. Sweat them in a pan until soft. Leave them to cool before adding them to the pork mince, as hot vegetables should not be added to raw meat. Mix the finely chopped sage, parsley and thyme with the pork, season with fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Place each egg into a rolling boil for 5½ minutes then quickly submerge in ice cold water. Press 95g of mince flat in the palm of your hand then wrap around the egg. Flour it, then dip in egg. Coat with seasoned panko breadcrumbs and place in the fryer for 5 and a half minutes at 180°C. Take it out and place in the oven at 180°C for a further 5 minutes.

The mince should be cooked through and the yolk should be fabulously runny. Enjoy.

This delightful little veggie-friendly main course was brand new on the menu yesterday and it just flew out. It’s funny to think that today polenta is served in some of the finest restaurants in the world, and yet for centuries it was never more than the humble nourishment of Italian peasants. This age-old dish of ground maize may be very simple, but it’s possible to craft a truly delicious meal by using it as a cornerstone and centrepiece. In our polenta dish, creamy Parmesan cheese mingles with the coarse grain and melts on the tip of your tongue, whilst the sweet and garlicky flavours of cep and white onion offset the more earthy crunch of tender broad beans, all the while with a slightly sharp acidic note from the artichokes just to spice things up.

We know for a fact that you don’t have to cook with meat to produce something succulent and satisfying. Polenta may have been the food of paupers, but we’re quietly confident that our recipe is fit for kings.