Kettledrum Inn - A Tasteem Review

After watching @bingbabe do yet another Tuesday evening trail run in Burnley, Lancashire we were a little hungry and headed for the local pub, ‘The Crooked Billet’ (Worsthorne) in search of food.

After entering and finding it to be an old fashioned pub for just for drinkers, we left. These places still exist and keep trading?

The name is great, but besides being offered Pie and Peas and bags of crisps we were out of luck.

Just ‘down the road’ is another pub named, ‘The Kettledrum’. I haven’t frequented this one since a first date in 1989 so didn’t know what to expect.

The car park on departure. Not as full, but still containing substantial amounts of motor vehicles for a Tuesday evening.

We pulled into their car park and struggled to park. One spot was available out of around 25 which placed me in a state of confusion.

It’s Tuesday night, that’s the day after Monday.... It’s supposed to be almost empty.

There were even people milling around outside, and I was thinking, 1) It’s an organised event, or 2) The place is truly fantastic.

Hoping for the latter we entered.

Inside was dimly lit and very busy. So busy that I was having issues taking photographs without attracting undue attention.

We were led to a table next to 4 girls who all looked around 16 years old, all with designer bags of £800-£1200 each.

@bingbabe is a bit of a ‘designer bag expert' and told me that there were no fakes from the dodgy markets to be seen; these were real.

So the place was full of rich kids? Worse was a couple of them were facing me directly.

They weren't bad looking, but on the odd occasion, I looked their way they glared back with disdain and derision.

’I’m a dirty old man because I dare to glance over.’

So it wasn’t an entirely comfortable atmosphere I conceded. I opened the menu and had a glance through.

Surely this old pub was busy for a reason, and not just a haunt for under-aged blonde bimbos wanting to drink beer and flash their expensive handbags.

The ‘Smaller Portions for Smaller Appetites’ was a welcome addition, but I felt a little gluttonous that evening opting for the BIG Cheese and Onion Pie at £10.75, with @bingbabe ordering the BIG Sea Bass at £14.95.

Was that Mouldy Chicken, I spotted on the menu? Er, no thanks!

A couple of glasses of Coke brought the total to £28 or so; those drinks seemed cheap!

Service was fast and within 15 minutes I was looking at this.

I didn’t order the small version, so why was my plate half empty, or is that half full?

I called the waitress over and contested my half-empty plate.

’Yes, that is the full and complete Cheese and Onion Pie’, she claimed.

Christ, what’s the smaller version look like then, one mouthful and it’s gone?

@bingbabe’s Sea Bass also had plenty of room on the plate.

Perhaps they should get some smaller plates in an attempt to fool everyone that there is in fact, A LOT of food.

Undaunted and quite famished, I tucked into the pie and almost experienced nirvana.

This was a hell of a tasty pie, and in this case, looks are not everything. The oozing cheese was perfect, the pastry golden and complimentary.

Meanwhile, @bingbabe was equally loving the Sea Bass, going as far as saying, ‘This is the best I have ever tasted’. High words indeed from the queen of food criticism.

We had discovered at this point just why The Kettledrum was packed on a Tuesday night when there was no obvious reason for it to be so.

The rich young bimbos had left by the time we were finished and so I tried to take some snaps of the inner Kettledrum.

Still, it was busy and I had to be careful or else risk a ‘chinning' by the locals.

Chinning – definition (To receive a slug to the chin for taking photographs of people without permission, whether it be unintended or otherwise).

I felt satisfied on exiting The Kettledrum. Despite the size of the potion and oversized plate, it was delivered on, it was the right amount of food.

Even better we have discovered a local gem, and I do not doubt in my mind there's a better eatery in the town of Burnley.

We will be back very shortly, but I’m still not going for that Mouldy Chicken.

---

Restaurant Information

Kettledrum Inn

Kettledrum Inn, 302 Red Lees Rd, Burnley BB10 4RG, UK

---

Kettledrum Inn - A Tasteem Review
This post participated in the Tasteem contest Cheap and Fabulous? Totally possible!

What is Tasteem?