The Whale and Ale, Clarkson

The Whale and Ale was recommended to me last year, and I've been hanging out to give it a try.

So I organised for a group of us to go, and 12 of us rocked up on Easter Saturday night. Their website is down for maintenance, which is inconvenient, and they refused to email or fax me a copy of the menu, which was disappointing.

However they have a huge menu, with something for everyone, including a whole page dedicated to vegetarians.

I ordered the gammon steak ($22.90), which turned out to be two gammon steaks, with a pineapple ring and fried egg and huge serve of chips. Maybe too much, but it was delicious.

The service was great and we didn't have to wait too long to get our meals, which was a nice change in this town!

For dessert I shared a banoffee pie ($6.90), which was good value, though the plate we got it on was far too big and would have looked better with some chocolate drizzled over it, or something. There wasn't a lot of banana but a shitload of toffee, in fact it seemed like condensed milk in a biscuit base. We couldn't finish it, but I was glad we ordered it. Banoffee pie is rare around here, and usually uber expensive. And sometimes the offee turns out to be coffee! Yuck.

The restaurant wasn't packed, but I think even if it was it wouldn't be too noisy. The tables aren't too close like in many restaurants. It's all very airy and modern, and brightly lit, which I like.

The Whale and Ale is tucked away in Clarkson, and the fact it wasn't full was testament to it being unknown. But it's a top pub and definitely worth the hike. It's also in the gold section of the Entertainment Book, offering 25% off up to $30.

Highly recommended.