It’s not every day that you see Buckingham Palace guards in their full-dress red tunics and huge bear-cub hats standing at rigid attention, especially at the entrance to a downtown Tampa pub. But sure enough, HRH Queen Elizabeth herself is, indeed, inside.
Except this Elizabeth Regina has a Tampa Bay Lightning bolt across her face. And so does David Bowie to her right. They’re joined by MC Winnie Churchill rockin’ a rolled Union Jack bandanna and Keith Richards looking, well, as normal as he can.
These enormous cartoon canvases by Orlando artist Justin Peterson line an imposing charred pine plank wall at Yeoman’s Cask & Lion, formerly Yeoman’s Road Pub on Davis Islands before relocating downtown. This is not your grandmother’s English pub, but the menu does feature authentic British “fayre” (with a pseudo-archaic spelling). It’s got food that an English “nan” might crave, plus bistro favorites that would appeal to an American granny and her clan — everything from Caesar salad to Philly cheesesteaks and BLTs.
While the appetizers, designed for sharing, are largely typical American bar food (wings, nachos, etc.), my table opts for something a little less traditional. This is a good choice. The “royal” pretzel rolls are long, fat brown sticks cut at an acute angle. They’re soft and satisfying just as they are, but the beer cheese queso and Dijon mustard sauce for dipping add another tasty dimension. There’s a real edge to the mustard sauce, and the queso wins over a beer-averse companion.
The fish spread appetizer is a creamy, spicy mix of fresh salmon and North Atlantic cod with bits of jalapeño, served with tiny cups of diced red onions and tomatoes. The accompanying pita points are buttery and toasted ’til crisp. It’s flat-out delicious.
My goal, however, is to focus on the food that I’ve enjoyed on my trips across the pond.
When it comes to Yeoman’s, the news is good. The dishes with distinct roots in the U.K. far outperform the competitors that I’ve tasted as of late. And what’s more quintessentially British than fish and chips? Yeoman’s fresh-prepared North Atlantic cod in a signature beer batter is deep fried until perfectly crisp, and the homemade tartar sauce provides the right amount of tang to balance the fat. The thick-cut chips (fries to us Yanks) are not the slightest bit greasy; their crisp exterior yields to a creamy center.
Bangers and mash is quintessential pub grub, as well as being fun to say. Yeoman’s serves four fat sausages brimming with sage and a generous scoop of mashed potatoes topped with hearty Guinness and onion gravy. Add some bright green English peas with a few baby carrots, and you can easily be transported. If you want to know what these dishes taste like in the home of Shakespeare, a visit to Yeoman’s Cask & Lion will let you know. And the portion size is ridiculously large. Both of these dishes can easily be shared.
The shepherd’s pie combines fresh peas and corn with seasoned ground lamb and beef that’s distinctly on the salty side. This is fine with me, yet pushes the limits for some. The meat is covered with creamy mashed potatoes and shredded cheddar cheese. The use of cheese is a personal choice; it’s not authentic, but it’s growing in popularity, even in the U.K. Here, it’s accompanied by a steamed broccoli crown and some toasted bread that isn’t very crisp and seems extraneous. It’s not as heady as the other mains, but it’s still satisfying as long as you can handle the sodium.
There are both indoor and outdoor full-liquor bars with plenty of enticing craft beer taps lining the walls. Though the wines are selective, their flavors are described in illuminating detail. The iconic Pimm’s Cup comes sans fruit, cucumber and mint, which I miss, in a nifty copper mug. Those flavors are included in the mix, but it’s decidedly unconventional if you’ve become a fan of Pimm’s U.K.-style.
As expected, the focus is on beer, and there’s a very wide range — foreign, domestic and local. This includes bottles, on tap and two fine firken cask ales. These are fresh and unfiltered with a secondary fermentation in the cask from which it’s served at cellar temp. They’ve got both light and dark options by the pint or half-pint. As an added lure, Yeoman’s features a range of music and open-mic nights from a corner stage, weekly specials and huge HDTV screens everywhere you look.
The lone dessert is a sampler designed by pastry chef Traci Fabyanic. It combines British stalwarts such as sticky toffee pudding, Guinness chocolate stout cake with Baileys creme anglaise, rich vanilla ice cream and buttery shortbread cookie squares marked with a “Y,” plus a few fresh blueberries. The sticky toffee pudding is a fine representative of this yummy classic with a moist crumb and sweet, decadent sauce. The Guinness-laced cake manages a welcome balance of chocolate with similar notes in the stout, and the Baileys-heightened custard adds a sweet gracenote. The shortbread squares are much thinner than commercially available cookies, but they bring a delightful crumbly hit of fat to the plate’s sweet mashup.
It’s a royal finish to a meal that would put a smile on the Queen’s face, even with a lightning bolt beneath her crown.
Jon Palmer Claridge dines anonymously when reviewing. Check out the explanation of his rating system.
