L’idiot du Village chez moi

Happy St George’s Day!

After our fantastic experience in the Morrocan Pub in Zambia with the fake Irish-folk band (fake folk, not fake Irish) on St Patrick’s Day, today was a great day to find a similar experience in one of the many English pubs in Toronto!

British pubs, you say? You must mean Irish pubs. They’re everywhere. Well yes, they are, but so are English ones over here! And probably provide the same insight into English culture as Irish pubs do to Irish culture.

Mummy’s current favourite is the Village Idiot Pub, which has excelled itself in bringing across four beers and one cider from England! Yep, you can’t escape from Boddington’s Cream Ale here, nor from Marston’s ever-present Pedigree. And they have Blackthorn. Yummy, yummy Blackthorn.

But what do English people eat? Fish and chips, it seems. Only it’s served with “fries” over here. And for some reason they’ve decided to make the batter using Steam Whistle, the minging lager of Canadian choice. Oh, and Shepherd’s Pie (served with fries). Many many fries to be had.

A lovely, traditional English pub experience. Oh, but don’t get carried away with your trans-Atlantic customs. Should you find yourself standing at the bar, ready to order a round, turn around and flee! Your actions will forever break the billing system, confuse the waitresses and cause the greater part of the patrons to stare. And there’s nothing so humiliating as having an Irishman have to explain to you how to use a pub correctly.