It's located opposite Evissa, on the edge of the town centre; at first when you go in, it appears to just be a pie shop with a bar and a few tables, but it's actually deceptively large - downstairs there are a few different sized dining rooms, as well as small nooks and crannies with booths and tables tucked into them. We sat at one of the booths which was really nice as it felt more private and was a bit quieter - until a group of raucous wannabe lads (including an old teacher of mine!) sat in the next room, that is! But still, it was quite amusing listening in on their "funny" anecdotes and stories!
There's no menu online so as always I took pictures!
The waitress comes and lists off every pie they have available, which was most of the ones on the menu list, plus a few extras. I went for the Five Nations pie (steak, Guinness, garlic, mustard and leeks) and my mum had the chicken, chilli, and chorizo, and we ordered bread and butter, ratatouille and cauliflower cheese to share.
The ratatouille was tasty with big chunks of courgette, and the cauliflower cheese had lovely crispy cheddar on top, even if the cauliflower was slightly on the soggy side. I thought the pastry on the pies was great - buttery, crisp and flaky, and the fillings were equally as good. The meat in mine was mostly tender (apart from a few odd pieces!),I really liked the flavour of the leeks and garlic, and the gravy was nice and thick. My mum's had a gentle heat from the chillis without the spice being too overpowering, and the chorizo added a lovely smokey flavour. I've read a couple of claims that they microwave the pies here...who really cares?! If they've made the pastry from scratch beforehand and microwaving them is the easiest way to heat them up, I really don't mind at all, especially because I thought the pastry was crisp anyway so definitely hadn't been spoilt if it had been microwaved! A couple of small grumbles are that the side salad is pointless (although I do love raw onion) and I wish more than anything they did mash, but at least it got me to try different sides!
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| Our little booth! |
Sweeney & Todd do quite a wide variety of classic British puddings (definitely puddings, not desserts!); I went for bread and butter pudding with custard and my mum had treacle tart with custard (she'd been going on about it since her last visit!)
My bread and butter pudding was really good - it was made with French bread which I loved as you got a different, more chewy texture from the crust to contrast with the sponginess of the actual bread, and the custard was nice and vanilla-y. The treacle tart would have been too sweet for me to eat a whole piece, but for those with a sweet tooth it would be excellent - sticky and sugary with thick, buttery pastry.
Without wanting this to be construed in a negative way (as I really enjoyed it!), "school dinner food" is probably the best way I can think of to describe the meal - it's basic and unpretentious but comforting, filling and surprisingly tasty. It has the few little mistakes/short cuts that you might expect from school dinners (eg tinned tomatoes in the ratatouille, little lumps in the custard) but the thing about Sweeney & Todd is that isn't haute cuisine, and nor is it pretending to be; the little mistakes and quirks are partly what gives this place its character, and there is definitely no denying they make a really good pie - the amount of years it's been open and stood up against all the chains in Reading is a pretty good indicator of that too! It's perfect hangover/post work food, so with all ideas of food snobbery set aside, go and enjoy some stodgy British classics!
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