At 8pm on a Friday evening Goose Island Brew Pub was buzzing, so much so that we had to sit at the bar counter, not that this was an issue, just had to turn one’s head to see the action going on, which seemed to be a vast majority of small groups of office workers enjoying a Friday night out, and why not.

The menu at Goose Island is like greeting a much-missed old friend, this is not food that pushes boundaries; it is very happy keeping to its own agenda, honest to goodness Pub Grub, although I detect someone may have been reading Louis Saulnier’s Le Répertoire de La Cuisine in describing some of the dishes, or used an Atlas for place names of dishes.

Whilst deciding what to eat, we ordered a flight of ales, which are served in a cute medical style box with full on descriptions, along with a pint of their classic IPA, I ended up quaffing several of the remaining ales from the flight, as they were a little too much for my dining partner. Started off with the aged Chilean wagyu tartare, served with Sofie bread, house pickles and topped with Honkers smoked egg yolk, great presentation, along with overall taste. This was followed by asparagus on Himalayan Salt Slab, topped with an egg confit, pickled tomatoes and roasted red pepper cream, the presentation is super, as was the taste, one thing that was missing from the serving plate was the actual Himalayan Salt Slab (Kate & Kimi have these on sale).

We had a craving for ribs, and just had to go with the 32-hour Bourbon barrel Smoked Spare Ribs, served with Bourbon County Stout BBQ sauce, the meat just fell off of the bone, the ribs had the right amount of smokiness which lingered through, we ordered an extra side of Pub Fries, these are Hand-cut fries served with filata (aka pulled or stretched cheese) and topped with light sprinkling of bacon dust, great to see that the restaurant is serving real potatoes.

Considering the volume of business that evening, the wait staff were efficient, perhaps a little robotic at times, but overall friendly enough. I can certainly recommend Goose Island Brew Pub, it demands to be liked.

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