Australia

Walkabout

Probably the easiest of the countries so far, I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking or planning this country. It took me all of five seconds to invite a couple of people and head over to the Walkabout next to Temple tube. What hits you immediately about this place is the number of televisions hung around the pub. It’s perfectly possible to watch three or even four sporting events at the same time. The best thing about this is if like me you support a lower league football club, and you need a place which will definitely be showing a particular game no matter what else is on at the same time, this is the place to come.

For a country which isn’t exactly renowned for fine beers, there’s a surprising number of Aussie lagers available on tap or in bottles at the bar, and I chose the Toohey’s Extra Dry which is something you don’t see too often.

Obviously, these places make there money from the big Friday and Saturday nights, illustrated by the big stage and PA system - but I always feel like these places are designed in some ways to be hosed down at the end of the night, so everything is a bit too sturdy and heavy duty. That said me, the girlf and my friend Martin sat down on a leatherette sofa to order the most Aussie thing we could find on the menu.

I worked in Australia for a while, and the only thing I really remember about the food was their great liking for pies and sausages. However, Walkabout has kangaroo steak on the menu, which although I’ve never seen an Australian actually eat one, can’t exactly be a national dish from anywhere else, so that’s what I ordered. I expected a tough and gamy meat, but actually it wasn’t too bad, the chips on the side were as good as you’d expect too. My fellow diners chose something a little more worldly than Australian, but neither was too disappointed.

I think pub grub in London’s goes from both extremes, exceptional and pricey gourmet fair to cheap, poorly cooked dross. Walkabout’s food is neither, but it does the job.