One of the things that puts many English-speakers off learning another language is the annoying habit that our European neighbours have of giving nouns a gender. There seems to be no rhyme or reason why a chair should be feminine and a poem masculine; or indeed why a table should be feminine in French (table), masculine in German (Tisch), and neuter in Norwegian (bord). Restaurants, on the other hand, are far easier to identify as being of a specific gender. A place like Mari Vanna could only be feminine, with its crochet doillies and knick knacks; whereas the Blue Boar Smokehouse could only ever be described as distinctively masculine. Situated in the Westminster Intercontinental Hotel and named after the Blue Boar’s Head, an inn that served the workers of Westminster for more than 600 years, the Blue Boar interior is all dark wood, leather banquettes and Anglo-American-style butchness. The bar boasts the odd clubby tartan tub chair and a secluded seating area full of Chesterfield sofas; while dramatic lighting, lamps with what appear to be vintage telescope tripod legs and a line of stylised metal boar’s heads along one wall complete the picture in the dining room. According to the blurb, the restaurant uses techniques perfected by American pit masters (charcoal ovens, slow cooking, smoking, rubs and marinades) and applies them to the best of British produce to takes influences of the Blue Boar techniques used by American Pit Masters using charcoal wood ovens, slow cooking, smoking rubs and marinades to celebrate the finest British produce. So as a huge fan of American style barbecue, I was keen to sample what was on offer when I recently visited for a Sunday brunch. Click here for a full portion →
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