Seven months, two lockdowns and wave after wave of restrictions have elapsed since our last meeting back in October. Nearly an entire season has gone by without a trip to the pie & mash shop – that’s a long time to wait for a basin of the ambrosial scoff.

After a dreary and endless winter, a glimmer of hope appeared on 12 th April last, when lockdown restrictions were eased – starting with outdoor hospitality, which included a number of pie & mash shops. So, on the first Friday of May, the Three Amigos (Senors Evans, Mosse and Benford) journeyed en velo across urban prairie and watercourse for a belated luncheon at Eastenders Pie & Mash in Poplar.

The club’s resident thespian and poster boy Edward Mosse (right) was brightly decked out in a red jersey as he tucked into his first meal of pie & mash in months. After such a long wait, it felt like something of a homecoming.

The pies were well seasoned and generously filled, the bevelled contours of the pastry providing an ideal holding vessel for the lashings of liquor which complemented them. Statto’s peccadillous hot sauce imparts a remarkable taste sensation that gives one to puff away like a locomotive with every bite.

We took advantage of Eastenders’ expansive outdoor seating corral in the heart of East India Square. This was alfresco cuisine extraordinaire – East End meets the Riviera without the complication of sea, sand and er, the French.

Doug Benford (right) journeyed from way out west (Brentford). Cycling for an eyebrowraising 17.2 miles and covering significant metropolitan tarmac in the process, he took on much needed fuel. Having ignited thousands of calories on this cyclic odyssey, pie & mash provided the ideal nutrition.

It was all over too soon – although the eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted an added audacious visit to Maureen’s for the Club Statistician. During long months of pandemic lockdowns and restrictions, pie & mash businesses throughout the land have been engaged in valiant efforts to stay afloat. The Club’s cub correspondent Mike Goldwater has penned a wonderfully comprehensive article charting events of the past 14 months, and you can read it here:

Season 2020-1 has pretty much been a writeoff, but as the clouds of lockdown lift, more regular rounds of lightly competitive eating are on the horizon. With that in mind we look forward to a brighter, stodgier future.

Be seeing you presently,
St@