CityLife Rating
The Steamhouse
''MUM, why can’t make mash like this?” said little daughter. An indictment of our home cooking and a recommendation of the food at The Steamhouse in one simple sentence.
Like Northern Rail trains, you go a whole year without visiting one railway station pub and then you get two in quick succession.
A couple of weeks ago I went to The Trackside pub at Bury station, this week I was at Urmston’s equivalent, The Steamhouse, transformed from the former Victorian ticket office on the station’s Liverpool-bound platform.
That divine mashed potato was part of an albeit limited but good value lunchtime menu at the pub, which also serves real ales and continental lagers.
Steam engine insignia
The building still retains the air of a Victorian station building with a green and cream exterior which is echoed inside; thick, dark floorboards; retro suitcases on a high shelf; a tasteful steam engine insignia in the frosted windows and old sleepers making up the bar and door frames.
All very Brief Encounter, but nowadays the only whoosh and splutter of steam is from the coffee maker on the bar.
But why would you want a hot brew to warm you when you could have a pint of Hydes Insulation, a lovely dark, spicy pint – a great winter ale – which is certainly better for your personal central heating on a Sunday afternoon than lagging your loft.
The pub also had Hydes Original, its Brewery Bitter, Big Tree Bitter from Dunham Massey and Broken Britain from Bazens. There is also a selection of bottled European lagers, including Chimay, Duvel and Vedette.
Cheese platters
Food is of the simple and hearty variety, sandwiches, salads, soup and a few hot meals including corned beef hash and sausage and mash. There are also cheese or pate platters – or a mixture of each – much like the Mark Addy on Salford’s Stanley Street was once brilliant at.
For £4.95 the Steamhouse offered chunks of bread and salad with your cheese (including blue stilton, Wenslydale with cranberries and Somerset brie) or pate (my partner had four thick, smooth slices of the duck variety).
There was a deep bowl of homemade tomato and pepper soup (£3.90) and a great plate of lamb shank with mash and gravy, with tender meat falling off the bone into that aforementioned dreamy mash.
A great pub dish but one of only a handful on the menu, and a couple of those were off. I had to echo little daughter: “Steamhouse, why can’t we have more of the same?”
Reviewed: Fri, 09 January, 2009
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