I’m not a regular user of deal sites such as Groupon and Itison but when an offer for Jeremiah’s Tap popped into my inbox recently, I decided to give it a whirl. For just £9, I would get a hot dog and fries plus a half pint of Innis & Gunn or a small glass of wine for two people. The promise that it would be a Crombies sausage sealed the deal for me.
Now, this wouldn’t be my first visit to Jeremiah’s Tap, formerly the Elm Bar on Elm Row that has recently undergone a major refurbishment and is looking pretty good. (Albeit that it is now a member of the Fifty Shades set, though the classiest of the bunch.) I’d popped in for a quick beer on the evening it opened and I’d also been in and out of it very quickly when Mrs Bar Fly and I were looking for somewhere to do the crossword on a Saturday afternoon where she could also indulge in a hot chocolate. Despite being advertised on the drinks list outside, we were disappointed when the barmaid explained that they didn’t have any because “we’ve just opened”. They’d been open a fortnight . . . To Joseph Pearce’s we went for a hot chocolate that day.
So it was with a little trepidation that I booked a table for 6pm on a Tuesday evening (seems odd, booking a table for two in a large pub but they’re the conditions) to sample some sausage delights. And I have to say, it was pretty good. What was also good was that we weren’t treated like second-class citizens because we were using a voucher. When I produced it, the barmaid promised to bring us over the menu and talk us through our options, albeit limited to the hot dog section but I knew that already. This she duly did, also bringing over our two half pints of Innis & Gunn.
Our hot dogs arrived in decent time and looked good in Jeremiah’s Taproom branded wooden boxes – just the right side of gimmicky. The sausage may have been thin but it was certainly lengthy, with a good inch or two sticking out each end of the lightly-toasted bun. While my dining partner had opted for the Classic Dog, I’d plumped for the Scottie Dog which came with an added covering of haggis. It was all very tasty, hot and certainly a decent-sized portion.
Obviously, one half pint of Innis & Gunn wasn’t going to sate me for my whole meal so a couple of full pints of Harviestoun’s Natural Blonde were a natural accompaniment, if you’ll pardon the pun. At £3.80 a pint, however, just that 20p or 40p over the odds, in my opinion.
All in all, though, a good experience of a great-looking pub. My friend’s dog (of the four-legged variety) was catered for quickly when we asked for a bowl of water, though there were none of the doggy treats that had been promised on Twitter when I’d checked if they welcomed well-behaved mutts. Half a point off for that!
Jeremiah’s Taproom is at 7-8 Elm Row, Leith Walk, Edinburgh and you can follow them on Twitter here.