The Junction is a jolly pub with loud music and several menu choices. We had a Christmas dinner, pre-booked for a group of about eight.
First, it's great for a group meeting because it's easy to find and reach. Just around two corners from Harrow bus station which has buses going everywhere, to Heathrow on the loop, all over Harrow and surrounding areas. Also the bus station is below the railway line which takes ou on the Met to Baker Street on the fast Met line.
The Juction venue has a main entrance and a side entrance. Inside the main entrance is an area for standing by the bar or drinking and eating seating on bar stools.
Around the back, is a separate closed-end restaurant area, so no coming and going of other diners.
We had to pay a five pound deposit for each person in advance to reserve a table.
The Christmas Decor
The venue had a Christmas tree with lights which flashed on and off. On the table was a Christmas cracker for each guest. The crackers contained an almost transparent traditional fold-out concertineered crown, a joke. The gift was a bit disappointing, just a funny message on a piece of folded card. The best bit was the joke, which we all read out in turn.
Now, what about the food?
Starters
I had the turkey starter which came with Yorkshire pudding. The pudding was more like a bun than a Yorkshire pudding, but in pudding bowl shape with the meat inside the Yorkshire pudding. That is how some places served roast beef and Yorkshire pudding in the old days.
Main course
I had opted for the turkey again for my main dish.
One of my compnaions chose a vegetarian option. She would have liked to have had more vegetarian options.
Desserts
I had a chocolate dessert. You could also have profiteroles. A third chocolate option was Vienetto.
The one option with fruit content was the cheesecake with a fruit glaze. It seemed to me icy, still almost frozen.
For a Christmas dinner, I would have expected Christmas pudding, and/or mince pies. Any other time of year, these desserts would be popular choices. My chocolate dessert was a generous size. Usually I think chocolate desserts have not enough chocolate, too much tasteless flour. Here the opposite was the case. I ate half and was already overdosed with chocolate and sugar and calories!
Drinks
I had a bottle of Presecco which I shared. At fifteen pounds for a bottle, reasonably priced.
Toilets
The toilets are upstairs, but there's a wheelchair access ground floor toilet, which they will open with a key on a huge, heavy chain. The service was excellent, willing, agreeable..
The best parts were the location and the price. The worst part was the noise. Not ideal for conversation. However, by the end of the evening we had chatted to the person next to us, although we could not hear others further down the table.
Would we go back? Next time we would opt for better food, even if we had to pay more. To suit our Indian and vegetarian members ,we might have to go to an Indian restaurant, or Indian vegetarian restaurant. Harrow, being near Heathrow, has a large ethnic population, as does all of London, not only in the tourist seasons but all year.
Two Jains left early. They were quite happy, and glad to have a chance to sit without us for a while, but did not eat the whole meal. They told us that their religious custom is to not eat anything that grows below ground. No potatoes.
We came awayy with lots of questions. What does that diet leave in terms of protein and nourishment? Fruit, nuts, seeds. The evening was a success.. Not just an entertaining evening, but a chance for me to learn more about our members and guests, their spouses, other religions and cultures, and to tell them more about British traditions such as Yorkshire pudding, turkey, Christmas turkey, Christmas trees and Christmas crackers.
You can see more about The Junction on their website.
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