The Station House's Food Stays On Track

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The pun in the headline relates to the fact that the pub is next to the train station

You probably don't associate railways with good food. Maybe you do if you commute via the Orient Express, but for the rest of us trains inspire visions of overpriced and inedible sandwiches nibbled at while we wait out a three-hour delay.

So it was with some trepidation that I approached the pub with a companion on a clear Wednesday night However, SPOILER ALERT my fears were unfounded and the meal was a delight.

The pub was bustling, but my companion and I still easily found a table on the fashionably decorated ground floor, next to the bar. After some reasonably-priced ales were purchased, we were ready to order.

To start, we shared a selection of the pub's innovative tapas dishes. Antipasto and cold cuts were the order of the day here, but there was also some perfectly cooked squid on offer. All was delicious.

For our mains, I had a 28-day aged steak that was seared to a wonderful medium-rare and served with chunky chips - which are the only way I accept chips to be, frankly. My companion wolfed down her generous pizza of parma ham and truffle oil so quickly that I think some laws of physics might have been broken in the process. I'll contact CERN about that later, but the satisfied look on her face told me: "Einstein be damned, that pizza was good".

After some possibly ill-advised cocktails (because of their potency, not their taste, which was excellent), we finally indulged ourselves in the Station House's decadent dessert menu. I threatened my waistline with an exquisite fudge and sticky-toffee pudding, and my companion enacted a full-on blitzkrieg attack on her hips with a unique Nutella pastry roll, which was sort of like a giant (and delicious) pain au chocolat. Both dishes were decorated with sprinkled icing sugar and chocolate sauce, much in the manner that is often seen in the BBC TV show Masterchef: The Professionals. However, points are deducted for failing to include a blob of sauce smeared into a streak by a spoon.

As my companion and I tottered satisfactorily out of the pub, we were pleased to realise that since my companion hails from outside of Acton (don't worry, I disinfected myself once I got home) it was only a handful of steps to stick her on a train and send her merrily on her way.

So, congratulations to the Station House for single-handedly propping up the positive association of food and trains. Maybe they should start a long-haul flight-themed pub next.

ActonW3.com Editor

16 November 2011