The Commodore

While in Scotland for work I visited The Commodore in Helensburg.  I was pleasantly surprised at the cozy atmosphere and the great food.  Prior to the appetizers we were treated to cracklins, something I was unfamiliar with.  Basically they are fried bits o' pig.  They went great with beer, my only constructive criticism was that I didn't get enough.

http://www.vintageinn.co.uk/thecommodorehelensburgh/

As an appetizer I had the French Onion soup.  This tasted good, I ate all of it, but was no different than any other above average french onion soup I've eaten elsewhere.  There was no melted cheese on top of the soup.  The meal was served with toasted cheese bread.  I thought that was a little more useful than the mushy bread that often comes baked into the French Onion soup.

For the entree I had, for the first time, braised pork belly.  The meat has layers of fat it in, but not so much that it interferes with eating.  The fat was cooked enough, or delicate enough that it either melted or digested while you were chewing on it.

 

 

To keep myself warm, I added a portion of red cabbage to my entree.  It was served with white raisins, I wasn't particularly pleased with the addition of raisins to the red cabbage.  But, I also don't really care for raisins in wet food.

 

Overall this was a great pub to eat a warm meal on a rainy night in Scotland.