An East End pub with old fashioned decor and thoroughly decent food.

The Venue
Located just a few streets away from Liverpool Street station and Spitalfields Market, The Water Poet can be found on a little street right across from the Dennis Severs House - an old refurbished house that was made into a museum dedicated to its fictional 18th and 19th-century inhabitants.

The pub itself is lovely and old fashioned with low sofas and tables in the bar area and a pretty garden at the rear. There’s a separate restaurant room, painted in a dark, reddish brown and light blue, with stone cupid sculptures hovering on the walls near the heavy, velvety curtains.

The Atmosphere
The restaurant is hugely popular on Sundays thanks to their roast lunches and tables fill up fast, so turn up early if you don’t want to be turned away. This is a friendly place, with groups of friends meeting, couples chatting away and parents taking their children (young and old) out for lunch. The trendily dressed, cheerful staff (complete with rainbow nail polish) are happy to talk you through the menu and are helpful if you need suggestions to make up your mind. The atmosphere is edgy but laid back. You might feel out of place in a suit but otherwise it’s easy to fit in – with or without skinny jeans.

The Food
The Water Poet’s restaurant menu changes relatively regularly – about every week – but their big draw is the Sunday Roast, which always has the old favourites in about five variations coming in at £13 each. The roast sirloin of beef is juicy and tender with all the usual accompaniments present and accounted for: a crisp and fluffy Yorkshire pudding, a long baton of sweet carrot alongside a slice of sugary parsnip, crisp roast potatoes and firm, fresh cabbage. The vegetarian roast is, thankfully, not one of the nut roast variety and instead is more like a veggie breakfast with plump vegetarian sausages. Also on the plate is the aforementioned Yorkshire pudding, carrot and parsnip, a bright red slice of tomato and the tops of two salty, meaty field mushrooms.

Although the Sunday Roast is pretty much a meal in itself, if you don’t want to eat for the rest of the day you might as well go for the whole three courses. The soup of celeriac, fennel and butternut squash is rich and hearty, perfect with the slices of pumpkin seed bread and creamy butter. The pork and duck terrine looks lovely, marbled pink and white, and with the pub’s homemade grape chutney (complete with enormous grapes inside the little pot) it’s a perfect sweet and savoury combination. For dessert, the apple strudel is crisp on the outside and warm and gooey inside with plump sultanas and a hint of cinnamon, whilst the layered chocolate cheesecake has a good balance of flavours and is just sharp enough that it doesn’t become sickly sweet.

The Drink
Besides all the usual beers on tap, the Water Poet has a choice of eight whites and nine reds with prices from about £15 to £28, plus glasses available for about £4. The house red - a 2005 Merlot Vin de Pays d’Oc - is smooth and soft with hints of dark red berries. Champagne is also available with the top end bottle costing £125.

The Last Word
Simple, well cooked pub grub in a nice, friendly pub. Worth a trip whether you’re at the nearby markets – or somewhere else entirely.

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