The Golden Flake Tavern: new Greggs pub comes to town, is it worth the hype?

For those of you who haven’t heard, Greggs have recently opened a new venue in The Toon. But this isn’t just your standard high street Greggs, it’s a Greggs pub, otherwise known as ‘The Golden Flake Tavern’. Placed inside Fenwick’s on a 4 month pop up, The Golden Flake is transforming our favourite Greggs items into pub classics, and I went along to try out all the new scran to tell you whether its worth a visit.

Off the bat, the menu was already looking good before I had even tried any of the food; from 'Steak Bake Mixed Grill', to 'Chicken Bake Parmo' there was so much to choose from. However, I went for the classic sausage roll with mash and gravy alongside a 'Taste of the Golden flake' sharing board. The sausage and mash was beautifully presented, the gravy was rich and flavourful, and the dish genuinely looked like something out of a high class restaurant - at £9.00 you really cannot go wrong. The sharing board was equally as good with an array of chicken goujons, mac and cheese bites, a sausage roll and mini chicken bake parmo, alongside an amazing dip selection of hot sweet chilli, and the best tasting pesto I've ever had all for £15.50.

However, the food selection cannot outshine the drink selection. The tavern has two of its own draught beers, 'Gosforth 1939 Stottie Larger' and 'Pink Jamie Pale Ale', as well as four Greggs sweet treat inspired cocktails. I tried the Stottie Larger and the Pink Jamie Fizz cocktail and was blown away by both of them. Traditionally I am a beer drinker, and the Stottie Larger is the best draught pint I've had in a long time. Although it's a little steep at the £6.50 per pint price tag, I would say it's worth every penny and could easily rival your big name drinks. The cocktail, however, has to claim the title for my favourite drink; it seriously tastes like someone has bottled a Jam doughnut. One prosecco glass was quite frankly not enough - again, it was slightly pricey at £11.50, but it could rival any cocktail from a specialist cocktail bar.

While I was there I found out that they did Sunday carvery, and instead of you picking your choice of meat, you pick between a steak bake, chicken bake, and sausage roll with all your classic roast extras. I will definitely be returning with my friends to try this out, as my experience with The Golden Flake Tavern had only been positive; I'm sure their roast won't disappoint either.

I would highly recommend a visit sooner rather than later, as doors are only open until February; switch up your post night out Big Market Greggs and level up your game. Get yourself down to The Golden Flake Tavern!