Pub of The Week: The Beagle

The Beagle is a bar/eatery in trendy Chorlton which has recently undergone a major menu and interior revamp. We had been drooling over their Tex-Mex food on Twitter for a while now, so we decided to swing by and check them out. We were glad to be seated in the conservatory, which seemed to be the buzzing heart of the bar. The funky orange wall paintings and candlelit tables combine to create this sort of perpetual warm summers evening vibe.

The beer selection was impressive, and you’d expect nothing less from the sister bar of Port Street Beer House. We stuck to the Beagle pale, an impressively hopped session beer brewed in collaboration with Summer Wine Brewery in New Mills. It was nice to drink, a really enjoyable house beer especially after hundreds of ram lagers.

We didn’t have starters, we had ‘pick and mix snacks’ (we secretly think these may have just been starters). We went for Jalapeno Cornbread, Popcorn Shrimp, and because we came with a vegan, the Korean Tofu Tacos. All were a success, the Jalapeno cornbread was lovely, nice and buttery and perfect with the spicy sauce, we would have appreciated a bit more of that though. The Korean Tofu Tacos went down well, it’s nice to see a place make a real effort to cater to the vegans amongst us. The highlight though was the shrimp, lovely and crunchy and balanced well with the chipotle mayo.
On to the mains, which we had decided upon well in advance. Our vegan continued the tofu theme, this time a burrito stuffed as tight as can be with various veggie goodies including sweet potato fries. The Mexican Burger had beef (from a local butchers) jalapenos, nachos, pico de gallo and copious amounts of cheese and hot sauce, all nestled between two brioche buns. It’s the kind of burger you excitedly smash into your face, and you actually could taste each individual component, provided those components aren’t running down your arm and into your lap.

The homeslice chicken bucket was what we had all been looking forward to, however. An actual stainless steel bucket, bursting with homemade fries and buttermilk fried chicken was carted over to our table. Now, we have eaten a lot of fried chicken. I’d go ahead and say I’m a fried chicken connoisseur, and I approve. The wings were just greasy enough to be fantastic, and the coating was crispy and on point.

In all honestly, we were really impressed with the food at the beagle, and we would return again to get better acquainted with their burritos and burgers. We did like the atmosphere as well, but us being a bunch of students, there is little chance of us returning for a casual pint with their beer prices as they are.