Reviews The Bishop's Finger

Location: On the corner of Long Acre and West Smithfield, sandwiched between Carluccio's and Ferrari's, resides The Bishop's Finger pub - part of the Shepherd Neame stable. We arrived early on a Tuesday lunchtime, and had our pick of the tables outside (a reckless decision during rare period of rain-free weather in the City this summer). The pub offers a range of real ales, which I will have to return to sample another day, as sadly this bear had to head back to work after lunch...

From the menu, a laminated affair that appears to be a pub staple, I didn't have very high expectations.

Price:
Straight burger (£7.95), Add Bacon and Cheese (£1), includes chips

Presentation:
Our meals came with the old 'wooden chopping board' classic execution. Even though it was not displayed quite as nicely as the Bistro du Vin burger (and costing a good £5 less), the burger was nevertheless almost as impressive looking. A large, roughly hewn and hand packed burger patty, in a dense, sourdough bun, bowl of skin-on chips, and a little pot of relish, served with a bucket of cutlery and condiments. Things were looking good.

Toppings:
Mature Cheddar and Bacon. Though the latter was somewhat lacking in quantity it was, at least, quite tasty. The cheddar on the other hand was completely tasteless. Add to that the fat in the burger, and the liberal spreading of mayo under the 'lid', it made for quite a greasy experience. The undersalad was solid, and the lambs lettuce worked quite well.

Meat:
Pretty good. Speaking to the landlady, the meat used in the burger patty came fresh from Smithfields market daily, and is hand-moulded into the maxi-sized burger by the chef prior to cooking. It came out charred on the outside, and pink in the middle, with rough ground, course mince, and not even a hint of circular edge! The one problem with the meat was the amount of fat in the mince - as you can see below there was a veritable pool of grease that poured out, and with our slightly wonky outside table, it threatened to cover me with a tsunami of lard - luckily we had plenty of napkins! This however was minor compared to the size, and quality of the patty.

Bun:
Actually pretty good. A sourdough bun, lightly grilled and very fresh was dense and yeilding, while holding the whole meaty munch-fest together. 

Plate Accessories:
The accessories on the wooden board were fair, the tomato burger relish (straight out of a booker tub) was passable, but slightly acidic - which actually managed to cut through the grease a bit. The chips were single fried with skins on, and were fine, but needed a good dose of salt to bring the flavour out. All in all the combination worked well with the burger, and while I finished my portion (just!) my dining companion was defeated with just a few chips down...

Overall Rating: 7/10

This gets a grand 7/10 as for pub fayre under £10, it's pretty good. The Bishop's Finger burger has good meat, a great bun, but is sadly let down by the toppings and the slapped on wave of mayo on the bun - a bit of tweaking and this could be some much better. I'd recommend this as a jolly filling, and impressive looking burger - and next time I'll be having a pint of Whitstable Bay with it!

Nice pub serving fresh Bishops Finger ale. Personally I like a colder beer so after I tried the cask ale, I switched to the colder bottled Bishops Finger. Ordered the Market Sausage ‘n Mash. Absolutely delicious!! Plenty of seating. Relaxing atmosphere and not busy on a Monday evening. Friendly staff with quick service. Good tunes playing, lively crowd, great food and even better beers. A must try spot for the tourist or the local.

Great pub with quite a good variety of beer. The atmosphere is relaxing and friendly. The staff is polite and welcoming. The pub is clean and good even for bigger parties. It's definitely worth paying a visit!

If you want sausages, mash and gravy then you'll be hard pressed to find better in the city. Have been several times and the food and beer is always good. One of my favourite places. The staff are friendly and the service is prompt. Service was delayed on a recent visit but the quality of the food made up for it.

Lovely pub, went in for a drink and a meal. The staff were lovely the atmosphere was lovely. Was really looking forward to our meals, hubby enjoyed his he had sausages and mash. I had fish and chips...unfortunately didn't really enjoy. Chips were a bit like cardboard, the peas still semi frozen and more batter than fish. Maybe chef was having a bad day, wouldn't stop us going back though, maybe next time will try the different varieties of Sausage.

Very traditional, attractive-looking pub to the west of the southern entrance to Smithfield Market. Well kept Shepherd Neame ales and premium spirits. Traditional pub grub made with quality ingredients, including a range of market sausages. Great location and friendly staff. London hospitality is currently struggling a little in these post COVID-19 times, particularly on Mondays and Fridays when people prefer to work from home. Places like this deserve our support. “Use them or lose them.” This would be a very sad loss.

Very nice, well kept little pub. Great beer selection, large selection of wines as well. Even sells Tayto crisps. I will be back!

Lovely old pub, great beer and friendly staff, the manager was so nice had a lovely chat and came away with a souvenir bar towel, cheers!

Another enjoyable evening with friends, tasty food & drink, realistic prices, attentive staff & welcomed background music. Another visit to this desirable restaurant is scheduled again very soon. 😍🍹🥗

A lovely traditional pub right next door to Smithfield Market, great beer and a good wine list. Loads of food on offer at very reasonable prices. Lovely efficient staff, a pleasant place for a pint!