Restaurant Review: The Bishop

Check out the Bishop, mate.

Another day another pub. Another day another nervous Spurs fixture on the pub TV, taking on mighty (did I really write that?) Brentford. I’m in a Lordship Lane fixture too. The Bishop is a regular haunt for football fans and drinkers who find the East Dulwich Tavern, which has the prime location by the roundabout, too cavernous. It has recently reopened after a makeover. The sun was shining, the dog needed a walk, so I thought it was time to check it out again.

To be honest the pub doesn't seem that different. Maybe they've hedged their bets with new pictures - jazzy musicians on one side of the ladies loo, classical art (man in ruffs, big bird) on the other. The layout is still square tables around the sides and stools and small tables with stools in the middle. Or you can sit at the large windows and watch the cold people outside while you luxuriate in the warm inside. The big TV screen at the far end seems to have gone so I plonked myself at a stool to watch the match on one of the plentiful smaller TVs which is mounted above the door to the ladies loos.

Last time round I had a disappointing roast lunch that didn’t quite live up to expectations (but then do many things in life live up to expectations?). This time I stuck to my healthy eating guns and ordered the vegan roasted squash and chickpea salad, charred onions, superstraccia and puy lentil dressing (£15). I thought to myself I couldn't get a healthier meal. Then I went on Dr Google.

This is where healthy eating gets complicated, so if any nutritionists want to chip in please do. Superstraccia is not a 1970s Italian sports car, it’s a vegan cheese. Good. It contains coconut oil. Bad. For me, anyway. Coconut oil has lots of good things about it except that it can raise cholesterol levels, not good if you have cardiovascular issues.

This came as a big shock to me. When I reviewed Arapina last week I raved about their vegan feta cheese. I suspect that also contains coconut oil. In fact in Arapina I bought some plant-based cheddar as I was leaving. I ran to my fridge just now to check the ingredients. Coconut oil. Anyone want a half-eaten packet of cashew-based cheddar?

So after a brief glimmer of excitement that I could eat vegan cheese it's off the menu. But not before this last lunch. The superstraccia was easily the best thing about this meal taking up almost half the plate and adding a real tasty kick to what would otherwise have been a merely good salad.

Actually that's unfair. The squash was very nice too. not to soggy, not too soft, not too limp. I normally cut my squash into cubes. These pieces resembled slices of tangerine. The piled high puy lentils cascaded down like little brown ball bearings as you tucked into the lettuce leaves. The charred red onions were also good. I've found the longer and slower you cook onions the better they taste and these had been treated with more love and respect than you might expect from a Sunday pub lunch kitchen.

In fact although I was distracted by a man at a nearby table pouring insanely generous amounts of gravy onto his Yorkshire pudding I was pretty happy with my choice. And for those doubters that are thinking that a measly jumped up salad is never going to fill their stomach, the combo of fibrous chick peas and puy lentils mean that I probably won't eat again today. Well, maybe an apple at bedtime. Full disclosure though, it was a late lunch. And later than I planned. I ordered it soon after kick-off at around 2:10 and it was served just before half-time at 2:39. So maybe not the ideal place if you are famished or in a hurry.

Maybe I'm being slightly generous because I'm in a good mood because Spurs won, but I feel quite loyal to The Bishop. I'd been a bit more adventurous in the East Dulwich Tavern a few weeks ago and it didn't quite pan out as I hoped. I ordered a vegan salad in the Bishop, I got a vegan salad and it was hard to find fault with my vegan salad. I’m not going to bash The Bishop for the coconut oil. That was very much my fault.

The Bishop, 25-27 Lordship Lane, SE22 8EW

All meals paid for and identity not revealed before or after.