The Hungry Hack returns and this week in Hadleigh, we are filling up on some grub at the historical venture and town eatery, The George pub.

The George Pub has served as a tavern for many centuries and the history behind it is rather interesting.

Whether from the supposedly hidden underground tunnels or to the courtyard where horse and carriage would park, it feels like you are eating at a place rich in historical significance.

To be perfectly honest my review of The George will be based somewhat on my experience as a vegan (queue the eye rolls). I know, I know vegans are annoying, I did however insure some extra help from a long time Hungry Hack food reviewer, for those who are not.

To begin with, the fact that any place in a small town, such as Hadleigh, offers a selection of vegan options comes as a great surprise and delight, as many places in the area do not.

The atmosphere of the pub was cosy, polite and the outside dining experience had shelter from the rain and great ambient mood lighting.

The service, throughout the whole experience, was one thing me and my guest agreed on, it was excellent. Attentive, friendly and fast paced even when dealing with other customers, it was clear the staff worked well together.

Now on to the most important part… the food.

The presentations of all the dishes were fairly good. I had ordered for my starter the Vegan Jackfruit Wings. My meat eating friend had asked me if jackfruit was a made up word and I explained to him that jackfruit was a type of plant used to emulate some meats, most commonly pulled pork.

He ordered the calamari rings, both dishes came with salad on the side and dipping sauces. It was great to have a vegan garlic aioli sauce to dip the jackfruit wings into.

Apparently the calamari tasted fresh and sizzling, it had great textures and flavours to them.

However, I found the jackfruit pulled pork disappointing to some extent, whilst it was nice to be able to order the starter, it came out slightly bland and luke warm, which seemed to be a running theme.

The dish was lacking in any flavour profile as well, I had expected some bbq smokiness or just anything to make the dish taste more like wings. I've had many types of jackfruit dishes in my time over the past six years and I've seen it done much better.

Maybe the mains would be tastier, this time there was a wider selection to choose from, I went with with the Nomeatballs pasta, whilst they chose to go with the sea bass.

The dish once again came out luke warm, who knows maybe their hot plate in the back isn't working.

I found the meatballs themselves to be tasty but still a little bland in terms of seasoning. The pasta came in a large portion size but the sauce wasn't great. It was far too watery and bland lacking in a strong tomato flavour, it was something I could buy from a tin can.

One upside to the dish, was that the garlic bread was excellent. It was crunchy, soft and had great flavours.

The sea bass looked much better, he told me it was fresh, so fresh in fact the waitress said it had come in from a Hadleigh fishmongers that morning.

My colleague said the potatoes were cooked perfectly and the flavour profile from the kick of the peppers mixed well with the saltiness and freshness of the fish. It wasn't the largest portion of sea bass they had but the fact it was fresh made up for it.

The George Pub might have pleased the meateater's palette and whilst there is a great effort in their vegan food, the standard for me is not quite there.

I enjoyed checking them out and it seems like there non vegan food is much better. I expect for most that will come as a positive. Be sure to visit as the history behind the pub is just as fascinating too.

You can visit The George website here for more information: George, Hadleigh

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