"A mouth-watering taste of Christmas" - I tried the delicious festive bap at Hoggies in Southsea
Portsmouth is packed full of fantastic independent eateries all serving their own versions of festive treats, whatever you are in the mood for.
Having tasted the Tenth Holes’ Festive Mac’ N’ Cheese, I decided to seek out something a little more traditional with the yuletide season.
Pork is synonymous with traditional Christmas dishes, with the likes of pigs and blankets, pork stuffing and a gammon joint commonly gracing the dinner table on Christmas day. As such, I headed to a local expert on all things pork.
Hoggies on Marmion Road only opened a few months ago but has already established itself as a popular destination for meat eaters. To celebrate the season, they have introduced a Christmas menu which has items such as a Christmas hog dog, Christmas fries, and for those with a sweet tooth, a Christmas crumble.
Perusing the items on a cold December morning, I opted for a Christmas Bap which contained roast turkey, stuffing, pigs in blankets and cranberry sauce. Having watched it be masterfully assembled by head chef and owner Simon Hartnett, I was eager to tuck in.
The bap was certainly packed full, after a few attempts of wielding it by hand I went for the more graceful approach with a knife and fork.
One of the common issues with turkey is it can be quite dry, but the turkey piled high in the Hoggies bap was anything but. It was deliciously moist and tender providing an excellent base for the rest of the ingredients to help elevate it.
The pigs in blankets, sourced from Buckwells in Southsea, were also a winner with the sausages providing a punch of heat and a little bit of spice that complimented the turkey.
Add to that the herby stuffing and sharp and sweet cranberry sauce it was a mouth-watering taste of Christmas.
Having not left a crumb behind, I headed off already planning my next visit to taste another item on the Hoggies menu.