The Fat of the Hog
Of all the eateries along Brick Lane, the tavern known as the Fat of the Hog is probably the most famous. The tavern is small, with a dozen tables and twice as many seats at the bar. Open from noon until midnight, it always seems to be crowded. The prices are very reasonable and the portions more than ample. Proprietor Waldo Parstiche puts a great deal of effort into making the bar a friendly stop for both neighbourhood folk and passerby. He considers it a personal insult if a guest refuses to try whatever delicacy is the special of the day.
Waldo’s specialties include pork ribs simmered in a spicy pepper sauce, then grilled. All but the most hardened dinners must immediately wash down each bite with a mug of chilled ale, for the scalding heat of the pepper sauce is unequaled by any other public dish in the Free City.
However, Waldo also offers roasts, bacon-wrapped delicacies, pungent smoked hams, and his own invention, a daring (and only just edible) “lard soup”. Most of his menu is delightfully sumptuous, and even the latter item is edible.
Waldo’s brother, Ernest, is lord of a manor a day’s ride west of the Free City. Ernest Parstiche has focused the attention of the farmers around his holdings into hog breeding. These hogs are regularly herded to the Free City slaughterhouse, which gives both brothers a sizable discount because of the volume of their business.
Always filed with patrons, the Fat of the Hog is a great place for someone looking to lose himself in a crowd.
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