A couple of weeks ago my parents came down to London to visit us and stay for the weekend. They tend to drive down on Friday afternoon and we all go out for dinner Friday evening, once me and Stew have finished work. We've done this a couple of times now, and I always try and pick somewhere local to us, as they've had a long drive and the last thing I want to do, is to try and tackle central London on a busy Friday night.

We live in North London, in the middle of Finsbury Park, Crouch End and Harringay Green Lanes. I'm not really sure on exactly where our postcode lies, as I'm sure is common with a lot of London addresses. However, this means we have an abundance of restaurants and bars on our door step!

Crouch End is, in particular, a beautiful little spot, tucked away from the hustle and bustle of London life, you feel like you are in a small town in the countryside somewhere. It's very cute and idyllic, and buzzing with independent eateries. We've managed to tick quite a few off our list now, but on that Friday we headed to The Kings Head, where Stew and I had only previously got a drink at.

It was a bit of a last minute decision, but luckily when I called on Thursday evening, they still had a table available. I'm glad I booked, as I know this bar gets really busy over the weekend, it's always a popular one within Crouch End.

The menu is classic pub food with a modern twist, presented beautifully on the plate and just the right sized serving.

All feeling rather ravenous, we started by sharing 3 starters for £13 (or you can choose any 5 for £20). We picked the handmade scotch egg served with HP sauce, the braised brisket cubes with buffalo sauce, and the pea, mint and feta arancini balls with smoked tomato houmous.

The scotch eggs were my choice, and were delightful, with a soft yolk. But I have to say, the arancini balls were the outright winner. Packed full of flavour and with a light, crispy texture, they were amazing. Accompanied with the smoked tomato houmous was incredible too. I must try and find a recipe to create a houmous similar. I'd never tasted anything like it before.

For our main dishes, both me, Stew and my Dad picked the chicken, ham hock, and creme fraiche pie, served with mash and seasonal vegetables. It looked like a reasonably average sized portion, but ended up being SO filling! The pie is quite literally stuffed to the very edges with filling, and the chunks of chicken inside were huge. The chicken was beautifully cooked, being super succulent and juicy. You could tell a lot of love went into the pie! And creamy mash potato just so happens to be one of my favourite foods. So I was sold as soon as I clapped eyes on it on the menu!

Mum opted for something more healthy, choosing the seabass salad. This was served with brown rice, quinoa, heritage baby carrots, radishes, lemon dressing and omega seeds. It looked super healthy and equally as tasty, but I'm sure was envious of our choices. The pie most definitely won.

In fact she was almost definitely envious, as no sooner had we finished, that she suggested a cheese board for dessert. I really couldn't fit anymore in, but as soon as I heard the words 'cheese board', my ears perked up! Including Mrs Kirkham's farmhouse Lancashire cheddar, Cornish blue, Wensleydale, and Capricorn goats cheese, the board was accompanied with nut and mixed seed biscuits, plus a red onion jam.

I sat I was full from the starter and main, but I could't help myself to a piece (or 10) from the chcese boar. It smelt far too good to mis out on.