Wishlist #15; Food & Beer menus done properly

Pairing food and beer in a bar/restaurant successfully is often so woeful in the UK as to be almost insulting. In some places I've visited where there's a formal approach (i.e. beer option listed against dish on the menu) it's ranged from the half-hearted (IPA with fish & chips... but they only sold Deuchars) to the downright bizzare (Anchor Steam with burger and chips. Because they're both American. Gah.)

Sometimes, if I'm feeling in a particularly cruel mood, when a day of pulling legs off spiders and deleting random files on the work server still hasn't satiated my evil streak, I like to go and bait barstaff. I'll go for a meal in a pub that offers a fair range of cask & bottled beer, order something like liver and onions, then ask the waiting staff, "Which beer would you recommend with this"? The results tend not to be good.

Either pair them well or not at all. There's such an opportunity to be successful with beer/food matching. It's also way too easy to make a complete horlicks of it. I'm all for dishes cooked and served with the same beer, or having a few well-paired dishes with high-quality bottles. Just don't feel that every tuna jacket potato or lamb bhuna needs a beer pairing.

Just a couple of places that do it well would be appreciated. Not every city can have a Den Dyver. But I can dream...