Located on Baker Street, it's just two doors down from the Sherlock Holmes Museum and a few blocks north of the Plaza Park Sherlock Holmes Hotel. It was also just a couple blocks over and up from my hotel room, which was actually more like a little kitchenless apartment.
The lines were often long outside the museum, but The Volunteer -- despite its proximity -- did not seem like a tourist trap. Bar-area tables inside and out were populated with groups of friends, young professionals having a drink after work, and the occasional couple.
I could be wrong, but they all seemed like regulars.
A killer exchange rate
If you're planning a trip over and want to project how far your U.S. dollars will go toward food after conversion to Great British Pounds (GBP), The Volunteer's menus will help give you an idea. (Photos at bottom). The exchange rate when I visited was .57 of a pound on the U.S. dollar, which means that it took almost $2 (USD) to equal $1 GBP.
Pubs often have what they call a "fixed-price menu," which is similar to a list of daily specials. Sometimes, these match up with the handwritten menu on a board behind the bar, but you can also request a traditional menu.
To better put this in perspective:
One, two and three courses (appetizer, entree, dessert) from the fixed-price menu at The Volunteer were 7 GBP ($12.30 USD), 10 GBP ($18 USD) and 13 GBP ($23 USD), respectively. I chose, instead, from the traditional menu, and enjoyed a very delicious "mushrooms with stilton cream on rye toast," priced at 5.50 GBP (about $10 USD). The most expensive item on that menu was a 10-oz. rib eye steak with fries, confit tomato and green peppercorn butter for 16 GBP (about $28 USD). (Stilton is a cheese that tasted like bleu or Roquefort. Confit tomatoes are seasoned and roasted in oil). As a footnote, tipping in the bar area is not expected, though it is customary -- at about 10 percent -- if you dine in a pub's restaurant-service area.
Spirits
Alcohol, of course, adds to the ticket.
Apologies to my ale- and lager-imbibing friends. Selections were quite extensive and impressive as far as I could tell. But I just didn't pay any attention because I am more of an oakey chardonnay or sparkling water kind of gal.
Interestingly, British pubs serve wine in two sizes, a 175 mL glass, which is roughly equal to a U.S. standard pour of 6 fl. oz., and a 250 mL glass, which is about 8.5 fl. oz. Bottles are also available.
The least expensive 175 mL glass of wine at The Volunteer was a fruity chenin blanc from South Africa at 3.85 GBP ($7 USD), while the only oakey chardonnay (from Australia) was 5.10 GBP ($9 USD). The chardonnay was priced about the same as what you would pay for a Kendall-Jackson at our local Outback Steakhouse ($7.95), but it's more than the house brand at $4.95.
If you're starting to think that London is an expensive place to visit, you're also starting to get the right picture -- and we haven't even touched on accommodations yet.
Till then, here are a few more photos from The Volunteer:
Notice that the bar is similar to a counter. Unlike a
typical U.S. sports bar, the patrons don't dine there.
The view into the street as patrons start to gather after work
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