Bull & Bush Provides Pub Experience
By Becky Billingsley
Visiting golfers love the pub atmosphere, while locals enjoy the new Bull & Bush Pub in Myrtle Beach for its food and friendly welcomes.
A big part of the immediate success of Bull & Bush, which opened in March 2011, goes to its owner, John McCann. He is a native of Manchester, England, who plays the role of pub proprietor with hospitable warmth. He spends his days smiling and fetching and conversing, and after just one visit customers feel they have a new friend.
The building was formerly a series of Italian restaurants, but McCann remodeled to create a cozy environment that is quickly becoming a neighborhood hangout. It's a great place to go for drinks and conversation at the bar, watch sports on the many televisions (they open early on weekends for the soccer broadcasts), playing darts or shooting pool.
Also in the tradition of fine pubs, Bull & Bush serves tasty food. The menu lists many British specialties.
Scottish Eggs is a delicious recipe where a hard-boiled egg has finely ground sausage pressed around it, then it's rolled in breadcrumbs and deep-fried. The egg is cut in half so you can see the layers with the egg in the middle, and is plated with a sauce that looks like Hollandaise but is the chef's creation with the bite of horseradish cream and a tiny dash of sweetness.
Fresh Cut Chips are not chips, but thick French fries that come with brown gravy and extraordinarily creamy house-made Ranch dressing for dipping. You can also get a "loaded" version of the chips topped with cheese, bacon and Ranch.
Sausage Rolls are wonderful and simple; they are sausage links in puff pastry served with fiery sciracha sauce. An unusual treat is the Samosa, which is beef flavored with Indian spices inside puff pastry. Fire-roasted Tomato and Garlic Dip is creamy and has a robust flavor, and is a great sharing dish.
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Other appetizers include Prawn Cocktail, Raspberry & Walnut Baked Brie, and Onion Rings battered in black & tan beer batter and served with root beer barbecue sauce.
In the entree section of the menu are more treats from the British Isles. Scottish Spare Ribs are rubbed with spices before being slow-cooked to moist tenderness and generously sauced, while Classic Bangers & Mash (sausage and mashed potatoes) are hearty and to the point. Shepherd's Pie is full of ground beef and vegetables in savory gravy and capped with mashed potatoes; and Steak & Ale Pie contains ground beef, steak tips and mini button mushrooms. The pie is infused with the flavors of rosemary and thyme and topped with puff pastry.
Bull & Bush also has a classic British dessert: Steamed Sponge Pudding, which is a small moist cake served with raspberry sauce, whipped cream and fresh raspberries.
The rest of the menu is an interesting blend of American and international dishes.
They offer Chili and Irish Stew, and three salads: Garden, Caesar and Greek. Lunch specials are $5.50-$7, and a few of those include Quiche of the Day, Classic BLT, French Dip, Pub Burger, Steak & Cheese and Caesar Wrap with grilled chicken. All sandwiches come with chips. There's also a $6 lunch special where you can pick two from a list of soup, salad and sandwiches.
Other entrees include Broiled Lamb Chops with mint sauce, Roasted Pork Loin with applesauce glaze, Maryland Crab Cakes, and Liver & Onions with an infusion of bacon that's served with mashed potatoes and beef demi-glace. The Liver & Onions is plated prettily - the browned liver is draped like a basset hound's ears over a ribbon-piped plume of mashed potatoes, and garnished with rich brown gravy and fresh thyme.
The Bull & Bush is at 4700 U.S. 17 Bypass S. in Myrtle Beach, on the frontage road near the back gate by WBTW TV-13 and McDonald's, and the number is 843-831-0505. It's open from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Mondays through Fridays, and the restaurant opens an hour earlier on Saturdays and Sundays "for the soccer game." There are plenty of televisions where you can watch the action.
You’ve hit the ball out the park! Inrcdeible!