Flying Pig, Malvern

REVIEW OF the Flying Pig Saloon, King Street, Malvern, PA 11/9/16
Ambiance: At 5 pm, warm friendly pub atmosphere with leather couches off the square roomy bar. Big black boards and menus listing well over 100 beers from around the world and flying pigs and even stationary pigs' images everywhere
Service: friendly smiling female servers who accommodated us beautifully by allowing us to split each of our two appetizer dishes we ordered and providing us with separate dishes and sauces. The utensils were wrapped typically in paper napkins and the plates were white china. She received a generous tip for this fine service.
Menu: Plenty of pig, but also seafood, beef, chicken and a few veggie dishes. The appetizers would be called "small plates" in an upscale atmosphere with $11 glasses of house wine, but let's call The Flying Pig a gastropub. I counted 21 appetizers, from roasted pork belly skewers (I was tempted) to small and large bowls of mussels, to seared scallops to baked brie, to some of the garden-variety stuff like jalapeno poppers. Chili dogs to goat cheese salads-lots to choose from, at fair prices.
Experience: We ordered a large salad at $6.95 which arrived in a deep bowl of spring greens, red peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes and shredded cheddar cheese, with separate large plates and dressing for each of us. It could have been a meal in itself. The Russian dressing was house made. Next we split barbecued jalapeno pork enchiladas at $11.95. These arrived on two separate sizzler plates with a large side of sour cream. The enchiladas were monstrous and absolutely delicious. They were loaded with pickled jalapenos and cheddar cheese, along with house-smoked pulled pork. If we had each ordered this dish we would have been overwhelmed at the amount of food-as it was neither of us finished our individual dishes and took some home for lunch tomorrow. The IPA beers were strong, bitter, and hoppy as a good IPA should be. They know how to tap a keg and pull a good beer.
By the time we finished our meal the Pig was fat with happy drinkers and diners, gazing with interest and anticipation at the blackboards. The young women were balancing great trays of beers in all shades of amber and Guinness-brown. People arriving were often greeted warmly and made the rounds to say hello. It had that great feel of a neighborhood bar right out of "Cheers." By 6 p.m. the bar was full, the couches were also, with chattering Millennials perched on the couches' arms and stacked up behind them.
Total bill: $36.29, including 3 pints of great beer! Without drinks, $18.98. (We'd eat a whole
lot cheaper if we didn't consider drinks an important part of the meal.) The Cheap Eater awards
top honors to the Flying Pig on King St. in Malvern, PA. Anne and Bob Pounds,
www.thecheapeater.com  an affiliate of WelcomeNeighborpa.com