Drink 4/5 Decor 3/5 Food 5/5 Price 4/5 Atmosphere 4/5 Staff 3/5

RESTAURANTS in the USA often have some kind of eating challenge, where fat people can get even more obese by piling pounds of meat into their mouths.

If they eat everything including the sides of apple sauce and jacket potato they win a t-shirt and their meal is free.

I felt like an obese balding American, squeezed into jeans which fitted 12 years ago, when I ordered the Big Daddy Burger at The Brockley Jack.

It was so enormous that the barman warned me about it when I parted with my £5.45.

He told me he'd given up eating them because of the mess and I'm still puzzled as to how I escaped without food all down my front.

Nestled between a floury bun were two beef burgers, cheese, bacon, onion rings, barbecue sauce, lettuce and tomatoes.

On the side there was a large portion of chips with more barbecue sauce and I would have been very pleased if I had managed to finish it.

Instead, I couldn't even fit it into my mouth.

Normally I like to chomp down on a burger but had to just nibble on the sides as the sauce oozed out all over my face.

I accompanied this very American meal with a pint of very British Old Speckled Hen.

It was a mix of cultures which worked very well in the traditional boozer.

People sat around dark wood tables relaxing after a hard day's work by putting their money in the fruit machine or watching pop videos on the TV with the sound turned down.

I've noticed the Brockley Jack often crops up on the Leisure pages, as my more cultured colleagues come to see the wide range of plays which are staged in the small but busy theatre upstairs.

Well, I'm here to let you know the pub is also well worth a visit for the less artistic purpose of having a few bevvies and a decent bite to eat.