Over the past two months, Eat Out and SAB have been on a quest to find the best pub lunch in the Eastern and Western Cape. Over the past couple of months, some of the Cape’s favourite pubs, bars and grills have been taking part in the #BESTPUBLUNCH campaign. They’ve each been offering a pub lunch and draught beer special as their entry – and users have been voting over at bestpublunch.co.za. The campaign has now ended, and the ultimate winners will be announced next week.

For now, we can reveal that The Barn and Barrel Pub in Port Elizabeth has won the weekly competition for the fourth week. Here’s what our writer, Marion Marais, had to say.

The deal

A double Dagwood burger served with a Hansa Pilsener draught for R89.

Beers out of five

Value for money 5; vibe 3; service 5; cold beer 4.

The pub

In dire need of a burger and chips after a big Friday night, I visited the Barn and Barrel at t​he Kings Court Shopping Centre in Port Elizabeth for their ​SAB ​Pub ​Lunch special: a double Dagwood burger served with an​ ​icy cold Hansa Pilsener draught. I visited the pub just after noon ​​and the day’s rugby game was airing at 3.30pm, ​so the vibe was quite chilled, with only a handful of patrons in the dark seating area.

We sat indoors in a comfortable booth​, but on my next visit I might find a seat in the sheltered ​outside area​ ​for more light. The pub décor includes corrugated iron against the walls, which lends itself to quite a rustic feeling, leather-type booth seating, wooden tables and chairs, and beer paraphernalia decorating the bar area set to one side, opposite a pull-down screen for the game.​ The service was impeccable from our waiter, Hilda, and our beers arrived chilled.

A photo posted by Natasha Stemmet (@tasha.101) on Jan 6, 2016 at 8:32am PST

The food

The burger was served on a fresh bread roll, which was quite soft on top, just the way I prefer it, with crispy onion rings ​on the side,​ of which there could have been a few more. The ​double-​beef patties were cooked​ well ​with a sweet sticky sauce​, but the bacon could have been crispier. The lettuce seemed a bit of an afterthought, but it made me feel less guilty about enjoying beef, bacon, cheese and an egg all together. The chips were delicious.

Value for money

All in all, the special offered good value for money,​ especially seeing as it included the Hansa draught, which went down all too smoothly.