Picture of Running Horse, W1K 5JE

Running Horse, W1K 5JE

A gastropub in Mayfair, very near to Claridge's hotel.

There's no doubt this is firmly positioned as a gastropub, with its bare wooden floors and attractive floor to ceiling wood panelling, carefully selected decor (antique clock and mirrors sparsely adorn the walls) and tables set for food service with heavy white napkins and silver knife and fork. Drinks can be ordered at the bar, but food is table service.

There's seating for about 12 on high stools along the walls under the large windows, as well as four more high tables for three people each. Additionally, there are 6 small two-person tables at the back of the downstairs rooms, as well as a separate upstairs dining room (open Wednesday to Friday only).

There's a discreet TV flatscreen mounted at the end of the room, but on a Wednesday lunchtime visit this is not switched on. Instead, a selection of pop and soul music plays quietly in the background. The overall ambience is far from unpleasant.

There are three handpulls at the bar, with London Pride on two of them (£1.65/half), and Adnam's Broadside on the other. The draught lagers are fairly basic, including Amstel and Grolsch.

Food is served 11:30am-3pm and 6:30pm-9:30pm Monday to Saturday. A selection of starters all come in under £6, with mains at around £9-12, on a varied and interesting menu which appears to change regularly photo of lunch menu in May 2009. On Ewan's visit, the waiter suggested bread & butter or olives to start, but due to a confusion I ended up getting only the bread & butter (toasted, perhaps a little too vigorously, but good bread nonetheless). However, this is cleared up and I get the roast pumpkin salad I originally ordered (£5.35), with apologies and another drink on the house, which is most fair. The salad itself comes with a few small crostini with ricotta cheese and includes plenty of toasted pinenuts, parmesan and some tasty roasted pumpkin, and although perhaps a little too citrusy a dressing, is perfectly good photo.

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Last visited by Ewan, 21 May 2009. Opening hours and food times taken from website, May 2009.
OS X co-ord: 528587 OS Y co-ord: 180993 (Latitude: 51.513239 Longitude: -0.148314)
Last edited 2023-09-05 13:54:08 (version 5; diff). List all versions.