Randomness Guide to London Menu

A pub in Pimlico, situated between Victoria and Pimlico stations, offering an abundance of cask ales and exotic bottled beers.

Where this was once a poky estate pub called the Pimlico Tram, it reopened around July 2009 under new management, having been renovated with plentiful mirrors, large maps and a new focus on ales and food, with walls painted a light shade of green. Inside, the space is broken up by support pillars, with one half of the pub getting plentiful natural light from ceiling height windows, though a large table near the door gets almost no light by contrast. However, the tables are a comfortable size, and the benches for seating around the wall have plenty of cushions. There are also a few seats outside.

The bar has ten handpulls for ale, with Greene King Olde Trip, Bateman's XXXB, Dark Star Best (£3.20) and Everard's Tiger on offer in August 2009. There's a regular presence for Dark Star and Thornbridge breweries, with plenty of well-chosen guests. In May 2010, they had a mini-festival of six Brew Dog cask ales. All those Ewan has tried have been in excellent condition (our group settled in to drinking the Tiger for most of the evening on the August 2009 visit). There are also a few lagers on draught, including Leffe, Budvar and Peroni, as well as Aspall's cider. However, behind the bar is a huge collection of mainly German beers, as well as some good Belgian ones too, generally priced around £4-£5. A bottle of Kopparberg pear cider was £4.

The food menu is served lunchtimes and evenings, and focuses on modern European choices, leaning towards a French influence (pâté en croûte features in the starters, though with a good range of mains, including a vegetarian choice) photo of menu in Aug 2009. Ewan's vegetarian lasagne (£8) photo was presented simply but was perfectly good, made from butternut squash and spinach and topped with parmesan, and served with a small side salad. A vegetarian sharing platter on a later visit was a little disappointing (£11) photo, as it was mainly just flatbreads with a variety of dips, and some olives and artichokes.

On the first Friday evening we visited, the place remained largely empty with only a few small groups of drinkers (aside from our group of 10), ceding later in the evening to some older local residents, though the publican insisted this was the first time they'd not been busy since opening. Music was playing, soft jazz and other bland choices, but the atmosphere was pleasant enough. Another Friday in September 2009 was a little busier, but securing a large table wasn't a problem over the course of the evening, and it remains a good bet for an evening drink.

Ewan's verdict: A great range of well-kept beer and a location not too far from transport links make this a good choice for drinks. The expansion to ten ale handpulls makes this very much a destination pub for ale drinkers.

Accessibility: There's no step to get in, but toilets are down a very narrow staircase.

See also:

• Fancyapint review
• Beer In The Evening comments
• Qype comments
• Boak And Bailey review
• Freaky Trigger review
• Ten-inch Wheels review
• Beer Justice review