Randomness Guide to London - Differences between Version 15 and Version 14 of Green Man, W1W 7EP

Pub in Fitzrovia, refurbished in late 2007.

The decor inside is a bit Soho, but quite comfortable; the downstairs part has lots of leather banquettes and dark wood, with a booth down behind the bar (sometimes booked on busy evenings) and a few tables outside during summer. There is a separate room upstairs which is occasionally booked out for functions or events. On our November 2007 visit, the music wasn't bad at all, and not too loud; the staff turned it down temporarily if an unusually loud track came on - what excellent attention to detail!

There are three handpulls, though in April 2008, Firedrake found that they had no real ales at all, and no idea of when they might get them back. This apparently happens quite often: worth having an alternative in mind if your party includes real ale drinkers. On Ewan's November 2008 visit, there was Black Sheep Bitter (£2.95/pint) and Spitfire, with London Pride off, and in January 2009, his pint of London Pride -- the only ale available -- was particularly bad (though as the beer was off shortly after, it may have been the dregs of the cask). Ales aren't brilliantly kept: the focus is on cider, quite clearly, of which they have a large selection, including several from cask boxes behind the bar, and Addlestone's cloudy (£3.10/pint). They also have several fine lagers, including Sierra Nevada (£3.80/pint) and Staropramen.

The pavement can get packed on busy evenings, and one of the bar staff had to continually ask people to move onto the pavement on a May 2008 visit.

Mains on the regular menu are all priced between £6 (macaroni cheese) and £8.50 (fish pie with haddock, salmon, and prawns). The specials board on our visit offered beef stew with crusty bread (£4.50), cottage pie (£6.90), mushroom and asparagus risotto (£6.90), fish and chips (£7.50), boar and apple sausages (£7.50), and chicken, leek, and ham pie served with mash (£8.90). On a separate visit, Ewan's vegetarian burger was decent, if a little dry, and chips were a little undercooked. However, a friend's nachos were quite excellent.

The macaroni cheese is the only vegetarian option on the main menu, though the specials board on our visit did have one extra option; mushroom and asparagus risotto.

Sandwiches are between £3.90 (cheese and pickle, served with an apple) and £5.50 (sirloin steak and mustard, served with onion rings). Chips with aioli are £2.50, and puddings are £3.50. Bar snacks also look interesting; as well as mixed olives, wasabi peas, chilli puffs, and various kinds of nuts (all £2.10), they also serve sausage rolls, pork pies with piccallili, and chipolatas with mustard (all £3.50). Breakfast is served from 10am to around noon, with several options including porridge with honey (£2.50) and a full veggie breakfast (with veggie sausages). Both the full English and the full veggie are £5. On Sundays, a roast is available from noon.

Kake, Bec, Katie, Sarah, Kat, and Ruudboy visited for lunch on a Friday in late November 2007, after the refurbishment. The cider-drinkers among us were pleased to learn that they had several choices of real cider available, though we mostly stuck to the rather decent Addlestone's Cloudy. There was some real ale available; Kat tried the Doom Bar, but it tasted a bit strange, somewhat sour. They also offer a range of interesting soft drinks (e.g. Big Tom spiced tomato juice, blueberry/acai juice, Fentiman's ginger beer, etc).

Unfortunately the "lunch" part of the outing didn't go as well as it could have. Bec and Katie were lucky enough to order just before the rush, but when Ruudboy and Kake ordered 15 minutes later at just before 1pm, we were told there would be a 25-minute wait for food, and this in fact turned out to be a 50-minute wait. (We were comped a couple of drinks later on in an attempt to make up for this, but one of the people affected had already gone back to work.)

Bec and Kake both had macaroni cheese (£6); it was a bit bland, without much cheese flavour, and somewhat underseasoned, but it was served nice and hot and the pasta wasn't overcooked. Kake didn't think it was at all stodgy (though Sarah tried some of mine and thought it was overly floury). It was served as a decent-sized individual casserole dish full, with no unnecessary bits and pieces on the side.

Despite our lunch service disaster, this place probably deserves another try; it's most likely better outside peak times, and it is nice to have a decent choice of cider.

See also:

• Kake's photos of the menu: breakfast, main menu, cider and beer menu, wine and soft drink list
• Beer in the Evening comments
• Fancyapint review

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