Green Man and French Horn - review

The Green Man suggests a cult festival. A Morris Dancer’s friend. Matched with French Horn it sounds like the start of a dirty joke. It was a boozer by the Coliseum, but is now the fourth outlet of Terroir (round the corner), Brawn and Battersea's Soif (no web site) with a slight Loire tinge, the admirable Ed Wilson at the helm as usual and some of the old Brawn crew in to chivvy, support, cover.

Culturally it has shifted seismically towards new London or Paridon

If any of the old locals come in they will find themselves gentrified and francofiled, a bit like the Dordogne must be, without the gin and tonic.

With coffee come these sweet little beans of raisins soaked in sweet Gaillac wine and chocolate. Neat trick, which is typical.

The menu follows the same small plates scenario of the other outlets rising from under £5 to £18 depending really on how much you want to share. Dish of the day, here a pertinent deal, of a slice of ham with a cassoulet of white beans and a glass of house red – organic or bio of course as most of the wines are  - for £10 is a good value come-on.

You have to dance carefully through the selections to not send the bill beyond reasonableness and to not get things that are too similar – one from each section is a good watchword, one which we ignored.

The cooking tends to be far sighted, ie reaching into the depths of what it might be. Hence:

The vinaigrette of leeks is neat and spiced up with brown shrimps (now there is a tough job for sous chef, pick the flesh out of these little babies). Muhrooms were to the fore – ceps in an omelette, girolles with artichokes and soft egg.

There are some tricky bits of snobby out of the way French like a rillons meaning slow cooked belly of pork with chicory and a sharp mustard dressing...

Rillons - meaning slow cooked belly of pork in lard...

Or a quick lurch back to England with slow roasted beetroot with two kinds of lettuce, dandelion and hazelnuts (please note PigandButcher).

An English twist with the beetroots

We could have had rabbit or partridge or I now realise some interestingly different desserts like tarte aux vigneronnes but opted for cheeses which were a bit of a sting at £4 – that was £4 each so four made it £16 which took the bill to £80. Sometimes this pricing structure just confuses everyone. Good cheeses mind...soft and funny names and smelly.

Something smelly and blue...

All told a good addition/revival to central London, personable staff and a dining room that looked like it was once a smoker’s den and probably wise to retain its rather monumental wood and curved glass frontage, and even the name, although culturally it has shifted seismically towards Paridon.

The web site – www.greenmanfrenchhorn.co.uk - was 404 while I am writing. The phone is 0207 836 2645

Service        4
Atmosphere    3
Cooking     7

Total 14/20