Greens Review

Keeping any restaurant open for twenty-five years is a rather stellar achievement, but one that only serves vegetarian food? Even the most confident outreaches of TV Chef Simon Rimmer's mind couldn't have possibly foreseen way back in 1990 that Greens would still be going strong as a vegetable haven to the masses in 2015. Yet it continues to thrive and on my recent Saturday evening visit with my wife, young daughter and my vegetarian father, the place was packed to the rafters with diners hungry for a meat-free extravaganza.

The dining room itself is relaxed enough; there was a slight pretentious feel to the place (it's a celebrity hang out don't you know) but the staff were all perfectly friendly. Dinner began with a bang when the waiter giving us the menus knocked over a wine glass on our table; this wasn't a problem in itself but sadly he only bothered to remove the large shards leaving my wife to clean up the smaller pieces. Not exactly a piece of stellar service.

There's a decent selection of beers, cocktails and wine, including some not too shabby non-alcoholic options which is always nice to see. I partook of some decent stout, a nice glass of sauvignon blanc and a pretty enjoyable gin and tonic cocktail during the course of the meal.

And then the food began. I started with the oyster mushrooms; the accompanying pancakes didn't exactly look fresh out of the pan but there were some decent elements to the dish and it was quite enjoyable. My main course of cheese and basil sausages again lacked the kind of technical refinement I'd been expecting, but did pack some punching flavours so no complaints at all. My wife and father had the curry and burger mains as well and both were nicely received. I must just mention the kids menu options also; £5 for a pizza and ice cream option was enjoyed by our daughter and offered good value I thought.

Dessert of pina colada cheesecake was good and the matching Tabali wine a nice additional offering. And that was pretty much that. We all left happy; Greens is unquestionably a good neighbourhood restaurant and although this is absolutely not a fine dining experience by any stretch, the food and service were both well above average. Considering there's not a single piece of meat or fish in sight, that's a pretty decent achievement in my book.