Green Man & French Horn

54 St Martin's Lane, Covent Garden, London, WC2N 4EA - View on a map
Telephone: 020 7836 2645

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Green Man & French Horn Restaurant In London

Overall 9.3
Food 9.5
Service 8.5
Atmosphere 9.5
Value 9.5
Based on 2 reviews

our review

Ed Wilson and Oli Barker (Terroirs, Brawn, Soif) have opened their fourth restaurant in Covent Garden. The Green Man & French Horn is housed in a former pub of the same name on St Martin's Lane. The menu and wine list take their inspiration from the Loire region of France with a special focus on fish and seafood.

September 2012

what the critics say

Zoe Williams - 3.5/5

Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - He started with beetroot, anchovy, egg and watercress, in which the vegetables ranged from deeply pink to seductively golden, and that well-practised combination, from the salty fish, through the mellow egg, to the peppery watercress, could not have been more richly executed. I had rillons with endive and mustard. One of the lesser-known pork treats from a region that probably has 50 words for 'pig', this is a small chunk of cured pork belly, lovingly cooked and finished with a sweetish glaze, deliciously shreddable, quite mischievous and fatty. The mustard was a perfect foil.

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Marina O'Loughlin

Friday, December 14, 2012 - White onion soup, rich and sweet with a base of remarkably good stock, is topped with crisp, oily croutons and seasonal salers cheese. There are slender leeks, braised into silkiness, scattered with egg yolk mimosa and little brown shrimps. A flawless slab of wild turbot comes in a lake of beurre blanc as soothing and lush as a warm spring day in the Loire Valley...Green Man & French Horn doesn't pretend to be a destination restaurant; the food isn't astonishing or groundbreaking, it's just good.

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This Is London

Friday, November 16, 2012 - The simplicity and quality are clearest in the food. A starter of dandelion, beetroot and hazlenuts was fresh and flavourful, the soft sweetness of the beetroot balanced by the dandelion and crunch of nuts. Girolles, artichoke and warm egg yolk was a beautifully rustic mix...But the main menu innovation at the Green Man over the other three restaurants is the addition of fish. Thus fat scallops were cooked to perfection, bursting with flavour. Likewise sardines à la plancha with parsley and garlic were spanking fresh, as evocative as any I’ve had on a harbour front.

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Jay Rayner

Sunday, November 11, 2012 - There is a rustling bowl of crisp, salty whitebait for £7.50, which we started eating primly with our forks until any pretence at politeness was abandoned and they became finger food. As did a generous serving of surf clams in a bright broth of fennel and dill...The brilliance here is the ability to expand the Terroirs idea – small and big plates of rich gutsy food matched to interesting wines at a fair price – in different locations, without losing a sense of individual identity. It works and it keeps working. They are welcome to open as many of these as they like.

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Andy Lynes - 4/5

Thursday, November 08, 2012 - What could be more enjoyable than a thick slab of rough country pork terrine served with top-notch sourdough baguette from St John bakery? A simple autumnal assembly of girolles and artichoke sauced with a warm egg yolk and fragrant tarragon comes very close. Apart from the comprehensive wine list and a selection of half a dozen cheeses, the Loire theme is a bit on the vague side. But who cares when a fillet of perfectly cooked gurnard with shellfish vinaigrette or a pear, salted caramel and crisp sablé biscuit are this good?

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Tracey MacLeod - 11/15

Saturday, October 13, 2012 - There was an ascetic simplicity to a whole grilled mackerel, immaculately fresh – the skin glistening, the rich, dark flesh falling sweetly from the bone – which came naked to the table with nothing but an acidulous tangle of pickled cucumber. A heap of tiny brown shrimp tumbled from a mimosa fluff of grated egg white and yolk, with some silky, sour-sweet leeks vinaigrette. This is modern British cooking, rather than old-fashioned French...My lunch may not have taught me much about the Loire and its gastronomic tributaries. But I did feel as though I'd discovered another reason to fall in love with London.

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Guy Dimond - 4/5

Wednesday, September 26, 2012 - The Green Man's Francophone staff are engaged, keen, attentive. The menu's reassuringly simple - rilletes slow-cooked in pork fat, served with sourdough toast and cornichons; moist black pudding with a pot-au-feu style vegetables. Yet it's the sort of food that leads you into temptation - a cep omelette was so oozingly suggestive it would be banned on pre-watershed television. And who could resist the little poached mirabelle plums, just waiting to have their skins burst? The characteristics of the accompanying wines are no less mischievous - flirty and at times even a little filthy, yet mostly just as companionable and sophisticated as the dishes.

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As a New York transplant, my ideal night on the town is rarely met with the same combination of hospitality and food here in London. While this city is undoubtedly the mecca of International food, it is still behind the times when it comes to a balance of all the odds at stake during a dining experience. However I had the pleasure of dining at Green Man French Horn on Saturday evening and while the service did not blow me away, it was an absolute culinary success. For starters the Rillons with Bitter Leaves were served with the most sensational mustard sauce that had me just eating the leaves once the pork belly was gone. The mains of Beef Blade, Langoustines, and Saucisson were all cooked to perfection and a glowing wine list tied the whole evening together. I have been to their other venues and find a particular sense of comfort from the moment I walk in the door. The texture of the paper and smells lingering in the air prepare me for what I know will be a delicious meal. I would most definitely return even just for a quick bite to eat - perfect for family dinners, first dates, or dinner with friends.
Comment on this reader review

9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, December 10, 2012

Had a superb lunch. Starters were great. The mackerel was cooked to perfection and the pear dessert out of this world. Service was excellent. Will definitely return.
Comment on this reader review

D Davis
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, October 05, 2012

what the bloggers say

Essex Eating

Friday, January 18, 2013 - I had no real expectations when I walked in, but I left completely and utterly enamoured. There is no extraneous faff or ostentation to what they’re doing, just honest, simple, beautifully cooked and plated food. Which is exactly the sort of grub that I enjoy eating the most. That the accompanying wine list is huge and very accessible just makes the whole proposition even more attractive.

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Green Man & French Horn

Find special offers, earn points, see menus.

our review

what the critics say

Zoe Williams - 3.5/5

Marina O'Loughlin

This Is London

Jay Rayner

Andy Lynes - 4/5

Tracey MacLeod - 11/15

Guy Dimond - 4/5

your comments review this restaurant and win a bottle of champagne

what the bloggers say

Essex Eating

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