Greens Restaurant

Greens Restaurant

43 Lapwing Lane,
West Didsbury
Manchester
M20

Telephone: 0161 434 4259

Thursday 5th June 2003

Greens has been on our list of "places we must try" for a while. It has a pretty good reputation and one of our party is vegetarian. Today, four of us were able to take time out for lunch in Didsbury.

Greens is not licensed, and adopts a "Bring Your Own" policy, augmented by not imposing a corkage charge.

Decor is simple and there are 40-45 covers. The kitchen is visible from the dining room, and the frontage is almost completely glass, looking onto Lapwing Lane. There were a couple of diners when we arrived, and another couple entered some while later, so not too busy.

There is a small selection of soft drinks - ranging from Coke, through Fentimans Victorian Lemonade, Ginger Beer and Orange Jigger, to Elderberry Presse. The water seemed expensive at £3.25 per litre - and they couldn't even tell me which side of the mountain it had been drawn from!

We each tried a different offering from the Fentiman range and were generally pleased. I would have preferred to have had an option of freshly prepared juice - in fact I had rather expected that such would be available in a renowned Veggie establishment.

The day's soup was Carrot, Coriander and Coconut - and this was my choice. The others selected the Tomato, Spring Onion and Mint salad with spicy Vietnamese Nuoc Cham dressing, and Grilled Goat's Cheese on Pecan dressed Rocket.

I was particularly impressed with the soup - fresh ingredients shone through with well defined flavours. Both the other starters were pronounced good, with special praise for the Goat's cheese.

Three of use selected Red Thai Vegetable Curry with Sticky Rice and the fourth chose the Cheese Sausages with Mash and Onion Gravy.

Again, I was impressed by the distinct flavours: nicely balanced, spicy and aromatic without being overpowering. The others agreed, and the Sausage and Mash was also appreciated.

The dessert selection seemed to cause mass hysteria, and we all succumbed: three Sticky Toffee Puddings and a Lemon Syllabub finished the meal off properly.

Expressos good, but we were surprised when the "flat coffee" turned out to have a layer of foam: not quite a cappucino, but how could it be described as flat?

Total came to £52.50, service not included. We thought this represented good value.

We didn't have time to scrutinise the evening menu, but what little we saw seemed just as enticing as the lunch selection.

Recommended - even for carnivores.

Sandro