The Adam and Eve - Youngs (Bar)

Top 10 things we learnt the Adam & Eve pub in Fitzrovia:

1) Who knew you could get non-horrible food and a decent selection of drinks so close to the tourist Mecca of London that is Oxford Circus? We thought it was all Scottish steak houses and McBurgers.

2) Geronimo Inns is a pub group name you may have heard of. It seems to be taking over London with branches everywhere from Hackney to Heathrow, but chain-haters must not fret as each pub is individual; you’d never know – promise.

3) The Adam & Eve pub has some lovely touches: naturally the toilets are titled Adam and Eve, and in the bar you’ll find vegetable-adorned chandeliers and lampshades rising out of giant chorizo sausage tins.

4) It is a noisy pub. It’s quite echoey for a relatively small bar and at peak time it is difficult to hear each other across the table, so not the most relaxing setting for a meal.

5) Luckily, no food in this garden of Adam & Eve is off limits. The menu spans bar snacks to mains and sharing platters and it’s all good pub grub, nothing pretentious. Thumbs up.

6) We started with a charcuterie and cheese platter, with tasty cured meats and a lump of manchego cheese the size of my head – yum. A bowl of grapes and some fresh figs were a welcome bout of sweetness to the board.

7) Wild boar sausage and mash was a perfect winter warmer, especially accompanied by a hearty winter warmer ale. These rich, meaty sausages stole the show.

8) House favourite, the Adam and Eve burger, was a bit dry but accompanied by the most wonderful miniature jam jars filled with delicious burger relish and onion chutney. So good for chip dunking.

9) Adam and Eve gave in to temptation, and so did we. The salted caramel cheesecake was a rich, creamy, crème-caramel-tasting joy. And a bowl of peanut butter ice cream and dark chocolate sorbet was so wonderfully delicious I don’t think I’ll ever eat a Reese’s cup again, it would just be a disappointment.

10) As the crowd thinned and we could start to hear our own thoughts again, it was easier to relax. This pub is probably a good Sunday lunch spot, when there a fewer people about, but the tiny dining area gets drowned by the mid-week drinking rabble. ...read more