Grand Union Camberwell (Bar, Restaurant, Club)

Best for: Burgers; cocktails; after work drinks.

Great: Pub food; gourmet burgers; student deals.

In my many years of experience, I’ve found that the best pubs are the ones with a subtle atmosphere so pleasing that you can’t really put your finger on it until you’re about five pints in. Which presents a problem for the few of us charged with the task of reviewing pubs.

Thankfully, the Grand Union Camberwell is a venue so quirky, so out of the ordinary, that, even before the foam had settled on my pint of ale, I was finding it difficult to really understand the vibe of the pub. It kept me guessing.

For the first few minutes, we couldn’t settle. What kind of pub is this? The walls are lined with Victorian art to compliment the squashed leather sofas of the dining booths. But raising our eyes from that we both had to do quite a few double takes; leafy tropical plants, a few neon signs, and odd Japanese-style fans adorning the walls. What kind of atmosphere was it going for?

Then came the menu; yet another double take. Surely somewhere with an atmosphere so unique would boast a suitably unexpected, original menu. I wasn’t sure what I expected; roasted pheasant maybe? But the menu was divided rather neatly and simply between burgers and pizza.

Hang on, what? Really? Am I missing something here? A plain menu takes guts. A faux-Victorian décor surrounded by tropical plants take guts. Ten minutes into our visit and I was waiting for guts to give way to some substance. There was another menu of the same size that was entirely devoted to cocktails and wine, both of which were undeniably impressive. The cocktails in particular were inventive and caught my eye straight away, hinting at no small amount of style and grandeur. Something told me this place has some fancy tricks up its sleeve and I wanted to be involved as soon as possible. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long.

The Surf-and-Turf burger was piled high with shrimps and succulent beef drizzled with butter sauce in a way that, cliché as it is, made me think, “this isn’t just a burger”. Much like the restaurant itself, the burger was jazzy, unconventional and definitely a hell of an experience. I say this with such flowery vocabulary to make it seem as though I didn’t just go to a pub and eat a burger that was incredible; though I did, and it was. My intention is to get the point across that nothing is really what it seems at the Grand Union Camberwell. It’s not just a pub. It’s not just a burger. I can’t stress that enough.

I think the name of the game at this venue is attention to detail. That’s not the first thing that comes to mind when walking through the doors into the dimly lit pub without a bar where the patrons drink beautifully vibrant cocktails with three or four straws at a time. There isn’t even space to sit at the bar, that’s how un-like a normal pub this is.

The longer we sat there, the longer I started to notice just how seriously this venue takes itself. The attention to detail is staggering. It’s not about a clash of more than one world. It’s not about how many times they can make you crick your neck trying to take it all in. It’s about the beautiful arches over the entrance, about the elegant non-burger burger, and about the flickering neon signs on the walls. Attention to detail, the name of the game. It didn’t even need five pints, though I’m sure that wouldn’t hurt. It keeps you guessing from start to finish, so much so that you might want to end up back there again just to see if it still lives up to it. I’ve been back and it does.
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