A new breed of unpretentious wine bar and restaurants, Green and Blue is all about quality, value and having a good time. Wine bores should look elsewhere!

The Venue
Green and Blue is a welcoming little haven on a dour stretch of road next to Clapham North tube station. Its mottled greenish-grey interior is cosy and stylishly lit, with mismatched wooden tables and plenty of green plants. Compared to its East Dulwich bigger brother, this newer venue is smaller and more intimate, seating around 30 people on the ground floor and slightly fewer upstairs.

The Atmosphere
A pleasant hum of wine-fuelled chatter and the chinking of glasses tells you straight away that customers here feel convivial and relaxed. Manager and wine expert Olly darts between the tables of thirtysomethings, recommending wines and enthusiastically imparting his knowledge on all matters grape related. The genial atmosphere is attributable to Green and Blue’s everyman approach to wine, doing away with fussy etiquette, cork sniffing, wine buckets (except for Champagne, of course), and other snobbery that might be a deterrent to folk who want to discover more about wine without being made to feel like primitive dolts.

The Food
The food plays a supporting role at Green and Blue, consisting of tapas-style dishes that marry well with wine. You can also bring your own food if you like, for a £3 charge. A good choice, if you are ordering in, is the plate of juicy marinated courgettes and feta-stuffed chillies, followed by a black pudding scotch egg - a neat twist on a classic that was just crying out for some tangy red onion chutney. Like the wine, the food tastes thoughtfully sourced and is astonishingly good value. For £6.50, the fish platter is piled with meaty fillets of smoked mackerel, gravadlax, and rich terracotta-coloured crabmeat, delicious smeared onto accompanying hunks of brown bread. Green and Blue also opens for breakfast in the mornings, and serves a traditional roast on Sunday.

The Drink
Green and Blue has a changing menu of about 80 wines, and being a shop as well as a bar, the menu lists both a drink-in price and a take-home price (about half as expensive) for all bottles, and a smaller menu for wines by the glass. Wines are grouped under fun categories like crisp and elegant, smoky and spicy, and something completely different, with in-house prices starting at £11 a bottle and rising up to £40 for wines in the even finer category. There’s an even spread of European and new world wines, and a large proportion are made organically by small producers. Recommended are bottles such as the white Burgundy, which is double-decanted to aerate it before serving, teasing out vivid notes of apple and honey. Also excellent is the smoky Cotes du Rhone with an edge of red cherries and cloves.

The Last Word
As relaxed and intimate as your favourite pub, but with an eye for quality like an expensive restaurant, an evening sharing wine with friends at Green and Blue is sheer, bleary-eyed pleasure.

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