We landed at The Gun at 1pm and left at 18:30 hrs. That’s a proper long boozy lunch for ten people who all love their food without a single complaint…so big shout from the ten of us to The Gun. Wicked service, great food…and perhaps most importantly, a beautiful old pub…which is important as its a little bit tucked away from central London.

First, a few pints overlooking the river on a lovely sunny day…it was a good start. Great Guinness by the way, another healthy sign. We were ten for lunch so we took the dining room upstairs aka The River Room. You’re supposed to have the set-menu when you take this room which is a bit annoying but they were extremely helpful and allowed us to have the a la carte menu. The room itself has a nice old-school feel to it, with a wicked mahogany dining table that sits up to 14, cool paintings, spacious and airy, and overlooking the river. There’s even a stereo to create an ambience should you want one. Our assigned hostess for lunch was extremely cool, friendly and professional…and you need to be with a party like ours…it was all take, take, take.

Anyway, we were treated to a complimentary glass of champagne which again was an extremely good coup. We nailed three courses each and drank some damn good wine. Starters were pints of prawns, fois gras, potted smoked mackerel and baked goats cheese…all pretty solid. It was all about the mains though, the pan-fried stonebass was perfectly cooked and accompanied. Rissotto of jerusalem artichoke was mouth-wateringly delicious. The steaks were juicy…but I went to Argentina recently so its a bit hard to eat steak in this country now. I normally don’t give a toss about vegetables but even I was drawn to the spinach….it just looked so fresh and perfect and glistening in its cute little bowl, it was hard to ignore. And whist the pointlessness of vegetables is not something that troubles me on a day to dat basis, some vegetables just are better than others, for example, The Potato. Maybe that’s not a vegetable actually, think its a tuber or something. Anway, no great meal is great without some kind of tuber, and The Gun’s “ratty” spuds were yummy. I’m not sure what “ratty” is but its definitely not of the rodent variety you’ll be pleased to know.

I’m more of a savoury man and don’t normally do deserts but I’m big enough to give it a go once in a while, any any menu that sports the words banana and tatin, has my approval. That’s a “banana tatin” in case you’re not good at putting words together. I did try the cheese-cake, I’m not really into cheese-cake so my opinion is just my opinion but I thought it was a bit bland. But I ate and shared none of my banana tatin…

Book a table, wicked afternoon!

The Gun is a pub in the docklands, South Quay, which is one stop before Canary Wharf on the DLR. It’s a fairly large pub situated on a tiny, fictional looking street. The Gun has a number of features, firstly it’s outdoor seating is right on the river, on the opposing side of the O2 and north Greenwich. It has an alfresco dining section for the summer which serves beautiful Portugese food and a great selection of cocktails and unlike other pubs and bars, if you choose to sit outside there is a purposely built bar outside which saves you having to go in and out all the time to get your drinks. There’s also another designated restaurant area which serves food inside the pub, tucked away in the back corner.
The Gun is the kind of place where you could literally spend hours upon hours, especially in the summer. The Gun is our local pub so we often venture there after we’ve been for a meal, it’s also a great meeting place before a big night out, the drinks are priced on the more expensive side of pub prices and the food is relatively expensive. The food in the general restaurant area is in the pricing range of a good restaurant – which may be justifiable for the Alfreso dining section (as I have never tried it i wouldn't know) as it always smells awfully good, however I had a wild boar burger from the general restaurant which was priced at twelve pounds and I can think of many restaurants where I could have eaten a much better burger for a better price.
The nibbles they serve are really nice and although still on the expensive side are good for picking at if you’re there just to chill, they do a beautiful bread selection with a pesto dip thing, they also have an amazing cheese board served with grapes and all the extras for a cheese board.
The Gun, all in all, although slightly pricey is a really nice way to chill out for an evening or during the day over the weekend. It’s a cool place to get dressed up and go with the girls or a big group of friends and people do dress to impress here – which is slightly strange for a pub, but nice nevertheless.
In order to get the full feel for this place it’s best to attend in the summer.