The Old Brewery

Great food and friendly staff who gave you enough time to choose and enjoy the food. Would definitely come here again and would recommend to anyone in the area

As we are big fans of meantime, we headed to the brewery restaurant for a meal.
I ordered the pork terrine to start and my other half got the venison, which were both quite nice. However we were more impressed by our mains - the duck and the ribs. Both fell of the bone nicely, and the side of greens we ordered were nicely cooked, still with a bit of a bite. For dessert, the pear and ginger crumble was lovely, and the chocolate tarting was nice but very rich. It was a huge meal so couldn't finish it all but it was very enjoyable.
The beer added to the experience: We got 2 taster "paddles" - each had 4 taster glasses we chose from the menu.
The staff were very friendly with lots of advice on the food and beer.

If you like your beer, and we don’t mean the usual weak lagers or soapy bitters, then you must pop along to the Old Brewery in Greenwich. These are serious beers, we’re talking up to 10% ABV serious!

Situated in the Old Royal Naval College just a cannon ball’s shot away from the Thames and the newly renovated Cutty Sark, it’s split into three distinct areas. 1) An outside courtyard perfect for summer drinking (when summer decides to show up). 2) A cosy, dimly lit bar with a ‘wall of beer’ and a good selection of wines and bar food too. 3) The restaurant, during the day it’s a relaxed cafe and at night it’s converted into a slightly more formal dining room…

And what a room, as we arrived for the beer pairing evening we were greeted by a rack of hundreds of bottles hanging from the high ceiling and the shiny brass tanks of the Meantime micro brewery. The seats were already arched around a table on which sat 10 different bottles of beer. Saff looked at me in horror at the thought of drinking that much beer. I, however, was up for the challenge.

Taking centre stage for an hour (or as it turned out about 40 minutes) was American born brewmaster Eric Toft. Eric, currently at the Schoenram Brewery, has worked for some of the world’s most well-respected craft beer producing companies in the USA, Belgium and Germany. What he doesn’t know about yeast and hops isn’t worth knowing, but what he knows about fashion could be written on a bottle top. A plaid shirt tucked into lederhosen isn’t a good look for a grown man! This dress sense could be explained away by the fact he has lived in Bavaria for over a decade and spends every waking second thinking about or drinking beer.

Even though most of what Eric said went over our heads (we’re not beer experts by any stretch of the imagination), it’s hard not to admire his passion and enthusiasm. Brewing is such a dry and specialist subject matter but somehow Eric made it amusing. During the talk we tasted Schoenram Gold (the most mild beer of the night), Hop Devil (a rich tasting amber beer) and Saphir Bock Victory (with a sweeter flavour). After a short rundown of the menu by Rod Jones, their in-house brewer and beer sommelier, we’re shown to our tables.

Now this was the section that we were really interested in. We’d obviously been to wine pairing evenings but never a dedicated beer matching event. The five course menu sounded really good, but noticed the lack of carbs, we later found out that this is a deliberate move as beers are more filling than wine. So that explains why it’s not called a ‘wine belly’.

First up was the Seared scallop with pickled cauliflower puree & carrot oil. The clean yet strong Schoenram Pils cut though the earthiness of the purée and somehow highlighted the sweetness of the carrot oil. The scallops needed the crunch from chunks of pickled cauliflower.

The Confit duck leg & foie gras terrine served with chutney & baby gherkins was paired with a glass of Conatus (a 17 month old Belgian style beer). The terrine was extremely rich and far too fatty/buttery for Saff. Although I loved it on the toast with onion marmalade style chutney. The slight fizz from the beer did a brilliant job of cleaning the fat from your palate in preparation for the third course.

Next came the Brown shrimp-stuffed tomato with hollandaise sauce & keta caviar washed down with Old Brewery Belgian Pale Ale. This is a popular dish served in Belgian coastal towns, the sweetness of the tomato and the fairly subtle sauce didn’t overpower the shrimp and was a much more interesting dish than I expected. The wheat beer had spiced tones to it, I picked out cinnamon. I was starting to get the hang of this beer tasting malarky. This fish dish would have really only gone with the driest of wines without getting a ‘metallic’ taste that can sometimes happen – no such problem with beer!

On to the main event, Pork belly with spiced red cabbage & Bramley apple served with Saphir Bock. This is a typical Bavarian meal, served with a typical Bavarian beer. The actual pork belly was moist and full of its meaty juices, as for the crackling, well, it was perfectly crispy without that layer of chewy fat you often get. Beer sommelier Rod Jones, who was walking amongst the diners, asked me what flavours I could pick up from the beer. By now we were both starting to get a little tipsy and I blurted out dark chocolate without really thinking. Rod smiled and congratulated me, these chocolate and caramel notes came from the type of malts used – told you I was getting good!

To finish I had the bonus of a double cheese board (regular readers will know exactly how Saff thinks about cheese). This was served with 3 of the highest ABV beers I think I’ve had, luckily they were served in shot glasses. The Schoenram Imperial Stout (10%), Schoenram IPA (8.2%) and Victory Storm King Imperial Stout (9.1%) were face twistingly strong that after taking a sip of the Imperial Stout our waitress looked at my expression and said ‘kick in the balls?’ You get the idea!

We both had a fantastic evening with plenty of good food, even more great beer and a talk from Eric the brewmaster, all for £50 each. The Old Brewery hosts regular Beer and Food matching evening’s each having its own different theme.

The pub is located inside the maritime museum area. It is a very nice pub, with a lot of outdoor space, a garden area and an indoor area. We went dor Sunday Roast. Staff is friendly, but food took a bit longer. We got the sharing roast that has pork, chicken and beef. A massive portion that can feed 3 people. I would say the gravy could be better, it was most just the juice of the fat of the meat cooked. So not my favourite. Their burgers on the other hand, a beautiful thick patty well done, sooooo incredible delicious. I ended regretting not to har order a burger for me. The best of this pub it is the indoor area, at the back it is the old brewery space, and there are a lot of navy decor’s in the walls, making a beautiful area. The restaurant has access to the museum area, so i you are lucky you see some. I will be coming back as I got overall impressed. Just not giving 5 year, to suggest to improve the roast gravy.

Great location and food. Had booked an inside table for lunch for 6 - we were shown to a lovely table just by the brewery equipment with great views of this vast 3 story high old brewery building. It was very well spaced from adjoining seats and the 6 of us could talk at normal volume without having to shout despite the restaurant being full. Not many restaurants offer that. The food was very good (lovely vegan roast), good beer as one would expect in an old brewery, and really good service - friendly, responsive, no need to wait ages to pay ( (which always irks me - why are other restaurants so slow to take my money). Outside tables looked fine, but this was London in August so cold and wet

Nice bar with lovely floral beer garden in Greenwich. Serves locally brewed aptly named 'Meantime' lager which is quite nice. Friendly staff. Expect to pay just under £14 for two pints though, London pricing strikes again! Didn't eat but food looked very good.

Awesome decor and good food. It's a beautiful pub with a lot of flair and character. Kid friendly and even if busy the staff were ultra nice and accommodating. They have two bathrooms with changing facilities for babies which means, no matter how busy, there's no wait.

Popular pub which is rammed during summer time. Great for kids as it’s spacious inside and outside. Kids menu is good and scotch eggs are highly recommended! Would suggest booking ahead of time as it’s unlikely you’ll get a spot via walk-in over the weekend.