The Stand Comedy Club

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 – in the shops now or buy online.

For ten years mirth-seekers have delved beneath York Place in search of something to tickle their ribs and split their sides – and the hugely successful comedy club has provided just that. To accompany the Thursday to Saturday night line-ups, a repertoire of hearty pub fare is on offer, including burgers, wedges, nachos, chilli and often a special at the whim of the chef, such as Moroccan lamb with couscous. Each meal is a solid, hole-filling hunger solution: the burger is flanked by cheese and bacon; the nachos are smothered in tomato and crème fraîche. What the platefuls lack in delicacy they make up for in substance. Lunch provides a similar function on Sundays, offering to fix a hangover with medicinal carbohydrates and distract it with some top-notch improvised comedy thrown in for free. The menu isn't the star of the show here – more the background setting that allows the entertainment to excel. Combined with the well-stocked bar it is perfectly adequate, and the ability to accommodate both vegan (chilli) and gluten-free (also chilli and ratatouille when ordered without a wrap) diets with such a small menu is commendable.

• High point: The entertainment will tickle your ribs…
• Low point: …but the food will stick to them