A town's family-run real ale pub have launched an "amazing" new menu "truly offering something for everyone."

After a pandemic-enforced kitchen hiatus, and a number of food truck pop-ups, The Green Dragon, on Broad Street, Bungay, has cooked up a new menu this summer.

Chef Ian Cooke, who used to co-own the Ciscoe's Pan Asian Sushi restaurant in Norwich, has now joined the team to provide fast, affordable and tasty meals for pub-goers.

Owner James Pickard said: "We have put in a huge amount of work into the food offering in the pub and now we've launched a new menu, which is really suited to the pub, with our excellent new chef.

"Ian is amazing and we have worked together on refurbishing the kitchen and putting together a menu which we are really proud of and of which we really hope will suit the pub.

"We've watched the rise of food truck culture in the UK in the past few years and the coming and going of the numerous 'gourmet' burger businesses around the area, and we decided to keep it simple, do better than frozen or fried fast food and use our experience of what works well in a 'wet-led' pub.

"We've created a menu that truly has something for everyone, is really affordable, gets to your table super fast and has you coming straight back begging for more."

Mr Pickard said the new offering has been designed to suit the pub's small tables, as well as pair well with their drinks.

He said: "A long time ago we were known for having curry nights on Wednesdays, and we've done tapas in the past too.

"All of that stopped with Covid and we started doing a few pop-up events.

"People mainly come to us for the beer we've been brewing ourselves for over 20 years, and we don't have big tables for food like in restaurants, so we've tried to create a menu that pairs well with our drinks and can be eaten on small tables."

The new menu includes fillet steak rolls on fresh Portuguese-style crusty bread rolls, authentic Canadian poutine and plant-based dishes.

A children's menu is also available.

Canadian influence

The pub was taken on by brothers Robert and William Pickard in 1991 and rebranded the Green Dragon, having previously been the Horse and Groom.

The brothers soon established the Green Dragon brewery at the site, before passing the business on to Robert's son James in 2016.

Mr Pickard returned to the town to take on the pub after leaving his job as a software developer in Montreal, Canada.

He said: "I felt this was a chance for a change of scenery for my then-girlfriend, now my wife, and I from Montreal, and an opportunity to impact the town and community where I was raised, as well as giving my dad the chance to retire.

"I'd lived in Canada for six years and poutine was something I'd really enjoyed.

"I felt like there was an opportunity to bring that to Bungay in an authentic way, using real cheese curds we've sourced."