Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Fernandez & Wells
is a cozy, convivial, delightfully simple little wine, cheese, and
ham bar. Drop in and grab a stool as you belly up to the big wooden bar. Share a plate of
top-quality cheeses and/or Spanish, Italian, or French hams with fine bread and oil, while
sipping a nice glass of wine (daily 12:00-22:00, until 23:00 Thu-Sat, quality sandwiches
at lunch, 43 Lexington Street, tel. 020/7734-1546).
Traditional Choices near Trafalgar Square
(See “Central London Eateries” map,
here
.)
These places, all of which provide a more “jolly olde” experience than high cuisine, are
within about 100 yards of Trafalgar Square.
St. Martin-in-the-Fields Café in the Crypt
is just right for a tasty meal on a monk's
budget—maybe even on a monk's tomb. You'll dine sitting on somebody's gravestone in
an ancient crypt. Their enticing buffet line is kept stocked all day, serving breakfast, lunch,
and dinner (
£
7-10 cafeteria plates, hearty traditional desserts, free jugs of water). They
also serve a restful cream tea (
£
6, daily 14:00-18:00). You'll find the café directly un-
der the St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church, facing Trafalgar Square—enter through the glass
pavilion next to the church (Mon-Tue 8:00-20:00, Wed 8:00-22:30, Thu-Sat 8:00-21:00,
Sun 11:00-18:00, profits go to the church, Tube: Charing Cross, tel. 020/7766-1158 or
020/7766-1100). Wednesday evenings at 20:00 come with a live jazz band (
£
5.50-12 tick-
ets). While here, check out the concert schedule for the busy church upstairs (or visit
The Chandos Pub's Opera Room
floats amazingly apart from the tacky crush of
tourism around Trafalgar Square. Look for it opposite the National Portrait Gallery (corner
of William IV Street and St. Martin's Lane) and climb the stairs (to the left or right of the
pub entrance) to the Opera Room. This is a fine Trafalgar rendezvous point and wonder-
fully local pub. They serve
£
5 sandwiches and a better-than-average range of traditional
pub meals for under
£
10—meat pies and fish-and-chips are their specialty. The ground-
floor pub is stuffed with regulars and offers snugs (private booths) and more serious beer
drinking. To eat on that level, you have to order upstairs and carry it down. Chandos
proudly serves the local Samuel Smith beer at
£
3 a pint (kitchen open daily 11:00-19:00,
Fri and Sun until 18:00, order and pay at the bar, 29 St. Martin's Lane, Tube: Leicester
Square, tel. 020/7836-1401).
Gordon's Wine Bar
is really a Back Door eatery—you have to enter through its leafy
patio just past its locked street entrance. This candlelit 15th-century wine cellar is filled
with dusty old bottles, faded British memorabilia, and nine-to-fivers. At the “English rus-
tic” buffet, choose a hot meal or cold meat dish with a salad (figure around
£
7-8/dish); the
£
10 cheese plate comes with two cheeses, bread, and a pickle. Then step up to the wine
bar and consider the many varieties of wine and port available by the glass (this place is