Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Ì
Kastner & Ovens
52 Floral St, WC2
T
020 7836
2700;
!
Covent Garden; map p.132.
Minimalist
takeaway where the emphasis is on top-quality fresh
salads and heart-warming savoury dishes, plus an amazing
selection of cakes, all made on the premises. You'll pay
around £4 for three salads.
Mon-Fri 8am-4pm.
Monmouth Coffee Company
27 Monmouth St, WC2
W
monmouthcoffee.co.uk;
!
Covent Garden or Leicester
Square; map p.132.
The marvellous aroma is the first thing
that greets you when you walk in to this tiny old coffee shop
run by the quality Monmouth Coffee roasters. Pick and mix
your coffee from a fine selection (or buy the beans to take
home) and grab a pastry to go with. Branches in Borough
Market and Bermondsey.
Mon-Sat 8am-6.30pm.
Poetry Café
22 Betterton St, WC2
T
020 7420 9888,
W
poetrysociety.org.uk;
!
Covent Garden or Holborn;
map p.132.
This simple veggie café, which has been
around for years, is a pleasant place to relax, with salads,
soups, light meals and cakes on offer; mains £5-7.
Evenings see regular, high-standard poetry readings.
Mon-Fri noon-11pm, Sat 7-11pm.
Rock & Sole Plaice
47 Endell St, WC2
T
020 7836 3785;
!
Covent Garden; map p.132.
No-nonsense fish-and-
chip shop where they do all the staples just right; eat in or
at one of the pavement benches, or takeaway. It's not that
cheap; fish and chips costs around £12.
Mon-Sat
11.30am-10.30pm, Sat & Sun noon-9.30pm.
Spud
26 New Row, WC2
T
020 7240 2215,
W
ilovespud
.com;
!
Covent Garden; map p.132.
A groovier version
of
Spud-U-Like
, this hole in the wall gussies up the humble
baked potato (or sweet potato) with rich, tasty toppings -
more toppings than tater, in fact, whether you go for
Sicilian aubergine stew or
merguez
sausage and beans, or
keep it old school with tuna, sweetcorn and mayo. From
around £4.50. Take away or eat downstairs.
Mon-Fri
10am-7.30pm, Sat 11am-7.30pm.
the house” signs and faded movie posters,
Dishoom
is buzzy
and fun but, most importantly, serves good food - don't
miss the
pau bhaji
, a toasted bun filled with veggie curry,
and the really good, filling black dhal. Their breakfasts,
with fruit-packed lassis and spicy scrambled eggs, are a hit
too. Mains from £6.50, small dishes for less. There's another
branch in Shoreditch.
Mon-Thurs 8am-11pm, Friday
8am-midnight, Sat 9am-midnight, Sun 9am-10pm.
Green Man and French Horn
54 St Martin's Lane, WC2
T
0207 836 2645,
W
greenmanfrenchhorn.co;
!
Leicester Square; map p.132.
Victorian pub refashioned
as a trendily rustic French restaurant, specializing in food
from the Loire region. The daily changing menu might
feature such dishes as squid and black pudding or lamb
chops, chard and anchovies, along with a number of simple
fish dishes, and the wine list features lots of organic and
biodynamic varieties. Mains around £12-21;
plat
plus wine
£10.
Mon-Sat noon-11pm.
Ì
Hawksmoor
11 Langley St, WC2
T
020 420 9390,
W
thehawksmoor.com;
!
Covent Garden; map p.132.
Covent Garden branch, in an atmospheric old brewery, of
this bijou group of contemporary steak restaurants - the
original is in Spitalfields (see p.378). You could spend well
over £50 per head on the best British beef and flavoursome
extras, including roast bone marrow, roast mushrooms and
mac 'n' cheese, but there's a two-/three-course express
menu (£23/£26; not served 6.30-10pm), which includes
rib-eye steak, and you can eat burgers (including their
trademark
kimchi
burger) for £15 in the bar.
Mon-Thurs
noon-3pm & 5-10.30pm, Fri & Sat noon-3pm &
5-11pm, Sun noon-9.30pm.
J. Sheekey
28-35 St Martin's Court, WC2
T
020 7240
2565,
W
j-sheekey.co.uk;
!
Leicester Square; map
p.132.
A
grande dame
of the London dining scene -
established in 1896 in the heart of theatreland - this lovely
old seafood restaurant is a glittering, special occasion kind
of place. Price-wise, the weekend lunch three-course
menu, at £26.50, is your best bet, along with the oyster bar.
Mains from £16.
Mon-Sat noon-3pm & 5.30pm-
midnight, Sun noon-3.30pm & 6-11pm.
Kopapa
32-34 Monmouth St, WC2
T
020 7240 6076,
W
kopapa.co.uk;
24
RESTAURANTS
Dishoom
12 Upper St Martin's Lane, WC2
T
020 7420
9320,
W
dishoom.com;
!
Leicester Square or Covent
Garden; map p.132.
Re-creating the atmosphere of the
Persian cafés of Old Bombay, complete with arcane “rules of
!
Covent Garden; map p.132.
COFFEE AND LUNCH CHAINS
Although London's old-fashioned caffs of the 1950s and 60s have all but died out, the city
today has a number of reliable
chains
where you can grab a coffee and a sandwich. Three are
particularly worthy of mention, offering healthy and well-priced food to grab and go.
Home-grown
sandwich
chains
Pret à Manger
(
W
pret.com) and
EAT
(
W
eat.co.uk) produce
reliable lunchtime food, with good sandwiches, salads and cakes.
Ì
Leon
(
W
leonrestaurants
.co.uk), meanwhile, is a smaller, but gently expanding, family-owned chain that does delicious
coffee, juices, breakfasts, wraps, soups and salads in cheery premises whose artfully colourful
decor evoke the sunny holidays of youth. Food is healthy and locally sourced, and there are
lots of amazing wheat- and gluten-free cakes.
