Bars & Pubs

The easy-going Café at Foyles shares floor space with one of London's most cultivated jazz collections – modern, avant-garde, soul, world and blues are all covered – so it figures that it serves up some correspondingly tasteful fodder. All the café standards are chalked up (salads, toasted sarnies, paninis, flapjacks, muffins, lattes), but it's the use of premium ingredients in enlightened combinations – as well as the first-rate soundtrack, of course – that make this a worthy West End pit stop. Think tangy comté cheese, tomatoes and salad on nutty bread; freshly-whizzed apple and fresh ginger juice; and seriously fruity banana cake. Bench seating along the windows is perfect for solo snacking, while scanning your inbox (the café is wi-fi-enabled) or watching – maybe a little smugly – punters come and go at the blander Borders opposite.

Time Out Cheap Eats in London Guide 2007