Restaurants

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Central

Clerkenwell Kitchen
This daytime café has a splendid courtyard complete with well-tended flowerbed and sun umbrellas. Food is, as far as possible, organic, and the menu changes daily. A typical dish from the British-accented menu is smoked haddock fishcakes (£10), which on our visit was a satisfying lunch in itself, but if you’re really hungry, the pear and almond tart (£4.50) will round things off nicely. It’s licensed, too – a glass of house wine with your meal costs £3.25.
Clerkenwell Kitchen, 27-31 Clerkenwell Close, EC1R 0AT (020 7101 9959/www.theclerkenwellkitchen.co.uk) Farringdon tube/rail or Angel tube.

Daylesford Organic
Soap stars and society ladies are among those who aim for pavement tables at this elegant organic café and food hall. Salads are a mainstay – wild rice and quinoa with hazelnuts, red onion and tomato vinaigrette, for example – but there are also hot dishes such as roast smoked haddock with poached egg and mustard sauce. Drinks range from iced green tea to wine from the company’s own estate in Provence. And all is presented with the flair that has distinguished Carole Bamford’s company in the health-food sector.
Daylesford Organic, 44b Pimlico Rd, SW1W 8LP (020 7881 8060/www.daylesfordorganic.com) Victoria tube/rail or Sloane Square tube.
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Garden Café, Regent’s Park
Adjacent to Queen Mary’s Rose Garden, the Garden Café is a split-personality operation, with customers on one side being corralled off for counter service, while those to the right opt for a restaurant-like experience. British seasonal cooking is the aim but they’re too clever to ignore popular dishes such as Caesar salad – the Garden Cafe’s take (little gem and parmesan) features crisp leaves and croûtons topped with a just-warm cheese dressing. Order à la carte or opt for the keenly-priced, if short, set menu. The skin-on chips are a treat.
Garden Café, Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, NW1 4NU (020 7935 5729/www.thegardencafe.co.uk) Regent’s Park tube.

Long Bar
The Sanderson hotel’s slick operation may be a playground for the moneyed elite, but that shouldn’t rule out the Long Bar’s fruity fresh cocktails and excellent martinis. Outside, the courtyard overlooks a serene oriental garden complete with water features. For summer, try the cherry blossom (maraschino cherries, orange, cherry marnier liqueur, Champagne) or blue sky (crushed blueberries, crème de cassis, lychee, Champagne).
Long Bar, The Sanderson, 50 Berners St, W1T 3NG (020 7300 1400/www.sandersonlondon.com) Oxford Circus/Tottenham Court Rd tube.

Roka
Wrapping around Charlotte Street into Rathbone Street, this modern Japanese grill’s pavement tables are some of the most desirable in the West End. Hot days are perfect for enjoying sushi of soft-shell crab with cucumber, kim chee and chilli mayonnaise, or tuna tataki salad, but the robata is the star. Try the lamb cutlets with Korean spices, yaki asparagus with sweet soy and sesame, or scallop skewers with wasabi and shiso.
Roka, 37 Charlotte St, W1T 1RR (020 7580 6464/www.rokarestaurant.com) Goodge St/Tottenham Court Rd tube.

The Terrace
It’s first come, first served for The Terrace’s alfresco tables overlooking the tennis courts in leafy Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Sunny weekday afternoons see local legal eagles doing their best to redefine the meaning of the lunch hour. Chef Patrick Williams’s menu pitches classic French and British cuisine (foie gras and duck liver parfait, roast salmon with cucumber salad) alongside Caribbean sojourns (fried salt mackerel with ackee and crushed green banana). This is also a great destination on balmy evenings and before work, when breakfasts of pancakes, eggs and yoghurt are served.
The Terrace, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, WC2A 3LJ (020 7430 1234/www.theterrace.info) Holborn tube.

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