Pod

The City needs another gourmet sandwich-coffee bar like it needs a run on the pound. Yet Pod has hatched just a few doors down from one of the many branches of Pret, and across the road from Coffee Republic. Its smart white, steel and wood decor evokes a Jasper Morrison kitchen, and despite a giant rendition of the logo with a photograph depicting wholesome ears of wheat on one wall, the mood is retro-futuristic enough to make Pod a destination for the coolest of London's hotshot bankers. The menu's pretty cool too, with pie recipes (on our visit Dijon chicken or leek and potato, £2.95-£3.10) created by Sophie Conran. For the City fat cats there's a highlighted collection of 'superfood' salads and sarnies, though for the most part this seems to denote little more than the inclusion of a green vegetable - hardly rocket science. 'Lunch Pods' are proclaimed as a 'revolution in salads', and include flavours such as chicken yakitori or Greek lamb with feta (both £4.25), as well as the cheaper goat cheese with maple-roasted sweet potato. Other options include granary sandwiches of brie, rocket and onion marmalade (£2.50), or duck with spring onions, celery and hoi sin sauce (£2.90); vegetarian and Bolognese hot pastas (£2.85-£2.95) and a choice of 'big and meaty' or 'healthy and veggie' soups (£2.60). Tubs of porridge can be topped with brown sugar, Scottish honey or fresh fruit, and at £1.50 seemed popular in the wintry weather. It tasted okay but would be improved by using oatmeal instead of leathery rolled oats. Our sizeable banana and toffee muffin was anything but healthy: a rich, gooey overdose of simple carbs. Coffee is organic and fair trade of course, with decaf available on request, should you not want to send your heart rate rocketing.

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