Restaurants

This Belgravia bar and dining room is centred on Brit-focused gastropub staples, but stepped up a posh notch or two and executed with a lot more polish. The ground-floor bar – decked in swish marble, expensive leather and polished panelling – attracts the sort of couture-suited customer more accustomed to crisp G&Ts than solid pints of ale. You can’t book in the bar but it serves a similar menu to that offered in the quieter, sympathetically restored first-floor dining room of the listed building. The menu comprises winning classics such as well-prepared steak with great chips and a choice of sauces – fresh and zingy béarnaise, for instance. Other choices include wiener schnitzel made with ethically sound rose veal, and a variety of expense-account caviar and oysters. Prices are in keeping with this refined corner of town: side orders will set you back around £4 and desserts can reach almost double that. The small pavement tables make an elegant spot to enjoyably while away a summer evening.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2009