In the heart of Theatreland, a straight-down-the-line gastroboozer from the ever-trendy Polpo people; it may be no special bargain, but standards are consistently good, and the style and location make it a stand-by well worth knowing about.
Russell Norman is the man who is, in the popular imagination, responsible for kicking off The Craze Which Will Not Die. (We refer, of course, to London’s ongoing New York obsession.) His conversion of the Theatreland boozer once called the Marquis of Granby is therefore of some note, as his first venture (as ever, with business partner Richard Beatty) to turn its back on Manhattan. This is an English gastroboozer pure and simple, complete with décor that feels done slightly on the cheap, and staff who are notably friendly and willing, if perhaps not hyper-trained.
On the Tuesday lunchtime we visited, this was a rather empty gastroboozer. Granted, this is more an evening area, but even so the absence of crush – always so evident at Polpo and so on – was of some interest. On the evidence of our visit, this was no reflection on the food quality, as everything from the bread to the coffee, via such stapes as a thick pea soup and a steak pie, was notably tasty and satisfying. It might have had something to do with the prices, though, as our simplest-possible three-course lunch for one – also including one side dish of winter greens, and a tasty honey cake and fig pudding – came to £32 with no booze whatsoever.
But then, this is the heart of the West End, and there’s not much competition round here in the classic gastropubs stakes, so it’s difficult to say the prices are really that far out-of-line. And, for sheer usefulness, your classic English gastropub – can we now use the term ‘classic’ in this context? – really is a hard act to beat.
