Davy's at St James's

With its restrained, dark-hued ambience, this branch of the trusted Davy’s chain is a popular haunt for the pinstriped brigade. Despite its proximity to St James’s Palace, prices here are good enough to suit parsimonious republicans: around £21 bags a cracking Rioja Crianza or Davy’s own deeply sinkable Pinot Grigio from a cannily collated list that includes three dozen by the glass & peaks with a patrician premier cru 2004 Chassagne-Montrachet at £68. To eat, Davy’s egalitarian nosh includes twice-baked cheese soufflé, sea trout with beetroot, watercress & horseradish, followed by blood orange sorbet, for example. And there are tankards of Davy’s Old Wallop or Whitstable Oyster Ale, too.