The Cafe Below

What was once the City’s favourite vegetarian has long since turned omnivore, but there’s still a home-cooked wholesomeness about this diminutive café in the Norman crypt of St Mary-le-Bow. The daily lunch menu continues to offer rich meat-free pickings, from salad bowls to roast aubergine & Puy lentil casserole with brown rice & peperonata, although the kitchen’s talents now extend to the likes of pan-fried sea bream with herb bulgur & salsa verde. There are sandwiches on Italian-style bread to sate lighter appetites & a shorter menu is served in the evening. To drink, a clutch of wines & Meantime beers share the stage with ciders & perry from Herefordshire champions Dunkerton’s. When the sun shines, the alfresco seating in the lee of Wren’s church almost trumps the ancient crypt.