Sweetings

A bastion of City tradition as enduring as the Bank of England, Sweetings has them queuing at lunch to eat fish in its simple old-school surroundings, many choosing to perch on a stool at one of the counters that run around the edge of the restaurant. The food is similarly traditional & unpretentious: start with half a dozen West Mersea oysters, potted shrimps or whitebait, with fried Cornish brill or perhaps a skate wing poached with black butter to follow. There are school puddings or savouries to finish, & the wine list is biased towards whites & as Francophile as the menu is British, with a Muscadet sur Lie at £19 & a Crozes-Hermitage at £35; fizz includes Louis Roederer Brut Premier at a most reasonable £41.