The London Traveler

If you want to step back into Dickens’s London, lunch at the George & Vulture is the way to do it.

This tavern and chop house claims to go back to 1660, and the building probably dates from the 1740s. Inside, it’s a warren of wood panelled rooms. The crisp white tablecloths and dark wood furniture haven’t changed much since the Victorians.

Nor, perhaps, has the food. It’s traditional English food – whitebait, sole fillet, lamb hot pot, steak pie, grills.

Does that sound dismissive? Don’t be – this is traditional English food done properly. (Though according to some of the web review sources the restaurant does have ‘off’ days, I’ve never had a bad meal here.)   It’s plain, but well cooked, and you can wash it down with a pint of Sam Smith’s real ale. Or you can get a bottle of wine if you really have to.

I wouldn’t eat here every day. If I did, I’d probably weigh about double what I do. But it’s a great place to feel the atmosphere of an old City chop house. There used to be many more – this is one of the few left.

Dickens’s Mr Pickwick stayed here before his trial. But if  you find that a little ‘olde England’ and rather kitsch, you might take comfort in the thought  that these premises have a much seamier past. Apparently Sir Francis Dashwood  held meetings of the Hellfire Club upstairs.

Where: 3, Castle Court, EC3 (Bank tube station)

When: midday to 2 pm during the week

How much: £30-40 a head

Photo credit: Martin Belam on flickr

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