The London Traveler

I got a lovely surprise in the post this morning - a little pocket-size book entitled “Savoir Fare London, stylish dining for under $25.”

Well, I thought. Let’s be cynical. Let’s see how many of my favourites are in there. Hm, nothing on Stoke Newington Church Street … and no Afghan Kitchen… but they have got Tayyab’s. And they have got Govinda’s. And Maison Bertaux, a patisserie I like, and the incredibly ancient Daquise. So on the whole, quite a lot of the places I know.

It’s half way between a guide book and a coffee table book. It obviously isn’t a complete guide to all the possible places you might eat in London - it doesn’t aim to be a sort of Frommer’s or Fodor’s - but it does give an interesting selection of places. If you were to visit all of them you’d have visited gastropubs, patisseries, cafes, curry shops, sushi bars, and a cheese shop - you would have eaten Lebanese, Vietnamese, Polish, Turkish and Chinese - you’d have been in traditional London eateries and designer modern restaurants and everything in between.  And while you would have visited some places of great renown, you would also have found others that are less well known.

And the writing is lovely. Elaine Louie is a New York Times staffer, and I have to say that her prose is just lovely. Often, there’s a gentle humour - at Govinda’s, she asks where to leave a tip, and the waiter is genuinely nonplussed! “Perhaps it’s Lord Krishna who takes care of the tips,” she muses. She has interviewed the owners of the restaurants and the chefs about their approaches to food and the business of feeding people - there are some fascinating insights. (I do agree with Emma Miles of the Clerkenwell Kitchen - there is no point trying to make your own ginger beer when Fentiman’s is so good!)

I found that having started looking at this book as a guidebook, within five minutes I was reading it as a novel - I really did not want to put it down.

But I warn you - do not read this book when you’re hungry, unless food is to hand. The descriptions of food will have you screaming with hunger pangs. From “properly fat and chewy” udon noodles, to a “herbaceous and perky” salad at Moro, it’s a delightfully literate trip through London’s stylish food.

The photos are finely chosen, with some audacious choices - I enjoyed the red moodiness of the photo of Ozer’s, almost the whole photo taken up by the wall, with just the cushions of a sofa and tabletop visible at the bottom. There are shots of the writing on a window reversed, taken from inside; moody shots of long counters with mirrors behind them, and a shot of patisserie that is so drool-making it’s positively pornographic. But the one I like best, I think, is the wide-angle of Maison Bertaux with its customers - a young man looks directly into the camera, while another customer’s face is completely hidden by a trilby as she looks down to read the newspaper.

It turns out they’re by Phil Nicholls, whose ‘Classic Cafes’ book and website are the reference works for lovers of London’s greasy spoons and milk bars

This is really a delightful little book. Go to the publisher, The Little Bookroom, to find out more.