The George & Vulture
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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POSTED IN: Food & Beverage, Uncategorized
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