Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill

A reliable Mayfair fixture since 1916, the self-titled ‘grand dame of Swallow Street’ is still shucking oysters with a vengeance under the stewardship of chef/patron Richard Corrigan. These days, regulars agree that its two great assets are the ground-floor Oyster Bar and the spacious gem of a terrace on Swallow Street itself (heated and covered for year-round bonhomie). If you’re indoors, the best seats are indubitably at the marble-topped bar counter, where you can watch the chefs expertly doing the business on ‘natives’ and ‘rocks’ from places as far apart as Pembrokeshire, Donegal and Jersey. Otherwise, squeeze into one of the close-packed tables for an ‘extremely fresh’ piscine blowout – perhaps scallop ceviche dressed with jalapeño, mint and lime ahead of Dover sole meunière or pan-seared turbot with olive-oil mash and langoustine sauce. You can also feast on classics such as cod and chips, Cornish fish stew, fish pie and Bentley’s handsome shellfish platters. Pudding might be crème caramel with Armagnac-soaked prunes. The classy fish-friendly wine list is priced for Mayfair’s big spenders, although it does offer some excellent bargains by the glass.