T+L Reports: Brit Bites

In London these days, beans on toast (and other English classics) are as popular as Jimmy Choo handbags. Terence Conran's Plateau (Canada Place; 44-207/715-7100; dinner for two $136) in Canary Wharf caters to both high- and lowbrow palates. The retro-sleek restaurant (Eero Saarinen tables, Harry Bertoia chrome chairs) serves delicately seared scallops in pea shoot sauce, and bespoke suits can still chow down on a workaday favorite—Billingsgate fish pie—in the adjacent bar-and-grill. Across town, Jeremy King and Chris Corbin, specialists in exalted watering holes (the Caprice, the Ivy), have opened Wolseley (160 Piccadilly; 44-207/499-6996; dinner for two $130) in a former car showroom spruced up with gilt Viennese-café flourishes. During the morning rush, Mayfair doyennes order breakfast kippers, Welsh rarebit, and bubble and squeak; at night, the menu embraces pub favorites from tout Europe: Wiener schnitzel, Irish stew, and Hungarian goulash. The Berkeley Hotel's Boxwood Café (Wilton Place; 44 207/235-1200; dinner for two $148) pairs a subdued brown-and-silver interior with earthy entrées (lamb's cheeks, pig's trotters) more suited to the East End than to Knightsbridge.
—Shane Mitchell