Lebanese cuisine is just so delicious, and I love a good Thai as much as the next person. But sometimes I crave the nostalgia, the stateliness of traditional British fare. Oddly, it has come to feel more capriciously foreign than the mezze, tapas and shabu-shabu that affluent metro-dwellers now speak so fluently. But then, as the poet once said, the past is another country; and such is the pace of cultural assimilation in Insta-Britain. Against this backdrop, fine British food is comforting and elegiac, like reading an Evelyn Waugh novel whilst swathed in N. Peal cashmere.

Of course the standard line is that curry is the most traditional of British foods, but today, I am thinking of our indigenous fare. The roast fore rib, the devilled kidneys, the Dover sole and that most wondrous work of alchemy, toad in the hole. Our homegrown meat, fish and produce have been celebrated and elevated in the last two decades until, by now, they’re a pretty impressive and slick affair. But where to consume them? Try one of my pick of restaurants on Vanity Fair A-List: https://www.vanityfair.com/alist/2018/02/london-best-english-food