Drink up at the Interval

The tourist-clogged thoroughfare of Leicester Square offers little to seduce the style sybarite: the vicinity's a veritable taste desert.

And nowhere is this aesthetic oversight more evident than in the locality's bars: if screaming neon signages and cloyingly sweet Sex On The Beach confections aren't your thing, you're in the wrong place. Which is why we approached The Interval with trepidation: could the pared down perfectionist principles of the style bar be applied in an area so unashamedly untrendy?

Happily, our concerns were unfounded. The warmly bohemian environs - that familiar fusion of dark wood and stone interspersions - attracts a pleasingly eclectic clientele-and our selections from the concise cocktail list - the rum, ginger beer and lime-infused Dark And Stupid, and the Absolut Citron, Cointreau, lime and cranberry

Citropolitan - didn't disappoint. But it's the bar's piece de resistance - a menu of unfussy Anglo-influenced fare - that should ensure its success: our mushy pea fritters, chunky chip butty and asparagus and mushroom pie (accompanied by home-made mash, gravy and yet more mushy peas) - were wellpriced, delicious, and came in portions of artery-clogging proportions. We didn't make it on to the sumptuous-sounding fig and pear pie with lavender ice-cream: but there'll definitely be a next time...