Retro comfort food

I love the word louche. The pursuit of louche has been one of my life's hobbies. Hotels are a great setting for a spot of this kind of behaviour and, especially since its recent burnishing, The Savoy is queen of destinations for the world's flaneurs, poseurs and idlers.

You can pretend you're power lunching in the gorgeous, deco surroundings of the Grill, you can make like Hemingway in the American Bar; even the lobby now affords glamorous lounging possibilities.

Unlike other hotels, you rarely encounter children infesting its imposing chambers. Since my recent addiction to afternoon tea, I've been subjected to more hotel interiors than one of Heidi Fleiss's gals and I can happily say that The Savoy is relentlessly grown-up.

On our recent visit to check out Banquette, Marcus Wareing's newest Savoy outpost, we momentarily felt a little, well, conspicuous. Last orders here are at midnight, so you can decadently indulge 'til pretty late. Having just come from the office party ('Dress funky' instructed the invite), we were probably brandishing more stiletto and leopardskin than strictly necessary. 'I feel like a couple of tarts,' muttered my date in a statement of outward perception, not of intent. I put on my glasses in a completely redundant gesture. In any case, many of the other guests looked like they were up to absolutely no good at all - it all added to the atmosphere.

Banquette used to be called Upstairs and occupies a corridor-like room looking out through massive windows on to The Savoy's private driveway. (Note to Barbara Barry, designer of this and the Grill: blocking out the windows with Venetian blinds has stymied a perfectly fabulous peoplewatching opportunity.)

Before, this was a bonkers wee spot, furnished in marble, frou-frou and garden furniture. The menu was deeply odd: oysters, sushi and what one can only imagine were the ramblings of a lunatic chef. Carrot and pearl barley cannelloni on a bed of basil, spinach and carrot jus, anyone? Or filo-cased sweet potato soup with mini beet ravioli and ginger oil? Makes me truly lament its passing...

Anyway, today we're talking a hymn to knowing iconography, from the sleek, 1950ish furnishings - diner-style, apparently, though the most opulent diner I've ever seen - to the almost hilariously kitsch menu. I love this menu. With its shepherd's pie, steak and kidney pudding, burgers, fish fingers (OK, goujons of sole) and lemon meringue pie, all it needs is Angel Delight to be almost pornographically retro.

Sure, there are oysters and salads and the odd sighting of pasta, but you know where its heart lies. And if this kind of thing cuts the mustard cookingwise, it can be a heavenly, back-tochildhood comfort blanket of a meal - which ours was. Even prawns - excellent and meaty - came deepfried with a chilli mayonnaise (although since these weighed in at a distinctly non-retro £12, we shared them as a starter).

Following a long-cherished theory that you can't have too much deepfrying, I followed with a superior chicken Kiev - moist, crispy and gloriously garlicky. The date had the steak and kidney pudding - which she loved. I thought it a little lacklustre: the crust lacking squidge, the insides needed more of a gravy bath (though this might be the result of my comparing it with the mesmerising mutton pudding at Rhodes Twenty Four, one of my dishes of last year).

The only thing that marred two sterling puddings - a perfect rice pud, complete with dod of jam, and a fluffy, creamy bread and butter pudding accessorised by small vat of crËme anglaise - was that they were lukewarm. Champagne by the glass at £10.50 a pop sent our bill soaring higher than it needed: our food cost only £52 for two. This is the place to get the Savoy experience on the cheap. Welcome to Banquette, and happy posing.

Banquette
Strand, WC2 0ET