The Guinea Grill

Down Bruton Place, a cobbled Mayfair mews behind Berkeley Square, The Guinea Grill has fed London since an inn first stood on the site in 1423. The grill itself dates to 1952, when it took the name and the trade of London's original steakhouse, and little of its character has been surrendered since: wood-panelled walls hung close with oil paintings and sporting prints, tartan underfoot, and a front bar that still pours a proper pint before the dining room takes over behind it.

The kitchen is built around an open grill and dry-aged, grass-fed British beef, served with the silver service that has long been the house style. The cellar runs to several hundred wines under a resident sommelier, and the award-winning pies have a following of their own. It is a room for the long lunch and the unhurried dinner rather than the late party; the doors close at eleven and there is no in-house sound system.

Three private dining rooms sit around the grill. The Gallery is the most intimate, seating ten beneath a marble fireplace; The Wine Room takes fourteen under a large skylight and is lined with its own wine gallery; and The Boardroom seats up to twenty at a single table, with its own private bar and dedicated service. Each suits a family celebration, a client dinner or a small private party in one of Mayfair's genuinely historic rooms.