Chiswell Street Dining Rooms, Clerkenwell

This former boozer bears the tell-tale signs of a Tom Ed Martin upgrade – its clean lines, neutral colours, smart upholstery shiny, packed bar put it in the same bracket as Chelsea
sibling The Botanist. An all-day eatery, CSDR takes up the ground floor of the listed Whitbread Brewery building, which has been transformed into a lavish branch of the Montcalm Hotel chain. Three
adjoining rooms have been knocked through to create one long drinking dining space, some of which will be given over to hotel guests at breakfast. The cocktail list is a rollicking good read,
with hits such as the outrageously refreshing London Spritz a whole section for Martinis. The proudly British menu, meanwhile, is pitch-perfect for Clerkenwell’s hungry lawyers media
types: most of the dishes are enticing, with ingredients that are on first-name terms with the part of England they’re from. Try the meaty potted ham hock with homemade mustard baby gherkins,
or the melt-in-the-mouth puff pastry tart with strident Berkswell cheese bright wild leeks.