Smiths of Smithfield, Top Floor

What was once a meat warehouse near Smithfield Market is now a layer of eateries, starting with the casual and informal style on street level to the more sophisticated surroundings of the Top Floor restaurant. The buildings visible over the rooftops through glass doors, which lead on to a terrace for summer dining, are pinpointed on the menu, running from the Barbican to the Poultry Market, with St Paul's in between. The kitchen takes pride in sourcing rare-breed meats, appearing in the form of succulent, tasty south Devon rump steak or Gloucestershire Old Spot pork with baby vegetables and apple and pork sauce. The cooking generally takes a straightforward approach to good, fresh ingredients - Dorset crab with mayonnaise or halibut with parsley sauce and lobster mash - although more exotic treatments can be seen in tuna tartare with powerful blobs of wasabi, and carpaccio with steak tartare and a quail's egg. Finish with something like strawberry soufflé or crème brûlée.