Izakaya-inspired dishes, incredible music played through a proper audiophile set-up, in a beautiful looking and low-lit setting. What all restaurants should be like.

A winding side street that links hectic Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road, Hanway Street, with its odd mix of old-style Spanish flamenco bars and second-hand vinyl stores, is a bit of an anomaly. I’ll be surprised if they all withstand the Tottenham Court Road redevelopment but I hope they do.

Amazing small plates restaurant near Newington Green in a old car showroom. 

Sometimes when I wake up it feels like I am at sea watching a big ocean liner pass by. It is the view from my home in one of the two stepped concrete apartment blocks that make up the Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury. When you visit skip the chain stores of the shopping centre below (except for the excellent Renoir Cinema) and instead get an invitation to one of the small but gorgeous flats with their winter gardens or just wander through the spectacular concrete A frames and across the vast sun drenched terraces on podium level.

Leila McAlister's grocery shop and café off Arnold Circus, Shoreditch. You can find the best of everything, from jars of horseradish to eggs and croissants.