Chapter I: Preface

When the series of articles now collected in this volume was first discussed between their author and myself in the early part of 1897, we found it a matter of no slight difficulty to determine what range they should take, and to what class of establishments they should be confined. There is no accounting for the variety of people's tastes in the matter of eating and drinking, and among the readers of the _Pall Mall Gazette_ persons no doubt could be found ranging from the Sybarite, who requires Lucullus-like banquets, to him of the simple appetite for whom little more than a dinner with Duke Humphrey would suffice. Consequently, the choice of places to be visited had to be made in a catholic spirit, with the necessary result that a formidably long list was prepared. In selecting Colonel Newnham-Davis to carry out this commission for the _Pall Mall Gazette_, I knew I was availing myself of the services of a thoroughly experienced, trustworthy, and capable commissioner, who would deal with the task entrusted to him in a pleasantly mixed anecdotal and critical spirit, while at the same time supplying useful guidance to persons wanting to know where to dine and what they would have to pay. In the following pages it will be seen how well he carried out the duty he undertook, and I am able to add that "Dinners and Diners" had a great vogue and very wide popularity among the readers of the _Pall Mall Gazette_. There were very many requests from various quarters that they should be collected into book form, and this has now been done with some valuable additions included in the shape of recipes and other information. In these days, when the taste for dining at restaurants is so largely on the increase, I have little doubt that the republication of these articles will be welcomed, and that they will supply not only interesting but useful information.

THE EDITOR OF THE _Pall Mall Gazette_.

_March_ 1899.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD Page

The Difficulties of Dining xvii

CHAPTER I Princes' Hall (Piccadilly) 1

CHAPTER II The Cheshire Cheese 9

CHAPTER III The Holborn 15

CHAPTER IV Romano's 22

CHAPTER V Simpson's 31

CHAPTER VI The Hans Crescent Hotel 38

CHAPTER VII The Blue Posts (Cork Street) 45

CHAPTER VIII Verrey's (Regent Street) 51

CHAPTER IX The Hotel Cecil (the Strand) 59

CHAPTER X Gatti's (the Strand) 67

CHAPTER XI The Savoy (Thames Embankment) 73 Joseph at the Savoy 82

CHAPTER XII The St. George's Café (St. Martin's Lane) 89

CHAPTER XIII Willis's Rooms (King Street) 95

CHAPTER XIV Le Restaurant des Gourmets (Lisle Street) 102

CHAPTER XV The Trocadero (Shaftesbury Avenue) 108

CHAPTER XVI The American Bar, Criterion (Piccadilly Circus) 116

CHAPTER XVII The Hotel Continental (Regent Street) 122

CHAPTER XVIII The Avondale (Piccadilly) 128

CHAPTER XIX The Mercers' Hall (Cheapside) 137

CHAPTER XX In ---- Street 143

CHAPTER XXI A Regimental Dinner (Hotel Victoria, Northumberland Avenue) 149

CHAPTER XXII Dieudonné's (Ryder Street) 156

CHAPTER XXIII The Berkeley (Piccadilly) 162

CHAPTER XXIV The Ship (Greenwich) 175

CHAPTER XXV The House of Commons 182

CHAPTER XXVI Earl's Court 189

CHAPTER XXVII The Star and Garter (Richmond) 196

CHAPTER XXVIII The Cavour (Leicester Square) 203

CHAPTER XXIX The Café Royal (Regent Street) 209

CHAPTER XXX Frascati's (Oxford Street) 218

CHAPTER XXXI The Freemasons' Tavern (Great Queen Street) 224

CHAPTER XXXII Scott's (Piccadilly Circus) 231

CHAPTER XXXIII The East Room (Criterion, Piccadilly Circus) 237

CHAPTER XXXIV The Monico (Shaftesbury Avenue) 247

CHAPTER XXXV Goldstein's (Bloomfield Street) 253

CHAPTER XXXVI The Tivoli (the Strand) 259

CHAPTER XXXVII The Gordon Hotels (Northumberland Avenue) 266

CHAPTER XXXVIII The Queen's Guard (St. James's Palace) 272

CHAPTER XXXIX The Coburg (Carlos Place) 279

CHAPTER XL The Midland Hotel (St. Pancras) 285

CHAPTER XLI Kettner's (Church Street) 291

CHAPTER XLII Pagani's (Great Portland Street) 297

CHAPTER XLIII Claridge's (Brook Street) 304

CHAPTER XLIV Hotel de Paris (Leicester Place) 311

CHAPTER XLV The Walsingham House (Piccadilly) 317

CHAPTER XLVI Challis's (Rupert Street) 324

CHAPTER XLVII Epitaux's (The Haymarket) 330

[Transcriber's note: The advertisements bound in at the beginning and end of the original publication have been grouped together at the end of this digital edition.]