The Gourmet's Guide to LondonNewnham-Davis, Lieut.-Col. (Nathaniel)
General
The Gourmet's Guide to London
Newnham-Davis, Lieut.-Col. (Nathaniel)
Restaurants -- England -- London -- Guidebooks
Once inside the door you find yourself in as snug and cosy an
eating-house as you can find in London. The ground floor is partitioned
off into many boxes. There is one to your left as you come in, the
counting-house being on your right, and two, one of them with a curtain
to give it privacy, facing you, and another just beyond the grill,
and yet another one below the round clock in a black frame which is
on the back wall. The partitions and the walls are of wood panelling
painted and grained to resemble light oak, but whoever the craftsman
was who worked at it with feather and comb, he must have passed away
long ago, for the painting, like everything else in the house, has
been mellowed by time. The partitions are carried up high wherever
there is any possibility of a draught reaching anyone sitting in one
of the boxes, and in the high partitions the top panels are of glass.
There are pegs for hats and coats on the wall and a stand for umbrellas
near the fireplace. The fireplace, a big grill in a stone frame, is in
one of the side walls, and close in front of it, his body partially
sheltered by a wooden screen, stands the cook, white-bearded and in
white cap, white jacket and apron. At his elbow is a compartment,
a big box without a lid, in which are chops, steaks, and all other
things grillable, and any man who thinks he is a judge of a raw chop
or steak, looks over into this box before he finds a seat for himself,
and indicates to the cook which particular fragment of red meat he
wishes to have prepared according to his liking. Above the fireplace
is a framed water-colour picture of the outside of the house, and on
either side of this work of art are pewter plates in a splendid state
of polish. The other interesting work of art on the walls is a portrait
of "James," who was a waiter at Baker's for thirty-five years. James
was, I imagine, early Victorian. He has a benign appearance, and his
watch-chain is almost as large as a cable. The waiters of to-day are
as British as James was, and they go about their business with much
quickness and dexterity. To complete my description of the lower room
at Baker's, I should add that there is sawdust on the floor, and that a
narrow staircase, the steps of which are covered with lead, leads up to
the rooms on the other floors.
You will have seen written in little frames on one side of the
counting-house window looking into the chop-room some of the dishes
of the day that are ready--curried chicken, Irish stew (one-chop and
two-chop portions), stewed steak, and the like, and your waiter will
tell you of other good things--pies and puddings, each a portion for
one--that are ready. If you are for something from the grill, you make
your selection from the cook's stores. If a cut from the joint is to
your taste, you go upstairs to the big room on the first floor, where
there are red walls and no partitions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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