Porters English Restaurant

One is tempted to say that before dining at Porters one should check with Mother and double check with Nanny that it is alright to have such an unashamed indulgence. Prepare to return to the good old days and the reassurance that wholesome English food is what made the Empire great and can still delight and embolden the visitor to Covent Garden.

Unlike the delicately poised cuisine of some restaurants there is substance to the fayre at Porters. Starters such as crispy herb crumbed mushrooms with blue cheese dip or smoked mackerel and chive parfait make the point elegantly as does the selection of Porters world famous pies which includes Cumberland pie with herb and cheese potato topping, lamb and apricot pie and luxury fish pie with salmon and prawns. In the grills selection, as one might expect of Porters, the Aberdeen Angus steak has been hung for 21 days.

Concern of this nature carries over to the classic dishes where favourites such as steak and kidney pudding, roast beef and horseradish Yorkshire pudding wrestle for our attention with a wide choice of other classics including braised beef and herb faggots or wild boar and sage sausage with horseradish mash. Desserts, called hot and cold puddings, are not for the faint hearted or those preserving a girlish figure: but that is a small thing to lose in exchange for steamed syrup sponge, date and walnut steamed pudding, banana, rum and butterscotch trifle, stilton or any of the other delights available.

Good old fashioned value for money is another tradition kept alive at Porters. Prices for main courses, classics and pies all include one side order. Very few of the main courses and classics cost over £10, all pies are £8.95 and starters and puddings cost £3.60 each. The fixed price menu for £19.25 includes a half bottle of wine as well as a pie, starter or pudding, tea and coffee. There is also a £9.95 fixed price menu offering two courses and coffee served weekday afternoons and every evening after 9.30 pm, ideal for post theatre dining. Afternoon tea is served between 2.30pm and 5.50pm.

The wine list compliments the menu very well, offering a wide selection of New World and European wines at attractive prices. Not surprisingly, there is an English wine available, Tunbridge Wells, Chiddingstone, England, NV described as an English rose: and other English roses will feel readily at home at Porters.