Langan's Brasserie

A still-popular joint venture opened in 1976 by Peter Langan (1941–88) in partnership with screen actor Michael Caine (and Michelin star chef Richard Shepherd in 1977), Langan's offers a warm and pleasing, trend-resistant eating experience marked by traditional and polite service and an Anglo/French menu to the tune of steak, swordfish, spinach soufflé, chicken and ham pie, bangers and mash, veal cordon bleu and wild mushroom stroganoff. The walls are adorned with works of art by notable 20th-century painters (Bacon, Freud and Hockney, who designed the menu), and the unstuffy atmosphere lures writers, artists, the famous (Brando, Taylor, Jagger, Nicholson etc) and the rest. Tube station: Green Park.